No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1996.

This study focuses on the rituals and rites, customs and beliefs associated with dying, death, mourning, burial and integration among the Zulu people of KwaZulu-Natal at the turn of the millenium. These have been examined from the perspectives of • the traditional or rural view; • The urban view; • The view of the youth in the townships. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

This qualitative study of humour theory provides a broad descriptive account of the current status of humour theory within the multidisciplinary context of human and social studies. The nature of qualitative research is examined in terms of its relevance to humour research studies. Qualitative research is found to be a generic term applying to a range of types of data collecting approaches that fall outside the ambit of quantitative paradigms. Quantitative methods are shown as having limited applicability to humour studies which are primarily reliant on data collecting. Humour is examined in terms of its biological, phylogenetic and historical antecedents. The emergence of schools of humour theory is discerned; and a study is made of changing social perceptions of humour in terms of the 'ruling discourse'. Humour theory is examined in terms of parameters of contemporary research which entails the processes of defining humour and theorizing about humour in terms of a variety of variables. Critiques are provided of Murdock and Ganim's macro-level descriptive study of humour definitions and theories as well as of Apter's reversal theory of humour. Reflectivity is employed as a qualitative approach to analyse the personal experience of a 'humorous event'. Attention is also given to the relevance of orality, oral tradition and anthropological perspectives to humour research. Finally, recommendations are made for further research. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1998.

This thesis examines the Historical Critical method and its opponent Deconstruction in relation to the Logos tradition from the perspective of Orality-Literacy Studies. The resultant paradigm seeks to revise the logical procedures underlying the Historical Critical method and Deconstruction, so as to approximate the media realities that underlie the Logos tradition and its power for resistance. The first part of the thesis undertakes a detailed historical critical analysis of the Logos tradition and the proposed religious influences in the Gospel of John. The Historical Critical Method of the Logos has focused exclusively on written text, i.e.Words committed to chirographic space. This analysis is followed by a critical analysis of the Logos-Hymn, which is followed by an indepth exegetical study ofJohn's Prologue (1: 1-18) in locating the form and character of the Logos-Hymn. The Logos tradition will serve as bedrock in understanding the polemic in Chapters five and six and its relationship to John's Prologue (1: 1-18) in the Gospel of John and that of primarily! oral communities prior the 1994 democratic era in South Africa. The second part of the study will focus on Derrida' s Deconstruction critique of the metaphysics of presence against the Logos which presents as a leading case for Logocentrism. Deconstruction should be seen as a series of recent displacements among philosophy, literary criticism and Biblical studies. Current reaction to Derrida in philosophy and literary criticism includes enthusiastic acceptance but also hostility and rejection from academic humanists who perceive him as a threat to their metaphysical assumptions. Reaction from Biblical scholars could be similarly negative, although most of Derrida's writings should stimulate them to a healthy rethinking of their positions. Derrida's insistence that meaning is an affair of language's systems of difference "without positive terms" and his proposition that writing is prior to speech are two main elements in his attack on the foundations of Western metaphysics and its 'logocentric' convictions that we can experience meaning in 'presences' removed from the play of differential systems (Schneidau 1982:5). Derrida repudiates the classical logos behind this assumption but also the Christian Logos, yet the Biblical insistence on our understanding of ourselves in relation to a historical past, rather than in terms of a static cosmic system, breaks with the tendencies of logocentrism and allows us to align Derrida and the Bible. This radical way of appropriating history, without the possibility of reifications of various sorts, should lead Biblical scholars further into kerygmatic reflection. Derrida's deconstruction demonstrates the dubious status of ordinary language, literal meaning, and common sense thinking and invites us to see the illusory metaphysics behind the written text, a metaphysics that some Biblical structuralists seem to accept uncritically. It is these metaphysical analyses of the Word that unravel the binary opposition between the spoken Logos and that of the written text and its relation to meaning and representation in the reality of primarily oral cultures. The third part of the thesis will focus the attention on tradition perceived as transmissional processes towards a means of communication in primarily oral cultures. In the place of the Historical Critical Method and Deconstruction henneneutics of the Logos tradition, an oral thesis is developed which will focus on an Anthropology of Liberation. The Logos can be seen as a liberating force for primarily oral communities against the falsely constructed realities of the written text in our South African context. The written text has played a major role in the social engineering of segregation and social boundaries by the Apartheid government in South Africa. It is suggested that Orality-Literacy research is an appropriately inclusive metaphor in understanding the Logos as a collective memory for primarily oral cultures shared by hearer and speaker alike. Orality-literacy helps us to understand the literary dynamics between speech and writing and to dialogue with the history of the 'Other' or those from the 'otherside, 'the marginalized and the dispossesed. Finally this thesis suggest that the discourse of the 'Other' is able to produce meaning and representation in the construction of knowledge, and is a discourse that is shared by hearer and speaker alike. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

Oral Theory, which is the discipline that studies the oral tradition, has been characterized as a literary anthropology, centered on essentially two notions: tradition on the one hand, literature on the other. Though emphasis has moved from an initial preoccupation with oral textual form (as advocated by Parry and Lord) to concerns with the oral text as social practice, the anthropological / literary orientation has generally remained intact. But through its designation of a traditional 'other' Oral Theory is, at best, a sub-field of anthropology; the literature it purports to study is not literature, but anthropological data. This undermines the existence of the field as discipline. In this study it is suggested that the essence of orality as subject matter of Oral Theory - should be seen not in the origins of its creativity (deemed 'traditional'), nor in its aesthetic process / product itself ('literature'), but in its use of language deriving from a different 'auditory' conception of language (as contrasted with the largely 'visualist' conception of language at least partly associated with writing). In other words, the study of orality should not be about specific oral 'genres', but about verbalization in general. In terms of its auditory conception, language is primarily defined as existing in sound, a definition which places it in a continuum with other symbolical / meaningful sounds, normally conceptualized as 'music'. Linguistics, being fundamentally scriptist (visualist) in orientation, fails to account for the auditory conception of language. To remedy this, Oral Theory needs to set itself up as an 'aural linguistics' - implying close interdisciplinary collaboration with the field of musicology - through which the linguistic sign of orality could be studied in all its particularity and complexity of meaning. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1996.

Adult Mother-Tongue Literacy learning is a universal problem as readily available statistics indicate. In this study, I explore various aspects of adult Mother-Tongue Literacy learning, including: • a profile of a Learner typical of those who attend the Pinetown Welfare Society Adult Literacy Programme; • some indication of the success of literacy programmes around the world; • the kinds of problems experienced by Learners in the Kwadabeka Literacy Project attached to the Pinetown Welfare Society; • some relevant theoretical concepts which underpin adult learning, and particularly the learning of literacy in adults; • the perceptions of Marcel Jousse on the effect of non-literate and semi-literate milieux on the capacities of Learners; • suggestions as to how an improved understanding of the capacities of Learners can influence the choice, design and presentation of Literacy teaching and learning materials; • examples of those aspects of current programmes which answer the needs identified by Marcel Jousse. In the conclusion, I suggest: • how the theories of Marcel Jousse can be further explored and applied in the area of Mother-Tongue Literacy learning, and to a definition of literacy; • how the needs identified by Marcel Jousse can be further accommodated; • what kinds of materials need to be introduced to make Mother-Tongue Literacy less problematic and more accessible to its Learners; • how an evaluation of the Pinetown Welfare Literacy Programme might assist in improving Mother-Tongue Literacy learning. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1998.

Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

There is a supposition that with the current progress in artificial intelligence (AI), machines that surpass the cognitive functioning of human beings is imminent. There is no doubt that singular human functions can be performed more efficiently by machines. however. the complexity of human functioning involves the simultaneous cognizance of information received through the various senses. The complexity of human functioning is best reflected in the perceptions of Marcel Jousse in The Anthropology of Geste and Rhythm (I997). Whilst proponents of AI envisage the cognitive functioning of the computer surpassing human cognitive functioning, they fail to acknowledge that human cognitive functioning extends beyond mere information processing and expression of predictable responses. The complexity of human expression is influenced by a variety of sensory environmental stimuli as well as previous experience. The fundamental 'law' of the indivisibility of the psycho-physiological complexus of the human composite identified by Jousse, indicates that human memory emanates from human interaction with the environment. The computer is incapable of interacting with the environment in the way that the human being interacts, which implies that it cannot replicate human memory. This study argues that: • The human being operates simultaneously as a psychological, physiological and biological being, which implies that human memory, is simultaneously biological, psychological and emotional. • Human memory arises out of mimism and is biologically rhythmed, and that this rhythm operates in synchrony with the universal cosmoiogicai rhythms. • Computer rhythms do not operate in synchrony with universal cosmological rhythms. which implies that the operation of its memory is very different to that of the human being. Therefore the computer will not be able to replicate human functioning. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

The object of this dissertation is to illustrate the significance of Prana (life breath):- -As it obtains in the oral tradition -With reference to the Aramaic Rouhah -In Pranayama (breath control) -In Surya Namaskar (Obeisance to the sun) The role of Prana in man was recognised and venerated since time immemorial. In the introduction, Prana is perceived as a global, anthropological phenomenon. Chapter one provides a theoretical framework linking Pranato Oral Tradition by focusing on Marcel Jousse and his teachings; the Orality Perspective and the Orality - Literacy interface. Since the earliest record of the terms; yoga, Prana and Pranayama appear in the Vedas, the significance of the Vedas, especially as they exemplify oral expression, is mentioned. Chapter two focuses on: firstly, Prana within the context of yoga and secondly, Prana and its relation to the Aramaic Rouhah. The congruency of thought on the breath suffices to entrench Prana as a global entity. In chapter three, the enhancement of the quality and quantity of Prana via Pranayama (control of the breath) is discussed. Pranayama sets out with the purpose of achieving complete harmonisation of the body-mind axis, and thereby proceeding to the divinisatlon of energy. A cohesive whole is established by three essential and integrated elements; the breath (Prana), the physical gesture (asana) and the spoken gesture (mantra) in Surya Namaskar. Oral features in these elements are analysed in chapter four. The conclusion serves to emphasize that the wealth of oral tradition is amply evident in the concepts of Prana, Rouhah and Prananayama. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1998.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1991.