Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1973. / Title from title page screen, viewed Oct. 13, 2004. Dissertation Committee: Hugh W. Stumbo (chair), Jack Hobbs, Wilbert M. Leonard II, Max Rennels, Thomas McCain, Mildred Pratt. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-94) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A. (Fine Art)) - Rhodes University, 2009.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Maryland, College Park, 2007. / Thesis research directed by: Art History and Archaeology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 194-207).

Nicholas Hlobo, a sculptor and performance artist, and Zanele Muholi, a photographer and activist, explore different ways of representing sexuality, particularly homosexuality. It is extremely difficult to discuss African sexuality in light of the stain of colonial attitudes that have exoticised and ascribed hypersexuality to African bodies. Moreover, sexuality is often not discussed in the construction of so-called African traditions and this has contributed to rendering African-ness as an exclusive identity. Tensions within and between categories of African-ness are compounded by constituted regulations. For example, Hlobo investigates the obligation of circumcision which seems to contrast the lifestyle and contexts in which he works and resides, and Muholi represents the existence of homosexual and transgender relations, even within conservative categories. The visual imagery of these two artists investigates the boundaries set by different social constructs. These set boundaries have also affected crimes against bisexual, transgender and homosexual individuals, which are reaching an alarming rate. Hlobo questions the validity of structures that marginalise homosexual individuals through drawing attention to the ambivalence of certain statutes. Muholi seeks to publicise the injustices imposed upon homosexual individuals in order to demonstrate the weight of that crisis. Although the South African legal system condones liberated expressions of sexual identity, due to social prejudices homosexual individuals are still treated as if they are not entitled to basic human rights. As a result, hate-crimes are not reported, and when they are they are not taken seriously. Hlobo and Muholi not only bring these issues to light, but also point out the dilemma inscribed in the social and political history of (South) Africa with regards to collective and individual identities. This thesis seeks to provide an analysis of the visual language used by Hlobo and Muholi to subvert the notion that homosexuality is “un-African” and to complicate concepts of gender, sexuality and identity.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Delaware, 2005. / Principal faculty advisor: Gibson, Ann E., Dept. of Art History. Includes bibliographical references.

Over three decades of research has shown that memories have significant effect on the behaviour, attitudes, beliefs, and identities of individuals and collectives, revealing also how experiences of trauma and acts of narrativisation have pertinence to the ways in which memories are stored and reconstructed. In this thesis a link is developed between memory, trauma, narrativisation processes and the interpretation of works by Jane Alexander, a contemporary artist whose work is informed by observations about South African life. Alexander’s sculptures are revealed to be not only important vessels of collective memories and experiences, but also evocations of individuals’ countermemories and traumas that remain unarticulated and invisible. Through an exploration of the workings of memory and its relation to her art, it is revealed how the past continues to exert its influence on many of South Africa’s present sociopolitical concerns and interpersonal dynamics. Indeed constantly changing memories have a significant effect on future generations’ perceptions of, and connectedness to, the past. While theories about memory have been deployed in Art History as well as the Humanities in general, Alexander’s work has not previously been considered in light of the influence of these ideas. This thesis thus contributes a new dimension to literature on the artist.

The primary question of this study is: How does the disruption of African art discourse influence a group of university students’ perceptions of African aesthetics? This inquiry developed from previous studies on the exclusion of modern and contemporary African art in Western art museums. Through the theoretical lens of Postcolonial Theory and Critical Multiculturalism, this research conceptualizes the dominance of traditional African art in art museums, art history, and art education as a Western hegemonic discourse that normalizes perceptions of Africa and African aesthetics as the fixed primitive Other. Thus, this research applied Action Research (AR) methodology coupled with Transformative Learning Theory (TL) to disrupt the discourse of African art; with the purpose of affecting positive changes in perceptions of African aesthetics. The participants for this study were 10 students in a course (Art 1301 Honors Art Appreciation) I instructed at the University of North Texas in the fall (September–December) 2013 semester. Data was collected, analyzed, and interpreted from participants’ assignments and my research journal. This study comprised a dual enquiry on: 1. Discourse and Meaning-making; and 2. Disruption and Transformation. First, the study analyzed students’ perceptions of African aesthetics from their learning experience of traditional African art in an art museum. The findings affirmed traditional African art at the museum as a discourse of Africa as the Other of the West. Secondly, the study analyzed how students’ perceptions were influenced from their experience (in my classroom) of learning histories of modern and contemporary African art that disrupt the authenticity of traditional African art. The findings revealed that 80% of participants developed positive transformations. This research demonstrates how art education grounded in critical theory and transformative learning subverted African art as the discourse of the Other, developed students’ understandings of the multiple realities of Africa and African aesthetics, and encouraged positive transformations in students’ perceptions of African aesthetics.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The central theme of this thesis is to establish the use of visual art for community development. This is done within the context of South Africa in Kayamandi, a Black Township near Stellenbosch. This example has been chosen because one of South Africa's major developmental challenges lies in Black Townships, due to the previous government's negligence toward these areas. Since the thesis focuses on a Black Township, the history of Black visual art during the 20th century, under colonial and postcolonial regimes is analysed. Subsequently, the notion of community development and how visual art contributes to development is outlined. The important role that community arts and community arts centres play in the contribution of visual art to community development is also defined. To this end qualitative and quantitative research has been conducted in Kayamandi. Artists, visual art groups and possible community arts centres were identified. By way of the Kayamandi study, it is understood that visual art is an established practice in Kayamandi. Under specified circumstances, visual art practice in Kayamandi does lead to community development. The establishment of a community arts centre could further increase people's use of visual art for community development. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die sentrale doel van die tesis is om die gebruik van visuele kuns vir gemeenskapsontwikkeling vas te stel. Dit word vasgestel binne die Suid- Afrikaanse konteks met spesifieke verwysing na Kayamandi, 'n Swart woonbuurt naby Stellenbosch. Dié gemeenskap is gekies omdat Swart woonbuurte een van Suid-Afrika se grootste ontwikkelingsuitdagings vergestalt. Dié uitdaging is die gevolg van nalatigheid van die vorige apartheidsregering ten opsigte van die gebiede. Die geskiedenis van Swart visuele kuns gedurende die 20ste eeu tydens die koloniale en postkoloniale regimes word ondersoek. Gevolglik word gemeenskapsontwikkeling en hoe visuele kuns daartoe bydra uiteengesit en bespreek. Verder word die belangrikheid van gemeenskapskuns en - kunssentrums én hul bydrae tot visuele kuns vir gemeenskapsontwikkeling gedefiniëer. Vir dié doel is kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe navorsing in die verband in Kayamandi gedoen. Kunstenaars, visuele kuns groepe en moontlike gemeenskapskunssentrums is ge-identifiseer. Die Kayamandi studie bewys dat visuele kuns 'n gevestigde praktyk in Kayamandi is. In gespesifiseerde omstandighede dra visuele kuns wel tot gemeenskapsontwikkeling in Kayamandi by. Die ontwikkeling van 'n gemeenskapskunssentrum in Kayamandi sal die inwoners se gebruik van visuele kuns vir gemeenskapsontwikkeling vergroot.

Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / This thesis aims to assess the extent to which the African curated exhibition, Dak’Art: Biennale de l’art africain contemporain , succeeds in subverting hegemonic Western representations of African art as necessarily ‘exotic’ and ‘Other.’ My investigation of the Dak’Art biennale in this thesis is informed and preceded by a study of evolutionist assumptions towards African art and the continuing struggle for command over the African voice. I outline the trajectory of African art from primitive artifact to artwork, highlighting the prejudices that have kept Africans from being valued as equals and unique artists in their own right. I then look at exhibiting techniques employed to move beyond perceptions of the tribal, to subvert the exoticising tendency of the West and remedy the marginalised position of the larger African artistic community.

The colonial era brought about Western civilisation, industrialisation, urbanisation and technology that led to the negation of the validity of the traditional wall decorations and the meaning behind what is understood as merely decorative shapes and parttens. To research as to whether this is true, the aim of this study is to establish whether the symbols applied on the traditional African murals have any linguistic significance. The research investigated the pictography embedded in the traditional murals of three linguistic groups, namely the Balobedu, Vatsonga and Vhavenda in Limpopo Province. The researcher gathered and recorded from the surviving elders the vital codes which unlock the meaning of signs, symbols, colours and geometric shapes before the knowledge is lost forever when they die. Data was collected mainly from Vatsonga female elders in their homes by using unstructured interviews. Traditional huts are decorated with symbols, signs, shapes, lines, and colours on the maguva (walls around the courtyard), mavala ya nghotsa (design and patterns, mainly in repeated half circles (figures 26 to 35)), mabilomu/swiluva/ swiphaswana (calabash/gourd flowers), ku sindza hi makholo (patterned cow dung floor) and ku tsema (coloured bands around the hut), depicted in figures 12 to 15. According to the respondents, the maphapha (calabashes/gourds) is a symbol for the plant that feeds the people. The plant from which maphapha are made, has heart-shaped green leaves and yellow flowers that develop into a calabash/gourd, which are consumed as food (figures 10–11). In this sense, it represents a woman and her responsibilities as carer and life giver. The results affirm that the pictography is not merely a reproduction of common decorative patterns, but is instead the source of an ancient visual expressive language carried down from generation to generation through oratory and visual narratives in the form of symbols, and signs. The study recommends the preservation of the linguistic significance of the traditional South African murals that have long been marginalised, possibly encouraging the younger generations to review their own history. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil.(African Languages)