Crime fiction, despite its long chronicled history, has only recently become prevalent as ‘genre fiction’ in South Africa. Despite being an historically disparaged form, crime fiction offers a platform to engage critically with elements of contemporary society. This thesis focuses in particular on the ‘Clare Hart’ series of krimi novels written by Margie Orford, considering some of the ways in which the author mediates the conventions of the genre. (I base my discussion on Like Clockwork [2006], Blood Rose [2007], Daddy’s Girl [2009] and Gallows Hill [2011], with brief remarks, in my conclusion, on the recently-published fifth novel, Water Music [2013].) I argue that Orford seeks to exploit the thrills and tensions typically associated with the genre even as, working through a gender lens, she attempts to reconfigure genre conventions and constraints in order to tackle ethical, social, economic and political challenges in South and southern Africa, especially as they impact upon women, children, and marginalised groups of people. My study examines how Orford undertakes a possible conscientising of her readership, in a genre which is ostensibly associated with easy, entertaining pleasures. In this endeavour, of particular importance is Orford’s characterisation of her protagonist, Clare Hart, an investigative journalist-cum-profiler whom she uses to turn a “defiant observer’s eye” (Orford 2010: 187) on the naturalised violence against women and children in the country, and to up-end some of the entrenched masculinist orientations of both thriller and hard-boiled traditions. Additionally, the thesis addresses the regional situation of Orford’s novels, the expressly southern African environment. Using selected theories of space and place, I argue that while setting is often important to literary fiction, for the crime thriller, setting is much more complexly spatialised, since it may assist in carrying an author’s contextualised criticism of received spatial hierarchies as they relate (especially) to gender and race. Additionally, I point out that Orford’s novels offer her the opportunity to situate narrative in relation to troubled regional histories and geographies, and to move beyond the immediate southern African locality to map the mass-mediated, global vectors which constitute the present, and to situate history in relation to contentious, provocative contemporary concerns such as “organized crime, collapsing state institutions, [and] street gangsters” (Orford 2010: 184). In doing so, I find, Orford offers psychological insight into the complex and highly unsettled nature of the protracted political transition which has marked South Africa’s shift from apartheid to democracy. / M.A. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Most critics and academics have concentrated on the referential function of Fugard's dramatic dialogue. In this thesis I' argue that to notice just one way in which the language functions tends to limit the text. My aim, therefore, is to look at the other ways in which language functions in selected Fugard plays. I explore the way in which Fugard uses dialect and sociolect to establish a stage world that looks and sounds recognisably South African to South Africans. I investigate how .certain assumptions (on the part of the audience) accompany the acceptance of the stage world as 'real' and how Fugard uses subtextual inferences to force the audience to critically re-evaluate these assumptions. I argue that the way to consciously understand and evaluate the sub text is through a detailed investigation of the different ways in which language functions in dramatic dialogue. Therefore, by applying Pfister's theories on the multi functionality of dramatic dialogue to selected Fugard plays, I look at how characters reveal themselves to the audience through the choice of specific words, subject matter and language variant. I also investigate, by applying Quigley's observations regarding Pinter's plays to Fugard's characters, the way in which language reveals characters striving to negotiate their status within relationships. My argument is that as far as characterisation and relationships are concerned the actual referential function of the words reveals only the tip of the iceberg - the rest lies beneath this and is to be uncovered by looking at the other ways in which the language functions. Finally I look at the way in which language as the medium of communication per se is foregrounded in Fugard's plays and how this accentuates the role that language plays in communication, as well as the failure of communication, in the South African context. Related to this metalingual function of dramatic dialogue I investigate the idea, put forward by Ibitokun, that language can be used as a 'mask' behind which a person can hide his true identity. I agree with Ibitokun that this is not only a strategy for survival but that, when consciously adopted, it is also a means for challenging the status quo. The Fugard plays I have selected are Master Harold ... and the boys, Boesman and Lena, Sizwe Bansi is Dead and The Island. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die meerderheid kritici en academici het in die verlede gekonsentreer op die referensiële funksie van dramatiese dialoog in die werke van Fugard. In hierdie tesis argumenteer ek dat so 'n enkele gesigspunt op die rol wat taal speel neig om die teks te beperk. Derhalwe kyk ek in die studie na die ander wyses waarop taal in geselekteerde Fugard dramas funksioneer. . Ek begin met 'n ondersoek na Fugard se gebruik van dialek en sosiolek om 'n wêreld op die verhoog te skep wat herkenbaar Suid-Afrikaans klink vir Suid-Afrikaners. Hierna bekyk ek die wyse waarop sekere aannames (deur die gehoor) saamgaan met die aanvaarding van die "realiteit" van die verhoogwêreld en hoe Fugard subtekstuele verwysings benut om die gehoor te dwing tot kritiese herevaluering van daardie aannames. Die argument is voorts dat 'n gedetailleerde ontleding van die wyse waarop taal in dramatiese dialoog fuksioneer onontbeerlik is indien mens die subteks wil verstaan en ontleed. Deur Pfister se teorieë oor die multifunksionaliteit van dramatiese dialoog toe te pas op geselekteerde Fugard toneeltekste, kyk ek dus hoe die onderskeie karakters hulle aan gehore openbaar deur hul gebruik van spesifieke woorde, inhoude en taalvariante. Ek gebruik ook Quigley se observasies oor Pinter se stukke om te bepaal tot watter mate die taal van Fugard se karakters dui op mense wat poog om hulle status in verhoudings te vestig. My argument is dat die referensiële funksie van taal slegs die oppervlak van karakterisering en verhoudings verteenwoordig - die res lê dieper verberg en moet geopenbaar word deur te kyk na die ander wyses waarop taal funksioneer. Laastens bespreek ek die mate waartoe taal per se in Fugard se stukke na vore kom en hoe dit die rol van taal in kommunikasie benadruk, asook die tekort daaraan in die Suid- Afrikaanse konteks. Verwant aan hierdie metalinguistiese funksie van taal, toets ek Ibitokun se idee dat taal 'n masker kan wees waaragter die persoon sy ware identiteit versteek. Ek stem met Ibitokun saam dat hierdie nie slegs 'n strategie vir oorlewing is nie, maar dat dit, doelbewus aangewend, ook gebruik kan word om die status quo te bevraagteken. Die Fugard tekste wat bekyk word is Master Harold ...and the boys, Boesman and Lena, Sizwe Bansi is Dead en The Island.

Thesis (DLitt (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / The introductory chapter of this thesis – in which I place Mphahlele's works within the Afrocentric, postcolonial theoretical context within which he wrote – consists of three sections that explain the three different ways in which I contextualise my investigation of the ways in which Mphahlele represents his concept of African humanism in his narrative writings. In section 1.1 I detail the historical background and context within which Mphahlele's philosophy of African humanism will be shown to have evolved, alongside my analysis of a selected few of his poems and all of his narrative writings, articulated in the main body of the thesis. I approach this introductory sketching of the historical context by tracing the development over time of antecedent concepts articulated by other writers, followed by a chronological tracing of the progressive, successive articulations of the idea of African humanism in Mphahlele’s own discursive writing . This is followed in section 1.2 by an outline of the theoretical notions or concepts from various sources by means of which the analysis is executed, some of which are Edward Said's notion of "the integrated vision", Fanon's idea of "national culture" and Bhabha's metonymic notion of "mimicry". Section 1.3 dwells on a description of the conceptual approach I use throughout the thesis – that of viewing literature as anchored in the empirical milieu constituting the referential framework of its subject matter. In this section I also highlight the analytical method of scrutinising Mphahlele's works from the sociolinguistic point of view that links dialogue and the symbols yielded by fiction to the local cultural orientation of the people for whom artefacts were composed. The organisation of the later chapters of this thesis according to literary genre is also explained and rationalised in section 1.3.

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis examines the late novels of Henry James in the light of a distinction between "resolved" and "unresolved" ironies. The first chapter aims to clarify this distinction, arguing that in "traditional" ii'onie works the dominant irony is characteristically "resolved": that is, such works are structured upon the gradual enlightenment of the protagonist, to issue in the extinction of irony as such a protagonist achieves equality of insight with the reader. Such resolution, it is argued, is dependent on the author's access to and acceptance of a stable system of values. Conversely, where such stable communal values seem to the writer to be inconsistent with the unstable reality he perceives, the dominant irony of the work, in not being based upon a clearly defined or implied norm, is likely to remain "unresolved". The second chapter approaches the nineteenth-century novel as the product of a society generally perceived to be based on firmly established values. Resolved irony thus predominates in these novels, but not as the vehicle of a complacent view of society: the irony is usually dependent on the perceived need for change in society, its resolution being posited on a belief in the possibility of such change. As such a belief weakens, an unresolved element becomes more evident in these novels, to predominate by the end of the century. The third chapter uses James' The Ambassadors to show how unresolved irony can result from an author's exploration of his subject beyond the confines of his declared intention. In thi's instance, it is argued, the unresolved irony is a function of a more complex view of his pro, tagonist than James seems to have foreseen. The fourth chapter develops this enquiry by showing that in The Wings of the Dove James' subject once again grew beyond the projected outline, but in this case with James fully avlare of the development. Unresolved irony, though still a product of "unintended" meanings, thus more consciously reflects a critical view of its subject. The fifth chapter adduces The Goleen Bowl as James' most sustained work of unresolved irony. It is the aim to demonstrate that the novel's meaning is entirely a function of this lack of resolution, the controlling vision being that of a society in which professed values are hopelessly at odds with true motives. Joseph Conrad and D.H. Lawrence are consistently used for comparison and contrast with James, partly to demonstrate their awareness of the attractions· and dangers of irony as a response to perplexity, and partly to claim for James a place next to them as a profound commentator on the early twentieth century.

Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Herman Melville (1819-1891) remains a recalcitrant and enigmatic presence in the Western canon. This dissertation explores the radical narrative strategies engaged by Melville in the composition of his prose fictions. It is my contention that Melville's writings to an important degree constitute a subversive response to the privileged apocalyptic and teleological narratives of the day-national, ontological, metaphysical, and literary, or aesthetic-and that he primarily engages these narratives in terms of the archetypal symbolism of the romantic quest. Against this linear and goal-oriented, or plotted, progress, Melville's own narratives assert the nonredemptive forces of time, change, and natural flux, which the quest is symbolically meant to conquer and subject to a redemptive pattern. Melville's critique of the quest takes the shape of a radical fragmentation of its agonistic, evolutionary force-its progress-which is always directed towards a resolvent end. In this sense, most of his protagonists may be defined as questers, characters who seek, by some (individuating) action, to achieve a monumental point of closure. But the Melvillean narrative (even when narrated by the protagonist) always resists this intention. His rhetoric is digressive and improvisational, his style heterogeneous and parodic, and his endings always indeterminate and equivocal. Significantly, this same quality renders his prose fictions highly resistant to an apocalyptic hermeneutics that strives to redeem the monumental "meaning" of the work from the narrative itself. The destabilising questions raised in Melville's work with regard to redemptive plot and progress ultimately centre on the idea of Providence, in other words, the authorising telos that informs, governs and justifies the quest. By fragmenting this quest, Melville undermines the effective presence of Providence, clearing away what he perceives to be an illusion of control harboured in a dual but related image of the providential God and the providential author as external, "metaphysical" authorities directing their worlds in terms of a master plan toward final and meaningful closure. Melville's fiction, then, imaginatively (and philosophically) engages a world in which such stable authorising centres are absent. It is in terms of this absence that I intend to examine the nature of Melville's prose fictions. The focus in this dissertation is specifically on Typee, Omoo, Mardi, Redburn, White-Jacket, Pierre, Israel Potter and The Confidence-Man. Throughout, however, the canonical Moby-Dick and the unfinished and posthumous Billy Budd, are also drawn into the discussion in order to clarify and extend the points raised. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Herman Melville (1819-1891) bly 'n weerspannige en enigmatiese aanwesigheid in die Westerse kanon. Hierdie verhandeling ondersoek die radikale narratiewe strategiëe wat deur Melville ingespan is tydens die komposisie van sy fiksie in prosa. Ek gaan van die standpunt uit dat Melville se werk tot 'n groot mate gedefinieer word deur 'n ondermynende reaksie teen die bevoorregte apokaliptiese en teleologiese narratiewe diskoerse van sy tyd-nasionaal, ontologies, metafisies, en literêr, of esteties-en dat hy hoofsaaklik hierdie diskoerse ondersoek in terme van die argetipiese simboliek van die romantiese soektog of "quest." Teenoor hierdie lineêre en doelgerigte, of beraamde ("plotted"), vooruitgang, beklemtoon Melville se eie verhale die nie-verlossende kragte van tyd, verandering, en natuurlike stroming, dit wat die "quest" simbolies beoog om te oorwin en onderwerp aan 'n verlossings-patroon. Melville se kritiese beoordeling van die "quest" neem die vorm aan van 'n radikale fragmentering van die opposisionele, evolusionêre krag---die progressie-wat altyd op 'n beslissende slot gerig is. In hierdie sin kan ons die meerderheid van sy protagoniste as soekers ("questers") definieer, karakters wat poog, deur middel van die een of ander (individuerende) handeling, om 'n monumentale slot te behaal. Maar die Melvilliese verhaal (selfs wanneer deur die protagonis vertel) werk altyd dié voorneme teë. Sy retorika is uitwydend en improvisatories, sy styl heterogeen en parodies, en sy slotte altyd onbeslis en dubbelsinnig. Dit is aanmerklik dat hierdie einste eienskap sy fiksie hoogs weerstandig maak teen 'n apokaliptiese hermeneutiek wat poog om die monumentale "betekenis" van die werk uit die narratief self te herwin of "verlos." Die ondergrawende vrae wat in Melville se werk ten opsigte van die beslissende verloop ("plot") en progressie geopper word word uiteindelik grotendeels gekoppel aan die idee van die Voorsienigheid, met ander woorde, die outoriserende telos wat die "quest" beïnvloed, regeer en regverdig. Deur die "quest" te fragmenteer, ondermyn Melville die effektiewe teenwoordigheid van die Voorsienigheid, en verwyder daarmee dit wat hy ervaar as 'n illusie van beheer wat behoue bly in die dubbele beeld van die bestierende God en die bestierende outeur as eksterne, "metafisiese" outoriteite wat hulle wêrelde in terme van 'n uitgewerkte plan na 'n finale en betekenisvolle einde lei. Melville se fiksie, dus, op verbeeldingsryke (en filosofiese) wyse, stel 'n wêreld daar waarin sulke outoriserende sentra afwesig is. Dit is in terme van hierdie afwesigheid wat ek beoog om die aard van Melville se fiksies te ondersoek. Hierdie verhandeling fokus op Typee, Omoo, Mardi, Redburn, White-Jacket, Pierre, Israel Potter en The Confidence-Man. Die kanonieke Moby-Dick en die onvoltooide en postume Billy Budd word egter deurgaans in die bespreking opgeneem ter wille van die duidelikheid en uitbreiding van die argument.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This is a qualitative analytical study that investigates the use of English as lingua franca (ELF) between doctors and patients with different L1 at four different HIV/AIDS clinics in the Western Cape. The study addresses a gap in medical research, especially in the field of HIV/AIDS, namely, a lack of sufficient data-driven analytical investigation into the linguistic and conversational nature of doctor-patient communication in ELF in this setting in South Africa. A literature review contextualises ELF, discourse analysis (DA), conversation analysis (CA) and genre theory providing a theoretical framework for the study. The methodology involves audio-recording and transcription of HIV/AIDS consultations conducted in ELF. From the genre perspective, the study investigates the different genres in and determines if HIV/AIDS consultations are a sub-genre of medical discourses. DA investigates what contextual, socio-cultural linguistic features characterise medical interaction in this multilingual context and what ELF linguistic strategies participants use to signal and resolve misunderstanding. CA investigates the turn organisation and turn-taking patterns in the consultations to assess participants’ contributions and identify different types of sequences that characterise them, aiming to understand how they enable the interactants play their roles as doctors and patients. The results reveal that HIV/AIDS consultations exhibit formal features of doctor-patient consultations in general and intertextually revert to other oral genres leading to the conclusion that, considering their purpose, participants and context, HIV/AIDS consultations are like all medical consultations and are a sub-genre of medical discourse. The macro analysis reveals that the interactants’ socio-cultural and multi-linguistic backgrounds do positively influence the nature of the interaction in this context as it highlights characteristic linguistic features of ELF usage like borrowing, linguistic transference from L1, the use of analogy, code-switching and local metaphors all resulting from processes of indigenisation and hybridisation. The results reveal few instances of misunderstanding, concurring with earlier studies that problems of miscommunication may be minimal when two languages and/or cultural groups interact. The micro analysis reveals that the turns in the consultation follow the pre-selection and recurrent speakership patterns and that despite the advocacy for partnership between doctors and patients in their contribution and negotiation of outcomes, the doctor unavoidably remains the dominant partner. S/he determines the course of the consultation by initiating more turns, asking most of the questions and often unilaterally deciding on topic changes. S/he has longer talking time than the patient in the sequences and the physical examination and prescription phases of the consultation while the patient is mostly portrayed almost as a docile participant yielding to the doctor’s requests and taking very little if any initiative of his/her own to communicate his/her views and desires. The study reveals instances of both patient and doctor initiated repair to resolve any misunderstanding, which improves the quality of the interaction and its outcomes such as adherence and treatment follow-up. The study further highlights the challenges faced in the field which impacted on the data, the most crucial being the complicated but necessary ethical procedures required to get participants’ consent to participate in the study. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie kwalitatiewe analitiese studie ondersoek die gebruik van Engels as lingua franca (ELF) tussen dokters en pasiënte met verskillende eerstetaal (T1) by vier verskillende MIV/vigs-klinieke in die Wes-Kaap. Die studie werp die soeklig op ʼn leemte in mediese navorsing, veral op MIV/vigs-gebied, en bring ʼn gebrek aan datagedrewe analitiese ondersoek na die taalkundige en gespreksaard van dokter-pasiënt-kommunikasie in ELF in hierdie omgewing in Suid-Afrika aan die lig. ʼn Literatuuroorsig van navorsing kontekstualiseer ELF, genre-teorie, diskoersanalise (DA) en gespreksanalise (GA), en bied ʼn teoretiese raamwerk vir die studie. Die navorsingsmetode behels oudio-opnames en transkripsie van MIV/vigs-konsultasies in ELF. Uit die genre-oogpunt bestudeer die navorsing die verskillende genres in MIV-konsultasies, en bepaal of dié konsultasies as ʼn subgenre van mediese diskoers beskou kan word. Met behulp van DA stel die studie vas watter kontekstuele, sosiokulturele taaleienskappe mediese interaksie in hierdie veeltalige konteks kenmerk, en watter ELF-taalstrategieë deelnemers gebruik om misverstande aan te dui en op te los. Daarna ondersoek GA die beurtorganisasie en beurtmaakpatrone in die konsultasies, om deelnemers se bydraes te beoordeel en verskillende soorte kenmerkende sekwensies uit te wys, en uiteindelik te begryp hoe dít die onderskeie partye in staat stel om hul rolle as dokters en pasiënte te vervul. Die bevindinge dui daarop dat MIV-konsultasies formele kenmerke van dokter-pasiënt-konsultasies in die algemeen toon en intertekstueel by ander mondelinge genres aansluit. Dít lei tot die gevolgtrekking dat, gedagtig aan die doel, deelnemers en konteks, MIV-konsultasies soos enige ander mediese konsultasie is en as ʼn subgenre van mediese diskoers beskou kan word. Die makro-analise (DA) toon dat die onderskeie gespreksdeelnemers se sosiokulturele en veeltalige agtergronde ʼn positiewe uitwerking het op die aard van die wisselwerking in hierdie konteks, aangesien dit kenmerkende taalkundige eienskappe van ELF-gebruik, soos leenwoorde, taaloordrag vanaf die L1, die gebruik van analogie, koderuiling en plaaslike metafore, beklemtoon. Al hierdie eienskappe spruit uit prosesse van verinheemsing en hibridisering. Die studie toon min gevalle van misverstand, wat met die resultate van vorige navorsing ooreenstem, naamlik dat probleme van wankommunikasie minimaal is wanneer twee tale en/of kultuurgroepe met mekaar omgaan. Die mikro-ontleding (GA) dui daarop dat die beurte in die konsultasie die preseleksie- en herhalende sprekerspatrone volg en dat, ondanks die voorspraak vir ʼn vennootskap tussen dokters en pasiënte in hul bydraes en bedinging van uitkomste, die dokter onvermydelik die dominante vennoot bly. Hy/sy bepaal die verloop van die konsultasie deur meer beurte aan te voer, die meeste vrae te stel en dikwels eensydig te besluit om die onderwerp te verander. Hy/sy het ook ʼn langer spreekbeurt as die pasiënt in die gespreksekwensies sowel as in die fisiese-ondersoek- en voorskriffases van die konsultasie. Daarenteen word die pasiënt merendeels as ʼn bykans gedweë deelnemer uitgebeeld wat aan die dokter se versoeke toegee en weinig of geen eie inisiatief aan die dag lê om sy/haar sienings en behoeftes oor te dra. Die studie toon ook gevalle van sowel pasiënt- as dokteraangevoerde herstel om enige misverstand uit die weg te ruim, wat die gehalte van die wisselwerking én die uitkomste daarvan, soos behandelingsgetrouheid en nasorg, verbeter. Die navorsing beklemtoon voorts die gebiedspesifieke uitdagings wat die data beïnvloed. Die belangrikste hiervan is die ingewikkelde dog nodige etiese prosedures wat vereis word om persone se toestemming tot studiedeelname te verkry.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study explores representations of troubled childhoods in post-1990 African narratives. Defining troubled childhoods as the experiences of children exposed to different forms of violations including physical, psychological, sexual and emotional abuse, the study reflects on depictions of such experiences in a selection of contemporary African fictional texts in English. The study‘s central thesis is that, while particular authors‘ deployment of affective writing techniques offers implicit analysis of troubled childhoods, the knowledge about this reality that such literary texts produce and place in the public sphere resonates with readers because of the narrative textures that both make knowledge concerning such childhoods accessible and create a sense of the urgent plight of such children. They render troubled childhoods grieveable. The study delineates three attributes of the selected texts that explain why such fictions can be considered significant from both social and aesthetic perspectives: namely, their foregrounding of intertwined vectors of violation and/or vulnerability; their skilful use of multi-layered narrative voices and their creation of specific posttraumatic damage and survival tropes. The four main thesis chapters are organised thematically rather than conceptually or theoretically, because representations of troubled childhoods are contextually and experientially entangled. Using Maria Pia Lara‘s notion of ―illocutionary force‖ and specific aspects of trauma and affect theory, the study focuses centrally on how the units of narration construct persuasive and convincing depictions of troubled childhoods while using fiction to convene platforms for reflection on the phenomena of child victims of war violence, abusive parenting, sexual predation and sexual violation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie ondersoek voorstellings van gekwelde kinder-ervaringswêrelde in post-1990 narratiewe deur skrywers van Afrika. Gekwelde kinder-ervaringswêrelde word gedefinieer as die ondervindinge van kinders wat blootgestel is aan verskillende vorms van skending, insluitend fisiese, psigologiese, seksuele en emosionele skending. Met hierdie definisie in gedagte reflekteer die studie op gelselekteerde uitbeeldings van sulke ervarings in hedendaagse Afrika-fiksie in Engels. Die studie se sentrale tesis is dat, terwyl sekere outeurs se ontplooiïng van affektiewe skryftegnieke implisiete analise van gekwelde kinder-ervaringswêrelde bied, resoneer die kennis oor hierdie realiteit wat sulke literêre tekste oplewer en in die publieke sfeer plaas met die leespubliek omdat die struktuur van die narratiewe die verskynsel van kwellende kinder-ervarings onthul en bewustheid van die dringende aard van die verskynsel bemoontlik. Sulke kinderlewens word op hierdie manier treurbaar [grievable] gemaak. Die studie delinieer drie eienskappe van die gekose tekste wat verduidelik waarom hierdie tekste vanuit beide sosiale en estetiese perspektiewe as beduidend beskou kan word, naamlik die verstrengelde vektors van verkragting en kwesbaarheid wat hulle op die voorgrond bring, hul bekwame gebruik van veellagige narratiewe stemme en hul skepping van spesifieke posttraumatiese skade- en oorlewingstrope. Die vier middelste tesis-hoofstukke is tematies in plaas van konsepsueel of teoreties georganiseer, omdat voorstellings van gekwelde kinder-ervaringswêrelde kontekstueel- en ervaringsverstrik is. Met die gebruik van Maria Pia Lara se begrip van illocutionary force en spesifieke aspekte van trauma- en inwerkingsteorie fokus die studie hoofsaaklik op hoe die narratiewe eenhede oorhalende en oortuigende afbeeldings van gekwelde kinder-ervaringswêrelde konstrueer terwyl hulle fiksie gebruik om platforms vir refleksie op die fenomeen van kinderslagoffers van oorlogsgeweld, misbruikende ouerskap en seksuele- predasie en verkragting byeen te bring.

Thesis (PhD)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The last decade in Zimbabwe was characterised by an unprecedented economic and political crisis. As the crisis threatened to destabilise the political status quo, it prompted in governmental circles the perceived 'need‘ for political containment. The ensuing attempts to regulate the expressive sphere, censor alternative historiographies of the crisis and promote monolithic and self-serving perceptions of the crisis presented a real danger of the distortion of information about the situation. Representing the crisis therefore occupies a contested and discursive space in debates about the Zimbabwean crisis. It is important to explore the nature of cultural interventions in the urgent process of re-inscribing the crisis and extending what is known about Zimbabwe‘s so-called 'lost decade‘. The study analyses literary responses to state-imposed restrictions on information about the state of Zimbabwean society during the post-2000 economic and political crisis which reached the public sphere, with particular reference to creative literature by Zimbabwean authors published during the period 2000 to 2010. The primary concern of this thesis is to examine the efficacy of post-2000 Zimbabwean literature as constituting a significant archive of the present and also as sites for the articulation of dissenting views – alternative perspectives assessing, questioning and challenging the state‘s grand narrative of the crisis. Like most African literatures, Zimbabwean literature relates (directly and indirectly) to definite historical forces and processes underpinning the social, cultural and political production of space. The study mainly invokes Maria Pia Lara‘s theory about the ―moral texture‖ and disclosive nature of narratives by marginalised groups in order to explore the various ways through which such narratives revise hegemonically distorted representations of themselves and construct more inclusive discourses about the crisis. A key finding in this study is that through particular modes of representation, most of the literary works put a spotlight on some of the major talking points in the political and socio-economic debate about the post-2000 Zimbabwean crisis, while at the same time extending the contours of the debate beyond what is agreeable to the powerful. This potential in literary works to deconstruct and transform dominant elitist narratives of the crisis and offering instead, alternative and more representative narratives of the excluded groups‘ experiences, is made possible by their affective appeal. This affective dimension stems from the intimate and experiential nature of the narratives of these affected groups. However, another important finding in this study has been the advent of a distinct canon of hegemonic texts which covertly (and sometimes overtly) legitimate the state narrative of the crisis. The thesis ends with a suggestion that future scholarly enquiries look set to focus more closely on the contribution of creative literature to discourses on democratisation in contemporary Zimbabwe. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die afgelope dekade in Zimbabwe is gekenmerk deur ‗n ongekende ekonomiese en politiese krisis. Terwyl die krisis gedreig het om die politieke status quo omver te werp, het dit die ‗noodsaak‘ van politieke insluiting aangedui. Die daaropvolgende pogings om die ruimte vir openbaarmaking te reguleer, alternatiewe optekenings van gebeure te sensureer en ook om monolitiese, self-bevredigende waarnemings van die krisis te bevorder, het 'n wesenlike gevaar van distorsie van inligting i.v.m. die krisis meegebring. Voorstellings van die krisis vind sigself dus in 'n gekontesteerde en diskursiewe ruimte in debatte aangaande die Zimbabwiese krisis. Dit is gevolglik belangrik om die aard van kulturele intervensies in die dringende proses om die krisis te hervertolk te ondersoek asook om kennis van Zimbabwe se sogenaamde 'verlore dekade‘ uit te brei. Die studie analiseer literêre reaksies op staats-geïniseerde inkortings van inligting aangaande die sosiale toestand in Zimbabwe gedurende die post-2000 ekonomiese en politiese krisis wat sulke informasie uit die openbare sfeer weerhou het, met spesifieke verwysing na skeppende literatuur deur Zimbabwiese skrywers wat tussen 2000 en 2010 gepubliseer is. Die belangrikste doelwit van hierdie tesis is om die doeltreffendheid van post-2000 Zimbabwiese letterkunde as konstituering van 'n alternatiewe Zimbabwiese 'argief van die huidige‘ en ook as ruimte vir die artikulering van teenstemme – alternatiewe perspektiewe wat die staat se 'groot narratief‘ aangaande die krisis bevraagteken – te ondersoek. Soos met die meeste ander Afrika-letterkundes is daar in hierdie literatuur 'n verband (direk en/of indirek) met herkenbare historiese kragte en prosesse wat die sosiale, kulturele en politiese ruimtes tot stand bring. Die studie maak in die ondersoek veral gebruik van Maria Pia Lara se teorie aangaande die 'morele tekstuur‘ en openbaringsvermoë van narratiewe aangaande gemarginaliseerde groepe ten einde die verskillende maniere waarop sulke narratiewe hegemoniese distorsies in 'offisiële‘ voorstellings van hulself 'oorskryf‘ om meer inklusiewe diskoerse van die krisis daar te stel, na te vors. 'n Kernbevinding van die studie is dat, d.m.v. van spesifieke tipe voorstellings, die meeste van die letterkundige werke wat hier ondersoek word, 'n soeklig plaas op verskeie van die belangrikste kwessies in die politieke en sosio-ekonomiese debatte oor die Zimbabwiese krisis, terwyl dit terselfdertyd die kontoere van die debat uitbrei verby die grense van wat vir die maghebbers gemaklik is. Die potensieel van letterkundige werke om oorheersende, elitistiese narratiewe oor die krisis te dekonstrueer en te omvorm, word moontlik gemaak deur hul affektiewe potensiaal. Hierdie affektiewe dimensie word ontketen deur die intieme en ervaringsgewortelde geaardheid van die narratiewe van die geaffekteerde groepe. Nietemin is 'n ander belangrike bevinding van hierdie studie dat daar 'n onderskeibare kanon van hegemoniese tekste bestaan wat op verskuilde (en soms ook openlike) maniere die staatsnarratief anngaande die krisis legitimeer. Die tesis sluit af met die voorstel dat toekomstige vakkundige studies meer spesifiek sou kon fokus op die bydrae van kreatiewe skryfwerk tot die demokratisering van kontemporêre Zimbabwe.

Thesis (PhD)-- Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study engages with the complete novelistic oeuvre of the Zanzibari-born author Abdulrazak Gurnah, whose fiction is dedicated to the theme of migration. With each novel, however, Gurnah deploys innovative stylistic features as an analytic frame to engage with his signature topic. From his first novel to his eighth, Gurnah offers new insights into relocation and raises new questions about what it means to be a migrant or a stranger in inhospitable circumstances and how such conditions call for a negotiation of hospitable space. What gives each of his works a distinct aesthetic appeal is the artistic resourcefulness and versatility with which he frames his narratives, in order to situate them within their historical contexts. This allows him to interrogate the motives behind his characters’ actions (or behind their inaction). Gurnah, therefore, employs a variety of narrative perspectives that not only challenge the reader in the task of interpreting his complex works, but which also allow for the pleasure of carrying out this task. In its exploration of migrant subjectivities and their multiple and varied negotiations to create enabling spaces, this thesis shows how Gurnah’s fiction deploys various artistic strategies as possible ways of thinking about individual identity and social relations with others. In short, this thesis explores how Gurnah’s texts become discursive tools for understanding the complexity of migrancy and cultural exchanges along the Swahili coast, in Zanzibar, in the Indian Ocean, and in the UK. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is ‘n studie van die geheelwerk van die Zanzibar-gebore skrywer Abdulrazak Gurnah, wie se fiksiewerk gewy is aan die tema van migrasie. Hoewel daar so ‘n deurlopende en kenmerkende tema in die geheelwerk is, ontwikkel die skrywer stilistiese vernuwing in elk van die individuele romans. Vanaf sy eerste roman tot en met sy agtste en mees onlangse, bied Gurnah se romans aan die leser nuwe insigte in die tema van verhuising, en die romans vra elkeen nuwe vrae oor wat dit beteken om ‘n migrant of vreemdeling te wees in onverwelkomende omgewings. Die romans wil ook vra wat die opsies is vir die individu om sulke omgewings meer verwelkomend te ervaar, of meer verwelkomend te maak. Wat Gurnah se werk so uitsonderlik maak en wat elke individuele roman ‘n kenmerkende estetiese eienskap gee, is sy vernuf en veelsydigheid as skrywer, en veral sy vermoë om sy verhale te historiseer. Hierdie historisering stel hom in staat om die beweegredes van sy karakters en hulle aksies (en dikwels ook gebrek aan aksies) te verken sowel as te bevraagteken. Gurnah maak gebruik van ‘n aantal estetiese perspektiewe wat nie alleen ‘n uitdaging stel aan die leser nie, maar wat terselfdertyd ‘n hoogs bevredigende leesaktiwiteit moontlik maak. Hierdie tesis is ‘n ondersoek na die aard van Gurnah se werk, en veral die verkenning van die innerlike wereld van die verhuisde, en die veelvoudige verskeidenheid van onderhandelings wat sulke individue het met hulle omgewing. Die tesis verken die maniere waarop Gurnah se tekste beskou kan word as kreatiewe handleidings met die doel om die kompleksiteite van verhuising en migrasie te begryp; en veral verhuising en kulturele wisselwerkinge aan die Swahili-kus, sowel as Zanzibar, die groter Indiese Oseaan-wereld en ook die Verenigde Koninkryk.

Thesis (PhD)-- Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis examines how selected Ugandan literary texts portray constructions and negotiations of national identities as they intersect with overlapping and cross-cutting identities like race, ethnicity, gender, religious denomination, and political affiliation. The word “negotiations” is central to the close reading of selected focal texts I offer in this thesis for it implies that there are times when a tension may arise between national identity and one or more of these other identities (for instance when races or ethnic groups are imagined outside the nation as foreigners) or between one national identity (say Ugandan) and other national identities (say British) for those characters who occupy more than one national space and whose understanding of home therefore includes a here (say Britain) and a there (say Uganda). The study therefore examines the portrayal of how various borders (internal and external, sociocultural and geopolitical) are navigated in particular literary texts in order to construct, reconstruct, and perform (trans)national identity. The concept of the border is crucial to this study because any imagining of community is done against a backdrop of similarities (what the “us” share in common) and differences (what makes the “them” distinct from “us”). Drawing from various theorists of nationalism, postcolonialism, transnationalism and gender, I explore the representation of key events in Uganda’s history (for instance colonialism, decolonization, expulsion, and civil war) and investigate how selected writers narrate/sing these events in their constructions of Ugandan (trans)national identities. My analysis is guided by insights drawn from the work of the Russian literary theorist, Mikhail Bakhtin, particularly his concepts of dialogism and heteroglossia. His proposition that the novel is a site for the dialogic interaction of multiple languages (say of authorities, generations and social groups) and of speeches (say of narrators, characters and authors) each espousing a particular worldview or ideology enables me to create a correlation between literary texts and the nation (which contains a multiplicity of identities like races, ethnic groups, genders, religious denominations and political affiliations with each having its own interests and ‘language’), and to argue that Ugandan national identity is constituted by the existence of these very identities that overlap with it. By paying attention to the way selected literary texts portray how these disparate identities dialogue with the larger national community in different situations and how the national community in turn dialogues with other nations through cultural exchanges, migration, exile and diaspora, this study aims at unravelling the dynamics involved in the negotiation of (trans)national identities both within the nation and outside it. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek hoe geselekteerde Ugandese literêre tekste vorms, hervormings en onderhandelings van nasionale identiteite – na mate hulle deurvleg word deur oorvleuelende en dwarssnydende identitite soos díe van ras, etnisiteit, gender, godsdienstige denominasies en politieke affiliasies – uitbeeld. Die term “onderhandelings” staan sentraal in die diepte-lesing van geselekteerde fokus-tekste wat ek in hierdie tesis aanbied, want dit impliseer dat daar tye is wanneer ‘n spanning mag onstaan tussen nasionale identiteit en een of meer van hierdie ander identiteite (byvoorbeeld wanneer rasse of etniese groepe gekarakteriseer word as buite die nasie, m.a.w. as vreemdelinge), of tussen een nasionale identiteit (bv. Ugandees) en ander nasionale identiteite (bv. Brits) vir daardie karakters wat meer as een nasionale ruimte beset of wie se begrip van hul tuiste dus inbegrepe is van ‘n hier (bv. Brittanje) sowel as ‘n daar (soos bv.Uganda). Om hierdie rede ondersoek die studie die uitbeelding van maniere waarop verskeie soorte (interne en eksterne, sosio-kulturele en geo-politiese) grense gehanteer word in partikulêre literêre tekste ten einde (trans)nasionale identiteite te konstrueer, omvorm, of uit te beeld. Die konsep van ‘n grens is die belangrikste idee in hierdie studie, want enige konseptualisering van ‘n gemeenskap gebeur teen die agtergrond van gemeenhede (wat die “ons” in gemeen het) en verskille (wat “hulle” onderskei van “ons”). Met behulp van verskeie teoretici van nasionalisme, post-kolonialisme, trans-nasionalismes en gender, ondersoek ek die uitbeeldings van kern-gebeurtenisse in die geskiedenis van Uganda (byvoobeeld kolonialisme, dekolonialisering, verbanning van sekere mense en groepe en die burgeroorlog) en analiseer ek hoe sekere skrywers hierdie gebeurtenisse uitbeeld of verhaal in hulle konstruksies van Ugandese (trans)nasionalisme/s. My analises word gelei deur insigte verleen aan die oeuvre van die Russiese literêre teoretikus Mikhael Bakhtin, veral sy konsepte van dialogisme en heteroglossia. Sy voorstel dat die roman die ruimte is vir die interaksie van verskeie ‘tale’ (byvoorbeeld díe van outoriteite, ouderdoms- en sosiale groepe) en van diskoerse (bv. díe van vertellers, karakters en skrywers) wat elkeen ‘n partikulêre wêreldbeeld of ideologie aanbied of aanhang, stel my in die posisie om ‘n korrelasie te skep tussen die literêre tekste en die nasie (wat self ‘n oorvloed van identiteite soos díe van rasse, etniese groepe, genders, godsdienstige denominasies of politieke affiliasies bevat) en om te kan argumenteer dat die Ugandese nasionale identiteit konstitueer word deur die bestaan van presies hierdie (ander) identiteite wat daarmee saamval of oorvleuel. Deur aandag te gee aan die manier waarop geselekteerde literêre tekste die dialoë tussen hierdie onderskeie identiteite uitbeeld, elk waarvan hul eie belange en ‘tale’ behels, en hoe die nasionale identiteit op sy/haar beurt in gesprek is met ander nasies deur middel van kulturele uitruiling, migrasies, eksiel of diaspora, mik hierdie studie daarna om die dinamika van onderhandelings van (trans)nasionale identiteite beide binne asook buite die nasionale raamwerk uit te lig.