The aim of this study is to make a critical examination of the different perceptions presented by Zulu authors on King Shaka, the most controversial and celebrated Zulu king. Chapter one is an introductory chapter which provides a short biography of Shaka and identifies the mythology surrounding his name. The chapter ends with an exposition of theoretical approaches too be used in the study. Chapter two assesses the novelists' views and chapter three examines how the playwrights present Shaka. In both genres Shaka emerges as a hero. In chapter four, which is on poetry, various themes conveyed by Zulu poets on Shaka are discussed. In the concluding chapter, opinions by some historians on Shaka are stated and assessed. Further, general observations on the findings of this study are summarised / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

African Languages / M.A. (Bantu Languages)

Nigerians have been opting for a more processed Western diet. These changes in dietary choices have aligned with obesity and undernutrition, attributable to micronutrient deficiencies or malnutrition. Many scholars have presented varying intervention strategies ranging from consumption of a variety of foods containing the necessary micronutrients to food fortification. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore the perceptions of women in an urban city in Nigeria on indigenous foods and Western dietary influences to determine social interactions, the consequence of the interactions, and the women’s current perceptions of food choices. The social-ecological model was used to explore the interaction between a woman and her environment. Women between the ages of 20 to 30 from the urban city of Jos, Nigeria, constituted the population of interest, and 12 women were chosen for the sample. From the in-depth interviews, a thematic analysis was employed to provide sociocontextual reasoning for changes in diet that have led to the loss of interest in traditional foods and cultures. This study found that Jos has a variety of foods, yet women choose the same staple foods to feed their families. Additionally, despite a marginal understanding of the health impact of diet, most women choose the convenience and palatability of Western options, citing cost as the rationale for choosing to cook staple Western-inspired meals at home. Understanding media, convenience, and cost can impact social change by enlightening communities on the interconnectedness of human health, cultures, and industrialization. Health care providers can monitor the outcomes of those who consume a variety of indigenous foods to see how such a practice could influence the overall health status of Nigerian families.

The purpose of this study is to understand the nature and scope of protection of minority languages and assesses how international human rights law can protect minority languages in Africa. Focuses on three questions: (1) What is the normative content of language rights?, (2) To what extent does the African human rights system protect minority languages? and 3) What measures can be taken at the national and regional levels to improve respect for and protection of minority languages in Africa?’ / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2007. / Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Mr E.Y. Benneh of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

The farm novels of southern Africa can be considered microcosms of gender stereotypes and racial attitudes. Reading these novels using post-colonial, Marxist, and feminist theory is especially useful in thinking about how these novels reflect female writers’ perspectives about the success of the imperialism in Africa and the lasting effects of colonialism on gender and race relations. In addition, these novels provide interesting insight into colonialism, allowing each author to comment on the effect of imperialism on both the colonized and those who take up the colonial project. This dissertation examines novels by three female African writers: The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner, The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing, and When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head. Written at different stages of colonial power, each novel represents agrarian life in southern African colonies that share similar cultural, historical, colonial, and racial attitudes. These novels can be interpreted as building on, challenging, and “writing back” to the concept of the plaasroman, a genre central to the South African colonial experience. In addition to discussing how these novels undermine traditional forms of pastoral literature in order to comment explicitly on those forms’ failure to account for the farm experience in southern Africa, this dissertation applies postcolonial, Marxist, and ecofeminist criticism to delve into issues of postcolonial identity, racism, and the role of the farm as both a microcosm and a catalyst for change.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden demonstrative Formative aus vier Sprachen (Figuig, Kabyle, Tachelhit und Ghadamsi) anhand von Grammatiken und Textkorpora analysiert und die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse in Bezug zu Theorien aus der universal ausgerichteten Sprachwissenschaft einerseits sowie zum Vergleich von Berbersprachen andererseits erörtert.

Bibliography: pages 259-274. / In this thesis I examine the way in which Xhosa speakers create humour, what forms (e.g. satire, irony, punning, parody) they favour in both oral and textual literature, and the genres in which these forms are delivered and executed. The functions of Xhosa humour, both during and after apartheid, are examined, as is its role in challenging, contesting and reaffirming traditional notions of society and culture. The particular techniques Xhosa comedians and comic writers use in order to elicit humour are explored with specific reference to the way in which the phonological complexity of this language is exploited for humorous effect. Oral literature sources include collections of praise poems, folktales and proverbs, while anecdotal humour is drawn from recent interviews conducted with domestic workers. My analysis of humour in literary texts initially focuses on the classic works of G.B. Sinxo and S.M. Burns-Ncamashe, and then goes on to refer to contemporary works such as those of P.T. Mtuze. The study on the techniques of Xhosa humour uses as its theoretical base Walter Nash's The language of humour (1985), while that on the functions of Xhosa humour owes much to the work of sociologists such as Michael Mulkay and Chris Powell and George E.C. Paton. The study reveals the fact that Xhosa oral humour is personal and playful - at times obscene - but can also be critical. In texts it explores the comedy of characters as well as the irony of socio-political realities. In both oral and textual discourses the phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics of Xhosa are exploited to create a humour which is richly patterned and finely crafted. In South Africa humour often served to liberate people from the oppressive atmosphere of apartheid. At the same time humour has always had a stabilizing role in Xhosa cultural life, providing a means of controlling deviants and misfits.

There are many words for the riddle in Zulu. It is commonly called isiphicophicwano or isiphicwaphicwano, imfumbe, impicabadala, umgandeliso and inggayinggayi. The riddle is described as an indoor game engaged in at night and intended as a social pastime. Riddles are found all over the world. They are common amongst all the Bantu peoples living in the Republic of South Africa and even outside the Republic of South Africa. They have been collected all over Africa, Europe, Asia and America. This is an attempt to study Zulu riddles somewhat more than has been done . Attention is paid to the statement of the riddle called by Harries (1976, p.41) the precedent. He calls the answer , the sequent. A collection of Zulu riddles has been made which has been divided into two sections. Riddles were collected from Radio programmes, books, periodicals and from people interviewed. The scientific approach to the riddles follows different methods i.e. functional, structural and activist method which concentrates on the action involved in riddling. Then the introductory formulae of riddles are explained. The importance of performance and drama during the riddling is elucidated. The place and time of riddling is indicated in order to show the value of riddles to society . An analysis of riddles is made. Firstly, the grammatical analysis is made, and secondly, a structural analysis is undertaken. Under this section it is found that the riddle has descriptive elements which are also regarded as content elements. It is also found that riddles are non-oppositional and oppositional. Under non-oppositional riddles there are literal and metaphorical riddles. Oppositional riddles are characterised by the occurrence of an opposition between at least one pair of descriptive elements. Then in antithetical oppositional riddles one of the elements opposes the other by word or action . In privational oppositional riddles one descriptive element is a denial of logical or natural attribute of the first . In casual oppositional riddles the second element explicitly denies the expected consequence. Stylistically, the riddles show~ the use of ideophones which are an idea-in-sound to express vividness and the repetition of words . The technique of riddling i s explained whereby an animal is replaced by an object , a plant by a human being and vice versa and so on. And finally, the metaphor in riddles is analysed and it is shown that riddles have versions and that there are different riddles for the same referent. The riddles are then classified according to contents, structural analysis and their types. Riddles are then regarded as a form of living tradition and old and new types are shown .Riddles are then regarded as a form of living tradition and old and new types are shown. And in the conclusion the main findings from the study of riddles are given. At the end there is an appendix, a list of Zulu riddles with their translations. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

The thesis investigates the factors which lead to the development of 'prestige' terminology in the Northern Sotho vocabulary. It investigates the factors which lead to the development of 'prestige' language varieties and 'prestige' dialects, which are sources of 'prestige' terminology. These factors include, inter alia, urbanization, industrialization, the missionary activities and standardisation. The thesis tries to explain the reason why most of the Northern Sotho people do not feel free to speak their language when they are among other communitiesK__U explains the reason why the speakers of the so-called 'inferior' dialects of Northern Sotho have an inferiority complex while the speakers of the 'prestige' dialects have confidence when speaking their dialects. The people who are residents of the urban and industrialized areas have a high standard of living due to the availability of employment opportunities, while the rural communities are usually unemployed and, as such, their standard of living is low. This elevates the urban community to a high status which is shared by the type of language they speak. The rural communities start associating themselves with the urban communities by imitating the urban varieties in order to elevate themselves. This is one of the reasons which lead to the widespread use of urban slang and other language varieties which are associated with the urban areas of South Africa, i.e. the PWV (Pretoria, Witwatersrand and Vereeniging). Standardisation of Northern Sotho and the missionary activities within the Northern Sotho communities led to the creation of 'superior' and 'inferior' dialects. The missionary societies established missionary stations among certain Northern Sotho communities while other communities did not have these stations, and became the vanguards of Western civilization among the indigenous people of Southern Africa. ~The dialects among which the missionary stations were established came to enjoy a high status since these varieties were the first to be converted to written forms. In this case, the first varieties to be considered during standardisation were those which had a written orthography, and this is exactly what happened in the standardisation of Northern Sotho. / African Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

African American (AA) women have the highest rates of obesity and weight-related diseases of any other cultural group in the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between acceptance of the Strong Black Woman (SBW) cultural construct and the following weight-related health factors: body mass index (BMI), high blood pressure, stroke, and diabetes mellitus (DM). The hypothesis was that a positive relationship exists between accepting the SBW persona and weight-related health factors. The theory of womanism was used to guide this study. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 127 AA women to participant in an online survey. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the demographics. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the research questions. The affect and regulation subscale from the Strong Black Woman Cultural Construct Scale was used to measure mental and emotional strength. Willingness to ask for help was measured using the General Help Seeking questionnaire original version. The Emotional Eating Scale measured eating behaviors in response to anger, frustration, depression, and depressed mood. The Perceived Stress Scale measured perceived stress. The results of the analyses revealed that mental and emotional strength were significantly related to BMI and high blood pressure. There was no significant relationship found between mental and emotional strength and heart disease, stroke, and DM. This study could provide useful information for future weight management treatment for AA women. Positive social change is implied because understanding weight gain in this population may help to decrease the incidences of obesity and associated weight-related illnesses.