Ph.D. / A central tradition within the art of novel-writing is that of realism. Reality cannot be duplicated, and the illusion of reality in literature depends on narrative conventions. Within the perspective of the age-old tradition of realism one would have to view the bent and the emphasis of modern prose in the light of what has been described as "realism with documentary woof", "faction" , and "the new realism". The link with the reality of the day is often such that one cannot merely talk about "illusion of reality" - it pertinently becomes "illusion of actuality". The "political" noveI that wants to play in upon an actual situation, brings about an important change in the character of the literary work: the fictional is subdued, so to speak. In this study the question concerning the relation between work of art and actuality strikingly comes to the fore as a problem. The author increasingly addresses himself to the portrayal of the actual. Two methods of portrayal are identified: i) the actuality situation is fictionalised and ii ) a semblance of authenticity is given to the fictitious situation. In this thesis the different strategies employed in each of the two methods of portrayal of actuality are examined. The concepts "actuality", "illusion", and "involvement" are demarcated. Then note is taken of portrayal of actuality in older Afrikaans prose, before proceeding to an analysis of the different strategies employed in three "exemplary" works: Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena (Elsa Joubert), 'n Droë wit seisoen (André P. Brink), and Dagboek van 'n verraaier (J.C. Steyn). The conclusion eventually drawn, is that novels with a fictitious world as a point of departure, have potentially richer literary posibilities than novels in which the actual situation serves as a point of departure. However, notwithstanding the fact that Dagboek van 'n verraaier has the fictional situation as point of departure, it does not succeed novel-wise. Despite the relatively weaker technique being used in Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena, the novel is a success. The respective success or failure of these works is determined by the extent to which the concrete author manages to make full-fledged, blood-warm human beings of his characters. 'n Droë wit seisoen serves as an illustration of what· can be achieved when the fictitious world is used as point of departure and the characters are rendered true to life. The latter is, novelwise, the greatest success of the three. Contributing to this, in particular, are narrator's perspective, colloquial usage and tonality, the convincing manipulation of documentation, period location and characterization.

This study seeks to explore, using an interpretivist phenomenological approach, how humor may impact rapport, engagement, and motivation in graduate online learning environments. Through detailed qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews, direct observation, and demographic survey data, emergent themes were identified that support the use of appropriate humor to create a positive online environment in which learning can take place. Evidence indicates that humor, when used purposefully and appropriately, is a valuable tool for promoting rapport and engagement amongst course members through community-building and enhanced interpersonal connections. The results of this study reveal the importance of finding common ground and shared experiences to improve the overall social and communicative culture of an online course. The results also support the idea that online instructors should make a great effort in connecting with students in online courses and must make a greater effort to appropriately engage in their online courses. Appropriate recommendations are made for practical application of humor to support pedagogy, as well as recommendations for future research on humor in educational environments.

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本文以11、12世紀伊斯蘭蘇非大師Ghazzali的靈與心之救贖作為宗教心理學理論探討的典範，主要著眼於他個人在宗教心理的意義中，以虔誠和謙卑體現信仰實踐的重大轉變，除了其本身擁有豐富的知識和深刻的思想，更重要的是，他履行蘇非之道，徹底改變信仰態度，真正捨離世俗，最終獲得靈與心的救贖。在分析和詮釋的理論依據上，本文採用荷蘭宗教心理學家Han F.de Wit結合自己的心理學素養與靈修經驗，在20世紀晚期發展出的一套理論，稱為「靈思心理學」（Contemplative Psychology）。在這套理論中，de Wit呈現宗教的冥思傳統(contemplative tradition)與個人的心理洞見、信念之間的連結，經驗和思想可以相互為用。在他所提出的觀點之中，本文透過如下幾個主張，包括皈依、關鍵時刻、斷裂、危機、懷疑、改變、與捨離，說明Ghazzali如何成就伊斯蘭密契傳統的最高典範，同時也突顯靈思心理學試圖闡釋人類靈與心互相超越，同獲救贖的理想。 / The thesis regarded Ghazzali, the outstanding thinker and great Sufi of Islamic world in the 11th and 12th centuries, as a perfect example, who embodied an inward transformation of religious action with piety and humility. Other than his profound knowledge and thoughts, Ghazzali is also an authority on theology and law of Islam, and furthermore he performed a Muslim’s devotion by proceeding on the path of Sufi. He gave up all his possessions, followed the instructions of Sufism to survive a serious crisis of spirit, and obtained the ultimate salvation of his soul and heart in the end. The theory used in this thesis to analyze and interpret Ghazzali’s spiritual experience is the “contemplative psychology” of Han F.de Wit, who is a religious psychologist of the Netherlands. De Wit spent more than ten years combining his psychological training and spiritual experience to develop the theory in late twentieth century. In this theory he presented the connection between contemplative traditions of many religions and the insights & beliefs within individual mind. Among those concepts stated by de Wit in his theory, the thesis used mainly several of them, such as conversion, moments, break, crisis, doubt, change, and renunciation, etc. Accordingly, Ghazzali could be the most perfect example of the contemplative psychology, when we refer to salvation of both human Soul and Heart.

幽默是人類社會的一種普遍現象，是人們言語交際的一部分，在日常生活中無處不在。研究者們對幽默的研究涵蓋了心理學、哲學、社會學、人類學、神學、文化學等不同的領域。幽默被認為是最難研究的課題之一，翻譯幽默更是難上加難。我們至今對言語幽默的文本語言特徵、對言語幽默的譯文的文本語言特徵、對涉及言語幽默的翻譯過程知之不多。在言語幽默的翻譯中，有時候原文的幽默信息在譯文中完全保留，有時候則不能，原因何在，有關這方面的研究至今不多見；以漢語幽默文本的英譯為語料建立單向平行語料庫，探討漢語言語幽默英譯的一般及特殊規律的研究，尚無人做過，這正是本研究的目的所在。 / 本研究以錢鍾書的小說《圍城》及其英譯本為語料，運用言語幽默概論的理論框架，建立原文和譯文對照的雙語單向平行語料庫，采用語料庫檢索的方法，對語料進行描寫與分析，得出了“譯文要傳遞原文幽默信息需要保留或轉換原文的表層及深層參數特徵，特別是深層參數的腳本對立、表層參數的修辭手段及語言中的本源概念的研究結論。 / 主要研究結果有三： / 一是展示了言語幽默翻譯的一般規律，即“譯文需要保留原文中的腳本對立； / 二是展現了漢語言語幽默翻譯的特殊規律，即“要保留原文中的腳本對立，就需要轉換漢語所特有的修辭手段和漢語本源概念； / 三是顯示了漢語言語幽默的文本語言特徵，即，漢語言語幽默具有表層和深層的參數特徵。表層參數的核心是修辭手段，深層參數的核心是腳本對立；表層參數具有“相似性之奇特統一、“語言要素之巧妙轉移和“不和諧邏輯間之和諧三大特徵；深層參數具有“真實的與非真實的語境對立、“正常的與非正常的語境對立、“合理與不合理的語境對立三大特徵，反映了現實與經驗、話語現實與語言經驗、話語邏輯與正常邏輯的矛盾衝突。 / Humour is regarded as a universal human phenomenon, and funny situations, funny stories, even funny thoughts occur everyday to virtually everybody (Raskin 1985: 1). Humour represents a multidisciplinary and fertile research field. So is Translation Studies. Both draw from linguistics, psychology and sociology, among other disciplines, for their descriptions and their theoretical models and constructs (Zabalbeascoa 2005: 185). What is surprising is that the link between translation and humour has not received sufficient attention from scholars in either field (ibid). / This research attempts to explore how Chinese humorous texts are transferred into English and what factors affect humour transference in the target text, with a focus on the universality of the translation process, by tapping on fresh methodologies of modern Translation Studies such as bilingual corpora and the General Theory of Verbal Humor. The bilingual corpus for the research is from Wei Cheng (Fortress Besieged) (1947/1991/2003), a humorous fiction by the Chinese writer Ch’ien Chung-shu (1910-1998) and its English translation by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K. Mao (1979/2003). Adopting the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH) (Attardo & Raskin 1991; Attardo 1994, 2001) as the theoretical framework, the research makes a quantitative and qualitative analysis on the samplings from the corpus and obtains some encouraging findings as follows: / (a) Transference of humour in the source text to the target text needs transference of the Script Opposition embedded in the deep parameters of the source text, which shows the universality of translating Chinese verbal humour into English; / (b) More specifically, transference of the Script Opposition embedded in the deep parameters requires transference of specific Chinese rhetoric devices and socioculturally-bound Chinese alien sources in the target text; / (c) Chinese verbal humour has three features in the surface parameters and three features in the deep parameters, which shows the textual characteristics of Chinese verbal humour. The surface parameters show the features of similarity among quite different things, transference among quite different linguistic elements and congruity among incongruous logical elements. The deep parameters show the following three features: opposition between real and unreal situations; opposition between normal and abnormal situations, opposition between possible, plausible and fully or partially impossible or much less plausible situations. / The research draws a conclusion that verbal humour may travel from one culture to another via translation if the target text successfully transfers the Script Opposition embedded in the deep parameters of the source text, the Rhetorical Device in the surface parameters and the alien concepts hidden in the Language Parameter. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 戈玲玲. / Sumitted date: 2011年12月. / Sumitted date: 2011 nian 12 yue. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 307-319) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Ge Lingling. / 摘要 --- p.i / 前言 --- p.vi / 目錄 --- p.vii / 圖表目錄 --- p.x / Chapter 第一章 --- 導論 --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- 研究目的 --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- 原文及作者簡介 --- p.7 / Chapter 1.3 --- 《圍城》的外文譯本 --- p.14 / Chapter 1.4 --- 對《圍城》及其英譯本的研究 --- p.16 / Chapter 1.5 --- 論文結構 --- p.20 / Chapter 第二章 --- 幽默評述及研究 --- p.22 / Chapter 2.1 --- 詞典中對幽默的定义 --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2 --- 前人對幽默的評述與研究 --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- 西方的評述與研究 --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- 中國的評述與研究 --- p.31 / Chapter 2.2.2.1 --- 林語堂、錢鍾書論幽默 --- p.32 / Chapter 2.2.2.2 --- 其他評述與研究 --- p.34 / Chapter 2.3 --- 言語幽默的可譯性 --- p.37 / Chapter 2.4 --- 小結 --- p.42 / Chapter 第三章 --- 理論框架 --- p.44 / Chapter 3.1 --- 語義腳本理論 --- p.44 / Chapter 3.2 --- 言語幽默概論 --- p.48 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- 六個參數 --- p.50 / Chapter 3.2.1.1 --- 四個必要參數 --- p.51 / Chapter 3.2.1.2 --- 兩個可選參數 --- p.59 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- 六個參數的層級排列：言語幽默相似度測量系統 --- p.65 / Chapter 3.3 --- 言語幽默概論運用於幽默翻譯研究：Attardo（2002） --- p.70 / Chapter 3.4 --- 理論框架的延伸 --- p.73 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- 漢語特有的修辞手段 --- p.74 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- 言語幽默語段的表層參數和深層參數 --- p.76 / Chapter 3.4.2.1 --- 表層參數 --- p.78 / Chapter 3.4.2.2 --- 深層參數 --- p.84 / Chapter 3.5 --- 小結 --- p.87 / Chapter 第四章 --- 《圍城》中幽默語段及其英譯本的雙語平行語料庫 --- p.89 / Chapter 4.1 --- 抽樣過程 --- p.90 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- 《圍城》及其英譯本讀者問卷調查 --- p.90 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- 理論參數 --- p.91 / Chapter 4.2 --- 建立語料庫 --- p.92 / Chapter 4.3 --- 標注漢英對應文本 --- p.94 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- 技術性標注 --- p.94 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- 理論參數標注 --- p.95 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- 本源概念及其翻譯策略的標注 --- p.97 / Chapter 4.4 --- 檢索漢英對應文本 --- p.99 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- 檢索編程 --- p.100 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- 檢索功能 --- p.102 / Chapter 4.5 --- 標注的誤差測定 --- p.114 / Chapter 4.6 --- 小結 --- p.117 / Chapter 第五章 --- 原文中言語幽默語段的分析 --- p.118 / Chapter 5.1 --- 原文幽默語段的表層特徵 --- p.118 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- 表層特徵一：相似性之奇特統一 --- p.119 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- 表層特徵二：語言要素之巧妙轉移 --- p.129 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- 表層特徵三：不和諧邏輯間之和諧 --- p.138 / Chapter 5.2 --- 原文幽默語段的深層特徵 --- p.143 / Chapter 5.3 --- 不規範的參數類型 --- p.149 / Chapter 5.4 --- 表層與深層特徵的對應關係 --- p.160 / Chapter 5.5 --- 小結 --- p.169 / Chapter 第六章 --- 英譯本分析 --- p.171 / Chapter 6.1 --- 英譯本的表層特徵 --- p.172 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- 譯文表層特徵一：相似性之奇特統一 --- p.172 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- 譯文表層特徵二：語言要素之巧妙轉移 --- p.182 / Chapter 6.1.3 --- 譯文表層特徵三：不和諧邏輯間之和諧 --- p.186 / Chapter 6.2. --- 英譯本的深層特徵 --- p.186 / Chapter 6.3 --- 不規範的參數類型 --- p.194 / Chapter 6.4 --- 譯文表層與深層特徵的對應關係 --- p.212 / Chapter 6.5 --- 小結 --- p.222 / Chapter 第七章 --- 譯文、原文對比分析 --- p.224 / Chapter 7.1 --- 譯文、原文總體對比 --- p.224 / Chapter 7.2 --- 譯文、原文分類對比 --- p.226 / Chapter 7.2.1 --- 同型轉換 --- p.227 / Chapter 7.2.2 --- 異型轉換 --- p.229 / Chapter 7.3 --- 譯文、原文表層參數與深層參數的異同對比 --- p.231 / Chapter 7.4 --- 譯文、原文表層與深層特徵對比 --- p.234 / Chapter 7.5 --- 譯文、原文參數的層級排列對比 --- p.235 / Chapter 7.5.1 --- 參數層級排列與原文的參數排列對比 --- p.235 / Chapter 7.5.2 --- 參數層級排列與譯文的參數排列對比 --- p.237 / Chapter 7.5.3 --- 譯文、原文中六個參數的層級排列對比 --- p.239 / Chapter 7.6 --- 小結 --- p.241 / Chapter 第八章 --- 《圍城》中言語幽默的英譯策略 --- p.243 / Chapter 8.1 --- 同型轉換時的翻譯策略 --- p.244 / Chapter 8.2 --- 異型轉換時的翻譯策略--譯文仍然是幽默語段 --- p.259 / Chapter 8.3 --- 異型轉換時的翻譯策略--譯文不是幽默語段 --- p.267 / Chapter 8.4 --- 小結暨討論 --- p.282 / Chapter 第九章 --- 結論 --- p.286 / Chapter 9.1 --- 研究結果 --- p.286 / Chapter 9.2 --- 研究局限 --- p.291 / Chapter 9.3 --- 研究前景 --- p.292 / 附錄一 --- p.294 / 參考文獻 --- p.307

Abstracts in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa / This research aimed at investigating the challenges white teachers face in the socialisation of diverse learners in a former Model C school in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. The research involved a literature review conceptualising democracy, human rights, diversity, equality and socialisation, in addition to the concepts of white fragility and the theoretical perspective of Bourdieu’s ‘habitus’. The empirical investigation consisted of interviews to gather data. The findings revealed the perspectives of the teachers and their understanding of the socialisation of diverse learners in a democracy. Based on these findings, recommendations were made for the school and the Department of Basic Education to develop a system to incorporate in schools, in order to enhance socialisation and the transformation of former Model C schools. As the title states, this study was focused on the challenges white teachers experience relating to the transition to democracy. The context of a former Model C school is a complex scenario, where the values and norms of a dominant culture have formed, and continue to form, a critical part of the school climate and culture. The research findings revealed that since the transformation process started in 1994, ‘ex-Model C’ schools have assumed different characteristics and encountered challenges depending on their demographical location. Teachers need to address both social and educational aims, especially as the findings suggest that the schools, and particularly the teachers, are unclear about how diversity contributes to norms and values. This reflects in the tendency to remain focused on a dominant white culture, with which the teachers identify as ‘normal’. / Hierdie navorsing het ten doel gehad om die uitdagings wat wit onderwysers ten opsigte van die sosialisering van diverse leerders in ʼn gewese model C-skool in die noordelike voorstede van Kaapstad trotseer, te ondersoek. Die navorsing het ʼn literatuuroorsig behels waarvolgens demokrasie, menseregte, diversiteit, gelykheid en sosialisering gekonseptualiseer word, benewens die konsepte van wit broosheid en die teoretiese perspektief van Bourdieu se “habitus”. Die empiriese ondersoek het bestaan uit onderhoude om data in te samel. Die bevindinge het onderwysers se perspektiewe en hul begrip van die sosialisering van diverse leerders in ʼn demokrasie onthul. Op grond van hierdie bevindinge is aanbevelings gedoen vir die skool en die Departement van Basiese Onderwys rakende die ontwikkeling van ʼn stelsel om in skole te inkorporeer ten einde sosialisering en die transformasie van gewese model C-skole te bevorder. Soos wat die titel aandui, het hierdie studie gefokus op die uitdagings wat wit onderwysers ervaar ten opsigte van die oorgang na demokrasie. Die konteks van ʼn gewese model C-skool is ʼn komplekse scenario, waar die waardes en norme van ʼn dominante kultuur ʼn noodsaaklike deel van die skoolklimaat en -kultuur gevorm het (en dit is steeds die geval). Die navorsingsbevindinge het getoon dat sedert die transformasieproses in 1994 begin het, “eks-model C”-skole verskillende eienskappe aangeneem het en uitdagings teëgekom het afhangende van hul demografiese ligging. Onderwysers moet sowel sosiale as opvoedingsdoelwitte bereik, veral aangesien die navorsingsresultate daarop dui dat daar onduidelikheid onder die skole, en veral die onderwysers, is oor hoe diversiteit bydra tot norme en waardes. Dit blyk uit die neiging om gefokus te bly op ʼn dominante wit kultuur waarmee die onderwysers identifiseer as “normaal”. / Olu phando lujolise ekuphandeni imingeni ejongene nootitshala abamhlophe ekuhlanganiseni ngokwezentlalo abafundi beentlanga ezahlukeneyo kwisikolo esasifudula siyiModel C kumahlomela edolophu asemantla esixeko saseKapa. Uphando lwenza uphononongo loluncwadi oluchaza ngedemokhrasi, amalungelo oluntu, ukungafani, ulingano noqheliso lwezentlalo, kwakunye nobuthathaka babamhlophe neenkalo zokucinga ngokwethiyori ka Bourdieu ekuthiwa yi’habitus’. Uphando olusekelwe kubungqina baquka iindliwano ndlebe ekuqikeleleni idatha. Okufunyanisiweyo kwadiza iimbono zootitshala nendlela abaluqonda ngayo uqheliso lwezentlalo lwabafundi abangafaniyo kwimeko yedemokhrasi. Okufunyanisiweyo kwakhokelela ekwenziweni kweengcebiso kwisikolo nakweSebe Lemfundo Esisiseko ukuba kuphuhliswe inkqubo yokubandakanya ezikolweni, ngenjongo yokukhulisa uqheliso lwezentlalo nenguqu yezikolo ezazifudula ziziModel C. Njengoko nesihloko sisitsho, esi sifundo sagxininisa kwimingeni ejongene nootitshala kwixesha lenguqu eya kwidemokhrasi. Imeko yesikolo esasifudula siyiModel C yimeko enzima, apho iinqobo zokucinga nezithethe zenkcubeko eyongameleyo zibumbe, kwaye zisaqhuba ukubumba inxalenye emandundu yesimo sentlalo nenkcubeko yesikolo. Okufunyaniswe kuphando kwadiza ukuba okoko kwaqala inkqubo yenguqu ngowe-1994, izikolo ezazifudula ziziiModel C zaba neempawu ezahlukileyo kwaye zajongana nemingeni ngokuxhomekeke kwiindawo ezimi kuzo. Ootitshala badinga ukuhlangabeza iinjongo zentlalo nemfundo, ngakumbi, ngokokutsho kophando, izikolo, ngakumbi ootitshala, bengacacelwanga kukuba ukungafani kuncedisa njani kwiinqobo zokucinga nezithethe. Oku kubonakala kumkhwa wokungagungqi kwinkcubeko yabamhlophe neyongameleyo, le ootitshala bayithatha ngokuba ‘yeyesiqhelo’. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Socio-Education)

South Africa has gone through immense changes in the past two decades. The period around 1994 has been characterised by a comprehensive set of political, social and economic changes, which greatly influenced not only the lives of individuals in this county but also many businesses, organisations and companies. Further to this, South Africa has become increasingly intercultural in orientation as companies persevered in establishing intricate networks with partners in a diverse set of cultures. This has put enormous strain on organisations to remain competitive in the market. It is critical that organisations develop a more resilient workforce with greater psychological capacities to succeed in the on-going war for talent. Attracting and retaining talented employees can give organisations a sustained competitive advantage. In view of the growing intricacies in the business world, ambiguity in markets, and employees’ attitudes, it is crucial that organisations invest in psychological assessments. However, investing in valid and reliable psychological assessments has become more difficult due to vast cultural diversity South Africa comprises off. The general objective of this study was to explore social desirability in the white Afrikaans group. A qualitative design was used and a quota non-probability sampling method was implemented among white Afrikaans-speaking people of South Africa (N=60), who differed from one another with regard to age, gender and socio-economic status. The measuring instrument was a semi-structured interview, which was based on the phenomenological approach. The results of the interviews were transcribed and captured in Excel. Content analysis was used to interpret the responses in socially desirable themes. Independent psychologists and language and cultural experts were employed in order to validate the initial interpretations. The descriptive terms were reduced through the use of cluster analysis. The analysis included the grouping of synonyms and antonyms, together with the use of dictionaries, literature and knowledge about content. In the representation of social desirability and impression management strategies within the white Afrikaner group, six main themes with sixty sub-themes in total were identified. The six themes are facilitating, gender-based, intellect-openness, interpersonal relatedness, intrapersonal relatedness and value-based. Firstly, to facilitate others by giving advice and guidance will be seen as desirable and make a favourable impression. Secondly, to display characteristics that are typically associated with males and females, such as masculinity and femininity, will be seen as desirable and can make a positive impression. Thirdly, having a unique natural ability or skill and being receptive to new and different ideas will be seen as desirable and make a good impression on others. Fourthly, remaining constructive in one’s relationships, and fifthly, remaining constructive in one’s inner thoughts and possessing inner confidence and having respect will make a favourable impression and can be seen as socially desirable. Lastly, exhibiting moral consciousness and being trustworthy, loyal and reliable will make a positive impression and will be perceived as desirable by the white Afrikaner group. Recommendations for future research and for practice were made. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

South Africa has gone through immense changes in the past two decades. The period around 1994 has been characterised by a comprehensive set of political, social and economic changes, which greatly influenced not only the lives of individuals in this county but also many businesses, organisations and companies. Further to this, South Africa has become increasingly intercultural in orientation as companies persevered in establishing intricate networks with partners in a diverse set of cultures. This has put enormous strain on organisations to remain competitive in the market. It is critical that organisations develop a more resilient workforce with greater psychological capacities to succeed in the on-going war for talent. Attracting and retaining talented employees can give organisations a sustained competitive advantage. In view of the growing intricacies in the business world, ambiguity in markets, and employees’ attitudes, it is crucial that organisations invest in psychological assessments. However, investing in valid and reliable psychological assessments has become more difficult due to vast cultural diversity South Africa comprises off. The general objective of this study was to explore social desirability in the white Afrikaans group. A qualitative design was used and a quota non-probability sampling method was implemented among white Afrikaans-speaking people of South Africa (N=60), who differed from one another with regard to age, gender and socio-economic status. The measuring instrument was a semi-structured interview, which was based on the phenomenological approach. The results of the interviews were transcribed and captured in Excel. Content analysis was used to interpret the responses in socially desirable themes. Independent psychologists and language and cultural experts were employed in order to validate the initial interpretations. The descriptive terms were reduced through the use of cluster analysis. The analysis included the grouping of synonyms and antonyms, together with the use of dictionaries, literature and knowledge about content. In the representation of social desirability and impression management strategies within the white Afrikaner group, six main themes with sixty sub-themes in total were identified. The six themes are facilitating, gender-based, intellect-openness, interpersonal relatedness, intrapersonal relatedness and value-based. Firstly, to facilitate others by giving advice and guidance will be seen as desirable and make a favourable impression. Secondly, to display characteristics that are typically associated with males and females, such as masculinity and femininity, will be seen as desirable and can make a positive impression. Thirdly, having a unique natural ability or skill and being receptive to new and different ideas will be seen as desirable and make a good impression on others. Fourthly, remaining constructive in one’s relationships, and fifthly, remaining constructive in one’s inner thoughts and possessing inner confidence and having respect will make a favourable impression and can be seen as socially desirable. Lastly, exhibiting moral consciousness and being trustworthy, loyal and reliable will make a positive impression and will be perceived as desirable by the white Afrikaner group. Recommendations for future research and for practice were made. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

"Rum, Rome, and Rebellion: The Reform of Reform in the Political Fiction of the Gilded Age" examines a collection of American political novelists who were active during the mid- to late-nineteenth century. These writers were not only active in politics, they also used their experience in politics to compose realist fiction that typically contained a great deal of humor and satire. Despite their different backgrounds, each of these writers challenged the literary and political conventions of Romanticism, championing ironic detachment and cosmopolitanism. Although fiction about quotidian political life rarely achieves canonical status, such literature has always enjoyed a large readership, both in the nineteenth-century and in our own time. This dissertation attempts to untangle why we find (or don’t find) literature about quotidian political life entertaining and/or instructive, while also providing insight into this transitional period in American history. Each chapter concentrates on the fifty-year period between 1848 and 1898 from a different location, forming what are essentially four cross-sectional samples. This serves two interconnected purposes. One, it reorients the periodization of American literature and history away from 1865 by highlighting cultural continuities between the periods before and after the Civil War And two, it serves to highlight the integration of American literature, culture, and politics, with the broader, nineteenth-century Atlantic world, where the year 1865 carries less cultural significance. The first chapter begins in the nation's capital and examines the anti-populist liberalism of Henry Adams and John Hay. From Washington, we move north to New England where we encounter Henry James’s Bostonians. With the exception of Lionel Trilling, few major critics have championed James’s "middle period," which provides quasi-ethnographic sketches of political movements on both sides of the Atlantic. I reveal James’s long-standing fascination and engagement with the political analyses of Alexis de Tocqueville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and his friend, Henry Adams. I show how the novel anticipates George Santayana’s notion of "the genteel tradition" which dominated northern American culture during this period. After examining two canonical figures, I turn my attention in a more southerly direction, to two lesser known authors. The first is Maria Ruiz de Burton, a Mexican writer from the Southwestern Borderlands who immigrated to the U.S. after the Mexican-American War. Ruiz de Burton has primarily been read as a proto-Chicana/o author, but I view her as a cosmopolitan whose observations about American culture and politics resemble those of James and Santayana. My last chapter is set in Louisiana, where we encounter and recover an eccentric, Spanish-Creole politician and author named Charles Gayarré and his 1856 novel The School for Politics, a satire of local machine politics. Largely forgotten today, Gayarré was connected to intellectual circles in both Europe and Latin America, and was acquainted with American writers like Herman Melville and Henry Adams. I relate The School for Politics with his later political novels in which anti-imperialism and a pluralistic plea for the tolerance of ethnic minorities also implicitly serve as an apology for racial segregation in the Jim Crow South.

Pieter Bruegel the Eider's paintings De verkeerde wereld, Het gevecht tussen Karnava/ en Vasten, Luilekker/and, Dulle Grief and Landschap, met Icarus' val are interpreted as sixteenth-century parodies using the paradoxia epidemica as a tropic means for interpreting the artist's wit, irony, parody and picaresque stance towards his source material and his milieu. Where applicable, other works relating to a particular argument are also discussed. As a result of this investigation, an original contribution has been made in the literature on both Bruegel and parody as a form of visual communication. / Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology / M.A. (History of Art)