Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This project was undertaken in order to investigate the phenomenon of repositioning/rejuvenation in the South African women magazine industry, rooi rose and SARIE in particular. These two women magazines, already in a mature phase and seemingly showing very little difference in identity, have been constantly competing with one another for many years. One of the goals of the study is to determine whether the manner in which repositioning is applied would be a sustainable solution and/or whether, considering the saturated market in SA, this would be the sole solution. Hypothetically speaking, the recipe for success may be embedded in new or innovative information and information to support the adopting process of the reader. The Diffusion of Innovation theory is used as the theoretical platform. A content analysis of rooi rose and SARIE for the period July 2002 to December 2003 has been conducted and applied to seven categories. The data has been scientifically analysed using the Student’s t-test. It emerged from the quantitative study that no correlation could be found between innovative content and content supporting the adopting process, and the fluctuation of the ABC figures during that time period. By no means is this an indication that innovative content does not play an important role in the editorial mix, only that SARIE’s better performance since its repositioning should be attributed to other factors. The two magazines are almost similar in terms of positioning, content and target market. For this reason, the role that publicity plays at the launch of each monthly issue should not be underestimated. The Afrikaans women magazine market shows meagre growth that points publishers into other directions such as the expats market, for future growth and survival. Finally, the general interest women magazine should seriously consider her own role in providing innovative information for her reader in order to counter the strong upcoming niche magazine market, which seems to have taken over this very important function of providing innovative information and content supporting the adoption process. In the meantime, change as the only constant means that repositioning or rejuvenation is a given factor in the game of survival. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie ondersoek is onderneem om die verskynsel van herposisionering/vernuwing en die wyse waarop dit toegepas word in die Suid-Afrikaanse vrouetydskrifmark te ondersoek, met spesifieke verwysing na rooi rose en SARIE. Die twee genoemde vrouetydskrifte is reeds in hul volwasse stadium, is in konstante mededinging met mekaar en blyk op die oog af dieselfde identiteit te hê. Die vraag of die wyse waarop herposisionering toegepas is, inderdaad ’n volhoubare oplossing is, of die enigste oplossing in die lig van ’n moontlike versadigde mark, is een van die doelwitte van die studie. ’n Hipotetiese stelling is gemaak dat die resep vir sukses moontlik in vernuwende inhoud lê, en in inhoud wat die daaropvolgende besluitnemingsproses van die leser ondersteun. Die Diffusie van Innoveringsteorie is as teoretiese vertrekpunt gebruik. ’n Inhoudsanalise van rooi rose en SARIE is oor die tydperk Julie 2002 tot Desember 2003 gedoen en toegepas in sewe kategorieë. Die data is met behulp van die Student se t-toets wetenskaplik geanaliseer. Op grond van die resultate van hierdie kwantitatiewe ondersoek is bevind dat vernuwende inhoud en inhoud wat die besluitnemingsproses ondersteun, geen korrelasie getoon het met die styging en daling van die ABC-syfers nie. Dit beteken geensins dat vernuwende inhoud nie ’n belangrike deel van die inhoudsvermenging uitmaak nie, bloot dat SARIE se sukses sedert herposisionering dus toe te skryf is aan ander faktore. Die twee tydskrifte stem grootliks ooreen in terme van posisionering, inhoud en teikenmark. Daarom is die rol wat publisiteit speel ten tye van die bekendstelling van ’n nuwe uitgawe van groot belang. Die Afrikaanse vrouetydskrifmark toon nie veel meer groei nie, wat beteken dat die twee tydskrifte ander opsies soos onder meer die “expats”-mark moet ondersoek. Ten slotte sal die algemene vrouetydskrif ernstiger moet besin oor haar rol in die aanbieding van innoverende inhoud en inhoud wat die besluitnemingsproses ondersteun as sy die opkomende nistydskrifmark, wat op die oog af hierdie funksie oorgeneem het, wil trotseer. In die tussentyd sal tydskrifte vir lief daarmee moet neem dat gereelde herposisionering/vernuwing noodsaaklik is vir oorlewing.

Thesis (MA (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 1985. / Toe Sarie uiteindelik in 1949 letterlik die lig op straat gesien het was sy die vierde volwaardige Afrikaanse vrouetydskrif en die eerste wat die vrou se lewe in alle fasette gedek het, soos in hierdie verhandeling aangetoon sal word.

The wide variety of magazines in the South African market and the economic relapse that has been experienc,e d worldwide has given rise to the increasing competition for higher circulation figures and advertising income. This phenomenon especially occurs between publications competing for the same target audience, such as the women's magazines SARIE and rooi rose, competitors over many years in the Afrikaans magazine market. Magazine covers play a critical role in this rivalry due to the direct connection between the popularity of the cover and circulation figures. The more popular the cover of a publication, the higher the sales, circulation and potential profitability will be. Thus it is of the utmost importance for any publication to make the suitable cover selections, considering that the wrong choices can contribute towards a decrease in circulation and eventually fatal consequences for the publication. This study endeavours to determine which requirements magazine covers should meet to be successful and also which tendencies can be identified in the cover choices of SARIE and rooi rose and how these tendencies can be explained. In literature it was found that there are several requirements and directions to which magazine covers should account to be able to be achieving success. It was also found that magazine covers consist of several elements, such as the logo (master-head), cover-girl/-photo, background colours, text and also competitions (announced on the cover). SARIE and rooi rose's covers were analysed in accordance with the requirements for magazine covers. It was found that these magazine covers complied with the formal requirements formulated in the literature consulted. It also appeared that the success of every cover and edition is determined by the cover elements as a whole and not only the popularity of the "cover-girl" only. Several aspects should thus be taken into account when planning the magazine cover. It also appeared that although the cover choice sets an agenda for readers concerning the topics they will eventually be thinking about and discussing, another dimension of agenda-setting rather is to the point, namely the role readers' preferences play (through their personal feedback and buying of magazines) regarding editors' decision in respect of covers. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010

The wide variety of magazines in the South African market and the economic relapse that has been experienc,e d worldwide has given rise to the increasing competition for higher circulation figures and advertising income. This phenomenon especially occurs between publications competing for the same target audience, such as the women's magazines SARIE and rooi rose, competitors over many years in the Afrikaans magazine market. Magazine covers play a critical role in this rivalry due to the direct connection between the popularity of the cover and circulation figures. The more popular the cover of a publication, the higher the sales, circulation and potential profitability will be. Thus it is of the utmost importance for any publication to make the suitable cover selections, considering that the wrong choices can contribute towards a decrease in circulation and eventually fatal consequences for the publication. This study endeavours to determine which requirements magazine covers should meet to be successful and also which tendencies can be identified in the cover choices of SARIE and rooi rose and how these tendencies can be explained. In literature it was found that there are several requirements and directions to which magazine covers should account to be able to be achieving success. It was also found that magazine covers consist of several elements, such as the logo (master-head), cover-girl/-photo, background colours, text and also competitions (announced on the cover). SARIE and rooi rose's covers were analysed in accordance with the requirements for magazine covers. It was found that these magazine covers complied with the formal requirements formulated in the literature consulted. It also appeared that the success of every cover and edition is determined by the cover elements as a whole and not only the popularity of the "cover-girl" only. Several aspects should thus be taken into account when planning the magazine cover. It also appeared that although the cover choice sets an agenda for readers concerning the topics they will eventually be thinking about and discussing, another dimension of agenda-setting rather is to the point, namely the role readers' preferences play (through their personal feedback and buying of magazines) regarding editors' decision in respect of covers. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010

Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Grace and The Townships Housewife, two black women’s magazines published in South Africa between 1964 and 1969, have slipped into obscurity. This thesis aims to write them back into the history of the black press, black journalism and literature in South Africa. The study is significant in that no research has as yet been conducted on these two magazines. The first chapter excavates Grace and The Townships Housewife from obscurity by providing information on the magazines’ publication, staff, editors, content, target audience and writers. A salient characteristic of both magazines’ content that the study discusses is the ambiguous attitude of readers and writers towards modernity and tradition (and the negotiation of new identities) as they move from the country to the city. Some readers’ embrace and others’ rejection of early signs of feminism and womanism in the magazines also display this ambiguous attitude. The chapter foregrounds the various ambiguities and often colliding voices that infuse much of the magazines’ content. The absence of explicit reference to apartheid in Grace’s and The Townships Housewife’s content provides another focal point of this chapter and is discussed in relation to the concepts of ‘minstrelsy’ and ‘mimicry’. Considering specifically the position of the black woman in apartheid South Africa, the second chapter compares the representation of white women in South African white women’s magazines Die Huisgenoot, Sarie Marais and Fair Lady to the way in which black women are represented in Grace and The Townships Housewife in the 1960s. The role of the latter two magazines in positively representing black women during apartheid South Africa, and thus standing in direct opposition to the identities ascribed to black people in colonial and apartheid ideology, is a primary focus of this chapter. The representation of black women in the 1960s is elaborated on in the next chapter which explores the shift in the representation of black women from Drum magazine (during its heyday in the 1950s), with its predominantly male staff, to the representation of black women in Grace and The Townships Housewife (in the 1960s), with their predominantly female staff. I hypothesise on the possible agencies at work within this shift in women’s representation. Despite the magazines’ adherence at times to white standards of beauty (an aspect which the thesis engages with throughout), the ‘creation’ of black women within the pages of Grace and The Townships Housewife (as the previous two chapters articulate), often resonates with Black Consciousness’s philosophy of black pride. This last chapter explores the possible connection between Grace and The Townships Housewife, on the one hand, and the early beginnings of an emergent black consciousness in South Africa in the late 1960s, on the other hand. It also discusses the sexism associated with black consciousness philosophy in relation to these two magazines, but the focus falls on how black female readers of Grace and The Townships Housewife negotiate imposed ‘female identities’ (for example, mother, housewife and supporter) towards greater agency. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Grace en The Townships Housewife, twee tydskrifte gemik op swart vroue en wat in Suid-Afrika gepubliseer is tussen 1964 en 1969, is vandag onbekend. Die doel van dié tesis is om hierdie twee tydskrifte terug te skryf in die geskiedenis van swart joernalistiek en literatuur in Suid-Afrika. Dit is ’n waardevolle studie aangesien geen navorsing oor hierdie twee tydskrifte nog gedoen is nie. Dit is ook ’n ingewikkelde proses wat gepaard gaan met baie spekulasie, aangesien dit alreeds te lank gevat het vir hierdie tydskrifte om ontdek te word – dit is nie meer moontlik om die meeste van die bydraers tot hierdie twee tydskrifte op te spoor nie. Die eerste hoofstuk ‘grawe’ Grace en The Townships Housewife as t’ ware weer ‘op’ deur inligting te voorsien oor hierdie tydskrifte se uitgewers, personeel, redaktrises, inhoud, teikengroepe en skrywers. Die dubbelsinnige houdings wat lesers in die tydskrifte toon teenoor tradisie en moderniteit soos wat hulle beweeg van plattelandse gebiede na stedelike gebiede, is kenmerkend van hierdie tydskrifte en word in hierdie hoofstuk bespreek. Hierdie dubbelsinnigheid word ook weerspieël in lesers en skrywers se ambivalente houdinge teenoor die bemagtiging van vroue. Die verskeie dubbelsinnighede en dikwels botsende stemme in meeste van die twee tydskrifte se inhoud is ’n belangrike punt wat hierdie tesis uitlig. Die afwesigheid van direkte verwysings na apartheid in beide tydskrifte is nog ’n kenmerkende eienskap van die tydskrifte wat in hierdie hoofstuk ondersoek word. Met die fokus op die posisie van die swart vrou in apartheid Suid-Afrika, vergelyk die tweede hoofstuk die voorstelling van wit vroue in Suid-Afrikaanse wit vrouetydskrifte (Die Huisgenoot, Sarie Marais en Fair Lady) met dié van swart vroue in Grace en The Townships Housewife in die 1960s. ’n Primêre fokus van hierdie hoofstuk is die rol wat Grace en The Townships Housewife speel in die positiewe voorstelling van swart vroue tydens apartheid, in direkte kontras tot die voorstellinge van swart vroue in apartheid ideologie. Die volgende hoofstuk brei verder uit op die voorstelling van die swart vrou in die 1960s: hier word gekyk na die skuif wat plaasvind in die voorstelling van swart vroue van die Drum-tydskrif in die 1950s met sy hoofsaaklik manlike personeel, na die voorstelling van swart vroue in 1960s Grace en The Townships Housewife, met hoofsaaklik vroulike personeel. Die moontlike faktore verantwoordelik vir so ’n verandering in voorstelling word oorweeg. Alhoewel die inhoud van Grace en The Townships Housewife gereeld ‘wit’ standaarde van skoonheid ondersteun, toon die voorstelling van swart vroue in hierdie twee tydskrifte ook dikwels ooreenkomste met swart bewustheid filosofie se fokus op swart trots. Hierdie laaste hoofstuk ondersoek die moontlike verbintenis tussen Grace en The Townships Housewife, aan die een kant, en die vroeë begin van swart bewustheid in Suid-Afrika in die laat sestigerjare. Die dikwels seksistiese houdinge wat met swart bewustheid filosofie geassosieer word, word in hierdie hoofstuk bespreek aan die hand van voorbeelde uit Grace en The Townships Housewife. Dit is egter nie die fokus van hierdie studie nie: die fokus val op hoe swart vroue lesers van Grace en The Townships Housewife opgelegde rolle van moederskap, huisvrou en ondersteuners stuur tot posisies van groter mag.