No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

The advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994 coincided with International Legislation where the International Labour Organisation ILO Convention 1969 – Indigenous & Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 was prominent in their ‘rights to roots’ campaign, closely followed by the 1994 United Nations Draft - Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These international debates filtered through to local communities in South Africa, who was still in the infant stages of democracy. The newly installed government glanced off ethnic loyalty in favour of the spirit of nationalism as the building blocks to unity in the new State. Under leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), resurgent voices of Khoisan revivalist groups appeared to reassert an identity linked to particularity. This was done in the wake of a colonial and apartheid past, where these institutions destabilised identities hence the formation and mobilization of new political structures amongst neo-Khoisan Revivalist groups. Many of these neo-Khoisan groups are spearheaded by self-appointed leaders to mobilize support on the basis of ethnic loyalty to foster notions of ‘belonging’ to an ethnic society and the scramble for resources. This thesis looked at the contemporary view of those who are in the process of identity reclamation. It has done so by using the Korana Royal House as a vignette to look at the broader Khoisan movement. The thesis looked at the evolution of naming rules and customs and how these interrelate in different contexts and the international discourse about concepts like indigenous and traditional groups.

This dissertation involves a longitudinal study of the promotional materials of !Xaus Lodge, a community-owned lodge in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The study engages with stakeholders of the Lodge in order to assess its promotional materials in terms of marketing, identity and development issues. The Circuit of Culture (Du Gay et al. 1997) covers and examines the process of meaning-making which forms the basis for understanding the textual and reception analyses. This, along with pertinent tourism theories, which discuss issues such as the concept of ‘authenticity’, the notion of the ‘other’ and various modes of representation, form the basis of the theory pervading the dissertation. The textual analysis is based on Tomaselli’s Phaneroscopic Table (1996), through which the promotional materials are examined. The reception analysis thematically discusses target market and past visitors’ opinions about the materials and the Lodge, facilitated through the process of coding. The informants’ opinions were collected through a number of focus groups conducted with the target market of !Xaus Lodge and through online questionnaires sent to past visitors. A comparison between the textual and reception analyses is conducted in order to identify similarities found and explain divergences. The analyses refer to all aspects of the promotional materials, but tend to concentrate on ≠Khomani representation within the materials and the feedback about the ≠Khomani cultural tourism experience at the Lodge. At the moment, the ≠Khomani express a romantic identity which relates well to similar expectations of many tourists, but the ‘reality’ of ≠Khomani society does not allow these !Xaus employees to meet the idealistic expectations of some visitors. / Thesis (M.A.)-University KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Vast advances in technology have presented a platform for mediated forms to reach places where it was never before thought possible. Once remote communities can now be more easily accessed and in turn have easier access to modern ways of life. In light of this, Bushmen communities have been forced, due to a number of factors, to transform or adapt many their everyday cultural practices - one of which is tracking. Two Bushman post-hunter communities, the ≠Khomani from Witdraai in the Northern Cape of South Africa and the !Xoo who reside in Ngwatle in Southern Botswana, are the focus of a comparative analysis which assesses how the two communities use tracking, how they represent tracking and how they construct their identity through these representations. Louis Liebenberg’s extensive literature on the subject of tracking compounded with his groundbreaking research on CyberTracking provides an invaluable resource. It offers a contrasting scientific vantage point in comparison to J. Edward Chamberlin’s (2004) holistic anthropological approach to aboriginal cultures. Work central to demystifying the data includes debates within globalisation theory (Anthony Giddens 1990; David Held and Anthony McGrew 2000; Terhi Rantanen 2005), the homogenisation and heterogenisation of culture and Stuart Hall’s theory of essentialist and non-essentialist identity (1996). The data was obtained through research field trips to the areas in 2005 and 2007 respectively, and informs part of a larger project, Rethinking Indigeneity, headed by Professor Keyan G. Tomaselli. The subject communities contrast one another not only in how they represent themselves, but also how and why they practice tracking. The !Xoo, in comparison to the ≠Khomani, are less exposed to global media and as a result are considerably less aware of expectations attached to their ethnicity. This correlation provides an interesting link between cultural practices, remote communities and global media infiltration. It becomes apparent that culture is in a constant state of flux which is further emphasised through idiosyncratic cultural practices; in this case tracking. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

This research project examines the relevance of Kenneth Arrow's (1951) Impossibility Theorem as a criterion for assessing post-modern critical approaches to development media theories (Servaes, 200 I; Melkote and Steeves, 2000). Comparing two distinct indigenous minorities' experiences with struggles for cultural autonomy, those of Norway's Sami and Botswana's Basarwa, it was found that the media discourses used by NGOs frequently exploit a narrative that validly permits development to be treated as a species of social welfare implementation. Applying Arrow's (1951) conditions for the democratic summation of diverse preferences, and treating cultural, political, and civil society groups as 'voters', it was found that indigenous minority concerns may be best accommodated by linking them to broader issues that exploit historical ties between peoples, with a special emphasis on episodes that have led to coordination in achieving independent ends. Popular memories of such coordination appear to moderate relations between minorities and their national cohabitants, reducing the need for radicalization of indigenous issues and smoothing the path to autonomy. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

No description available.