The study is concerned with deconstructing the effects of patriarchal discourses on the identities of women experiencing domestic violence in marital relationships. It is explored within a feminist pastoral care framework within the Basotho culture. This is seen through the lens of Basotho culture and the Christian church as understood in an emerging postmodern culture. The study explores and deconstructs patriarchal beliefs around the identities of Basotho women experiencing domestic violence in marital relationships through discursive conversations. This study has sought to benefit any Mosotho woman who suffers under the control and abuse of her husband. The study does this by giving her a voice to deconstruct the silencing and disempowering patriarchal stories/identities. In turn it hopefully allows her to construct her own empowering preferred multiple identities without blaming anybody. However, by the very nature of this study,’ the effects of patriarchy on identities of Basotho women experiencing domestic violence in marital relations’ there was partiality and subjectivity throughout my discussions and reflections, as I found it hard to stand back from my resentment. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

Colonialism in Africa had an impact on the indigenous peoples of Africa and this is shown in some of their games. The purpose of this study is to gain deeper insight into Basotho children's games and to demonstrate that the Western ideas of music and games are not necessarily the same as Basotho folk children's conceptions. The literature on Basotho children's games is reviewed though not much has been contributed by early and present Basotho writers who have generally approached it from the angle of literature without transcribing the songs. The Sesotho word for games (lipapali) embraces entertainment but a further investigation of it shows that aspects of learning of which the children were aware in some cases and in others they were not aware, are present. These are supported by musical examples and texts. The definition of play versus games is treated (with regard to infants and children) and these two concepts are still receiving constant attention and investigation by scholars and researchers as the words are synonymous and can be misleading. Infants' play is unorganised and spontaneous while games are organised structures. Furthermore, play and games are important in child development education. In this study, they are given attention in order to lay the foundation for the understanding and interpretation of games used in both cultures. It is a misconception that African children's games are accompanied with music in the Western sense. Hence, the word `music' in Sesotho children's games takes on a different connotation from those in the West. Music' in Sesotho children's games embraces not only tunes that are sung, but game verses chanted in a rhythmic manner as opposed to spoken verse. Yet, mino (music) exists in Sesotho and is equivalent to the Western idea. These chanted rhythms and games are analysed against the backdrop of specific cultural dimensions for children depending on the function of the game played. The results of this study indicated that though the idea of music in children's games is not the same, games are an educational in character building and learning. Recommendations are made for educationists and music educators. / ART HIST, VIS ARTS and MUSIC / DLITT ET PHIL (MUSICOLOGY)

The study is concerned with deconstructing the effects of patriarchal discourses on the identities of women experiencing domestic violence in marital relationships. It is explored within a feminist pastoral care framework within the Basotho culture. This is seen through the lens of Basotho culture and the Christian church as understood in an emerging postmodern culture. The study explores and deconstructs patriarchal beliefs around the identities of Basotho women experiencing domestic violence in marital relationships through discursive conversations. This study has sought to benefit any Mosotho woman who suffers under the control and abuse of her husband. The study does this by giving her a voice to deconstruct the silencing and disempowering patriarchal stories/identities. In turn it hopefully allows her to construct her own empowering preferred multiple identities without blaming anybody. However, by the very nature of this study,’ the effects of patriarchy on identities of Basotho women experiencing domestic violence in marital relations’ there was partiality and subjectivity throughout my discussions and reflections, as I found it hard to stand back from my resentment. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

The purpose of the study is to review the short stories of S M Mofokeng and M P Pelo critically in an attempt to interrogate their skills and techniques with a view to establishing how they complement each other. Furthermore the approach to the study will be informed by an integrated comparison and contrasting process. In the main, this study deals with how the authors who wrote at different time periods differ in style, albeit on the same discipline, the short story. The study comprises the introductory section, which includes the aims, method of approach, forerunners of the short stories, biographical sketches of the authors and organisation of the study. The setting, functions of the setting and definitions of keywords are also discussed. Characterization and the method of presenting characters is explained and the elements of style are identified and dealt with. A summary of the findings as well as the conclusion of the study is provided. / African Languages

This study examines contemporary Sesotho proverbs with an attempt at establishing whether they perform a significant role in society. The research highlighted the fact that they have a role to play in the 21st century. Although not commonly used as in the traditional setup, contemporary proverbs have their place as a day to day activity. In terms of language development they also add value to language change and providing alternatives in the world of challenges. Through interviews and the questionnaire, the research, indeed, showed that contemporary proverbs' survival is guaranteed. Their survival in this modem world is of great importance in this research. The observation was that some of these contemporary proverbs are the same as traditional proverbs in many aspects which include their origin and structure. Some of the contemporary proverbs use or adopt familiar patterns to express new truths, thus reflecting on new events or aspects of the modern society. The possibility is that those that adopt the structure of the Sesotho traditional proverbs have all the chance of staying in the language. Some of these contemporary proverbs, however, survive on the premise that they are jokes created for fun by youth and other members of the creative section of the society. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

Text in English / This study explores the syntax of the substantive phrase, more especially substantive phrase composed of more than one qualificative, in Sesotho. Adopting interviews, questionnaires and documents, the study seeks to investigate the syntactic sequence of qualificatives, their relation to the modified head word and influence of such ordering pattern in the phrase. Structurally, qualificatives comprise two components, namely the qualificative concord and stem. The qualificative serves to give varied information about the implicit or explicit substantive resulting in seven types of qualificatives in Sesotho, be they the Adjective, Demonstrative, Enumerative, Interrogative, Possessive, Quantifier and Relative. From the Minimalist perspective, the qualificative is recursive. The study established a maximum of five qualificatives in a single phrase. The number is generally achieved by recurrence of the Adjective, the Possessive and the Relative up to a maximum of four of the same qualificative in a single phrase. It is observed that the recurrence of the Demonstrative, Interrogative, Enumerative and Quantifier is proscribed in Sesotho. Regarding the ordering of qualificatives, it is also observed that the Demonstrative, Interrogative, Quantifier and Possessive mostly occupy the position closer to the substantive while the Adjective, Enumerative, Possessive and Quantifier mostly occur in the medial position. The Possessive and Relative occur in the outer-border position of the phrase. Such a sequence is influenced by several factors including focus, emphasis, the nature of the relationship between the head word and the dependent element, the syntactic complexity of the qualificative and the knowledge shared by both the speaker and the hearer about the qualified substantive. It can, therefore, be concluded that there are no strict rules of occurrence of the qualificatives in Sesotho. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

This thesis states that the concepts of MODIMO [GOD] (Setiloane 1976) in Sotho Traditional Religion are different to the concepts of the Christian God. The notions of MODIMO are panentheistic (all pervading), whilst the notions of the Christian God are monotheistic. The notions of MODIMO are impersonal whilst those of the Christian God are personal. The monotheistic notions of the Christian God are Hellenized (p'Bitek 1970). The task of this thesis is to de-Hellenize the notions of MODIMO. The Sotho Traditional Religion attributes of deities emphasize their nature and the pragmatism more than their natural and moral attributes. The notions of the Christian God, on the other hand, are conceived through their moral and natural attributes. In addition, the conceptual content of the attributes of the Christian and Sotho Traditional Religion concepts of deities differ. This investigation seeks to present the Sotho concepts of MODIMO as Basotho would express them, to unearth the Sotho concepts of MODIMO and to present them with the concern and the consciousness of the syncretistic fusion (Kgatla 1992) that has inevitably happened due to contact with missionary Christianity and western culture. One feature of this contact was coercion and domination, as missionary-colonizers imposed their Hellenized concepts of the Christian God, as well as imposing the British capitalist mode of production on the African agrarian and pastoral communities in South Africa. The notion of the cultural superiority of western European culture, in which the missionaries and colonizers were immersed, blinded them. This was because of the 'world' from which they came from. Unfortunately, the Christian God they preached to Africans was a strange deity that had no consideration for African people as 'full' humans. The African concepts of MODIMO have been resilient and it is possible to unearth them. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

This study examines contemporary Sesotho proverbs with an attempt at establishing whether they perform a significant role in society. The research highlighted the fact that they have a role to play in the 21st century. Although not commonly used as in the traditional setup, contemporary proverbs have their place as a day to day activity. In terms of language development they also add value to language change and providing alternatives in the world of challenges. Through interviews and the questionnaire, the research, indeed, showed that contemporary proverbs' survival is guaranteed. Their survival in this modem world is of great importance in this research. The observation was that some of these contemporary proverbs are the same as traditional proverbs in many aspects which include their origin and structure. Some of the contemporary proverbs use or adopt familiar patterns to express new truths, thus reflecting on new events or aspects of the modern society. The possibility is that those that adopt the structure of the Sesotho traditional proverbs have all the chance of staying in the language. Some of these contemporary proverbs, however, survive on the premise that they are jokes created for fun by youth and other members of the creative section of the society. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

The purpose of the study is to review the short stories of S M Mofokeng and M P Pelo critically in an attempt to interrogate their skills and techniques with a view to establishing how they complement each other. Furthermore the approach to the study will be informed by an integrated comparison and contrasting process. In the main, this study deals with how the authors who wrote at different time periods differ in style, albeit on the same discipline, the short story. The study comprises the introductory section, which includes the aims, method of approach, forerunners of the short stories, biographical sketches of the authors and organisation of the study. The setting, functions of the setting and definitions of keywords are also discussed. Characterization and the method of presenting characters is explained and the elements of style are identified and dealt with. A summary of the findings as well as the conclusion of the study is provided. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

The basic aim of this study is to investigate the nature of the narrative, concerning itself with the structures inherent in a system of signs which reveals the communicative function of literature. The general aim is to interpret the meaning of the narrative against the cultural background. The study makes a synthesis of formalist and structuralist points of view on the relations between story and discourse. A comparison of the oral and written narratives reveals that the discourse of the latter displays more artistry than that of the former. An examjnation of the problems of theme selection and development in the Northern Sotho prose narrative, from the point of view of African literature, is made. This reveals that the South African censorship laws have caused the emergence of sophisticated writers with a highly developed artistic way of portraying the South African situation sensitively by making it speak for itself. The study also examines some aspects of character in the narrative, analyzing the actions of characters in the story rather than psychological essences about them, and showing how these characters help the reader to understand the narrator's moral vision of the world. A comparison of the narrative techniques in the oral and the written narrative shows that in the former, the narrator is limited by tradition to the actions and the events that can be seen or heard, while the narrator in the latter can even describe what his characters are thinking or feeling. The study finally examines the relationship between symbolism and culture in the Northern Sotho narrative to reveal the general African philosophy in which -life is perceived as a perpetual journey undertaken by the hero from the natural to the non-natural world, whence he returns to the original world after experiencing moral lassitude and frustration. In the conclusion it is observed that both the oral and the written narratives deal with the intricacies of life as series of patterns and developments. The functional nature of the traditional African aesthetics reflected in the narratives prescribes the study of their meaning against the African cultural background. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)