This thesis seeks to contribute to the growing literature on the theoretical issues surrounding the notions of space and place, by examining how they can be put to work in a historical study. This work is achieved through a reading of Foucault, who not only sketched a history of space, but also undertook a number of spatial histories. To understand this, and these histories, this thesis begins by reading Foucault's professed influence on history, Nietzsche, and goes on to highlight the key role that Heidegger plays in this understanding. Just as Heidegger is central to Foucault's work on history, it is suggested that the importance of space also stems from Heidegger, especially from his work in the 1930s which critically engages with Nietzsche and the Romantic poet Hölderlin. The importance of space, or more fundamentally place, becomes central to Heidegger's later work on modern technology, his rethinking of politics and the πόλις, and art. Reading Foucault's work on history draws out the nature of his spatial language. Not only is his work replete with spatial metaphors, but he also made analyses of actual spaces. This is most evident in Foucault's two large scale historical projects – the history of madness from the Renaissance to the beginnings of psychology in Histoire de la folie, and the study of modern discipline in the army, hospitals, schools and prisons found in The Birth of the Clinic, Discipline and Punish but also in numerous shorter pieces and lectures. His two major works are re-read as spatial histories, and the standard interpretations to an extent re-placed, in the light of the argument developed in the previous chapters. Foucault's historical approach is often described as a history of the present: given the emphasis on space, it is here rethought as mapping the present.

Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Adults commonly use spatial motion to talk about time. These metaphors are of at least three different types: moving-time, moving-ego, and sequence-as-relative-position-on-a-path. But when children grasp the meaning of spatial metaphors for time and what cognitive factors account for this understanding? In this study, we aim to answer these questions by studying young children’s comprehension of three different spatial metaphors for time. Our findings show that children begin to understand metaphors for time by age five and to explain the meaning of these different metaphors by age 6. Additionally, children’s comprehension varied by metaphor type, with moving-time and moving-ego metaphors being mastered earlier than sequence-as-relative-position-on-a-path metaphors. Moreover, we found children’s comprehension ability to be associated with their understanding of the time concept. Overall, these results suggest that comprehension of time metaphors is an early emerging linguistic ability that has strong ties to children’s cognitive understanding of the time concept.

This research focused on the metaphor of space as used by Afrikaans female poets in South Africa in the period 1994-2005, both space as an environment and as an abstract space in which the poets find themselves. In this period, South Africa got a new democratic dispensation and women were de-marginalised. As a background to the study, a brief overview was given of the work of various Afrikaans poetesses, but the main focus was on the work of two contemporary poetesses, namely Use van Staden and Wilma Stockenstrom, to observe whether the new role of women in society is reflected in the work of these two poetesses. In the study, the theory of Pierre Bourdieu, a French culture-sociologist, was used, namely that no text is ever "free", but that there is a close relation between text and context. Because only the work of female writers was studied in this research, and because the poetesses give a voice to the spatiality of women, theories of feminism as well as postcolonialism were also involved in the study. The spatial metaphors in the texts of the poetesses were also analysed, because they use metaphors to portray their spatiality. These spatial metaphors also lead to the exploitation of other relevant themes. In the investigation of the representation of spatial metaphors used by Afrikaans poetesses, and in particular Use van Staden and Wilma Stockenstrom, it was found that the spaces in which women find themselves play a prominent role in their lives. It was also observed that there is disharmony between poetesses and the spaces in which they find themselves. This research found that women have been de-marginalised and that the patriarchal system has been crossed, and that this phenomenon is being portrayed by the work of female poets who give a voice to the women of this country and portray the many facets of female experience. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This research focused on the metaphor of space as used by Afrikaans female poets in South Africa in the period 1994-2005, both space as an environment and as an abstract space in which the poets find themselves. In this period, South Africa got a new democratic dispensation and women were de-marginalised. As a background to the study, a brief overview was given of the work of various Afrikaans poetesses, but the main focus was on the work of two contemporary poetesses, namely Use van Staden and Wilma Stockenstrom, to observe whether the new role of women in society is reflected in the work of these two poetesses. In the study, the theory of Pierre Bourdieu, a French culture-sociologist, was used, namely that no text is ever "free", but that there is a close relation between text and context. Because only the work of female writers was studied in this research, and because the poetesses give a voice to the spatiality of women, theories of feminism as well as postcolonialism were also involved in the study. The spatial metaphors in the texts of the poetesses were also analysed, because they use metaphors to portray their spatiality. These spatial metaphors also lead to the exploitation of other relevant themes. In the investigation of the representation of spatial metaphors used by Afrikaans poetesses, and in particular Use van Staden and Wilma Stockenstrom, it was found that the spaces in which women find themselves play a prominent role in their lives. It was also observed that there is disharmony between poetesses and the spaces in which they find themselves. This research found that women have been de-marginalised and that the patriarchal system has been crossed, and that this phenomenon is being portrayed by the work of female poets who give a voice to the women of this country and portray the many facets of female experience. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.