Thesis (MA (Visual Arts)) -- University of Stellenbosch, 1997 / 168 leaves printed single pages,preliminary pages and numberd pages 1-70.Includes bibliography and 115 illustrations.Digitized at 600 dpi grayscale to pdf format (OCR),using an Bizhub 250 Konica Minolta Scanner. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study considers the history and problematics of the contemporary comic strip, particularly in regard to issues of controversy and iconoclasm. Special attention is paid to the local magazine, Bitterkomix as an example. In Chapter One, the comic medium is identified and discussed as a homogeneous art form. Its independence from both fine arts and literature is explained and the identifying, intrinsic characteristics of the medium are used as a basis for the analysis of form and meaning in selected contemporary comics. Chapter Two provides a brief history of iconoclasm, subversion and controversy surrounding selected comics from the 1950's up to the present. The emphasis is placed on pivotal developments in the medium, particularly in the United States. A link is suggested between the post-war affluence of the American society and the conservative values which underpin it. Because of the many similarities which exist between the value systems of white South Africa and those of the more conservative states of the U.S., a contextual parallel is mooted which identifies the development and impact of controversial comics abroad and the reception which Bitterkomix encountered in South Africa. Chapter Three outlines and analyses this connection, emphasising that Bitterkomix has to be seen in the wider historical context and not simply as an expression of a parochial, "alternative"culture among young Afrikaners. In the final two chapters, satire and the use of stereotypes in the comic form is considered. The study pays particular attention to the publications, Gif, Afrikaner Sekskomix and Loslyf(an Afrikaans skin magazine) in order to establish connections between deviant sexual behaviour in a repressive society. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING:In hierdie werkstuk word die geskiedenis en problematiek van die hedendaagse strip, veral die kontroversieIe en ikonoklastiese aspekte daarvan, aangespreek. As 'n voorbeeld word die aandag veral toegespits op die plaaslike tydskrif, Bitterkomix. In Hoofstuk Een word die stripmedium geidentifiseer en as homogene kunsvorm bespreek. Die medium se onafhanklikheid van beide die Skone Kunste en die Letterkunde word verduidelik en die identifiserende, intrinsieke kenmerke word basies toegepas vir die ontleding van vorm en betekenis in gekose, hedendaagse strips. Hoofstuk Twee bestaan uit 'n kort oorsig van die geskiedenis van ikonoklasme, ondermyning en kontroverse rondom geselekteerde strips vanaf 1950 tot die hede. Die k1em word geplaas op deurslaggewende ontwikkelings in die medium, veral in die Verenigde State. 'n Skakel word voorgestel tussen die na-oorlogse welvaart van die Amerikaanse gemeenskap en die konserwatiewe waardes onderliggend daaraan. As gevolg van die baie ooreenkomste tussen die waarde-sisteme van wit Suid-Afrika en die van die meer konserwatiewe state van die V.S., word 'n kontekstuele parallel vasgestel wat die ontwikkeling en impak van kontroversieIe strips in die buiteland en die reaksie op Bitterkomix in Suid-Afrika, identifiseer. Hoofstuk Drie skets en ontleed hierdie verbintenis en beklemtoon dat Bitterkomix in 'n wyer historiese konteks beskou moet word en nie slegs as 'n uitdrukking van 'n parogiale, "altematiewe" kuItuur onder jong Afrikaners nie. In die laaste twee hoofstukke word satire en die gebruik van stereotipes in die stripvorm oorweeg. Aandag word veral gegee aan die publikasies Gif: Afrikoner Sekskomix, en Loslyf( 'n Afrikaanse sekstydskrif) om kwessies van abnormale seksuele gedrag in 'n repressiewe gemeenskap aan te raak.

Thesis (M.Phil) -- University of Stellenbosch, 2000 / 230 leaves printed single pages,numbered pages 1-230.Includes bibliography.Digitized at 600 dpi grayscale to pdf format (OCR),using an Bizhub 250 Konica Minolta Scanner. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Anton Kannemeyer and Conrad Botes have been publishing Bitterkomix,, their comics magazine, for nearly a decade in South Africa. These comics are a structured satyrical attack on the South African and specifically Afrikaans culture. Both artists employ different narrative strategies to convey their sometimes shocking message. The reaction on their writing and drawing shows an unwillingness in certain academic circles to analyse their texts critically. As a result Bitterkomix has drawn very little academic attention. This unwillingness is a product of the modernist approach to the comic as "low" literature. Modernists didn't regard comics as worthy material for critical analyses. The literary paradigm shift towards popular culture, and therefore comics, and the pluralistic reading strategy ofpostmodemism make it possible for an academic approach towards this previously ill-treated art form. This thesis is an attempt to suggest an approach strategy to Bitterkomix as a South African underground comics magazine. As a backdrop the study looks at the development of comics in general, as well as the changes that took place in the traditional approach strategies to the modem comic. It also focusses on selected texts by Kannemeyer and Botes to demonstrate how Bitterlwmix functions as an underground comic in the changing South African society. The writers draw upon methods and strategies used by underground comix artists in the United States during the sixties. Their specific employment of the drawing styles and narrative contents of artists like Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson and also the Belgian artist, Herge, makes intertextuality one of the strongest postmodemist aspects of Bitterlwmix. Botes's and Kannemeyer's combined use of intertextuality and other postmodemist metafictional narrative strategies gives Bitterlwmix a literary value that requires an academic approach. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Anton Kannemeyer en Conrad Botes se strokiestydskrif Bitterkomix verskyn reeds bykans 'n dekade in Suid-Afrika. Hulle strokies, wat van 'n akademiese en literere uitgangspunt getuig, is 'n berekende satiriese aanval op die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing en meer spesifiek die Afrikanerdom. Beide skrywers span 'n verskeidenheid vertelstrategiee in om hulle somtyds skokkende boodskap oor te dra. Die reaksie op hulle skryf- en tekenwerk spreek egter van 'n onvermoe ofonwilligheid by die akademici om die tekste op kritiese wyse te analiseer. Gevolglik het Bilterkomix tot dusver min akademiese aandag gekry. Hierdie onvermoe stam myns insiens moontlik uit 'n modemistiese miskenning van die strokie as kunsvorm. Strokies is as "lae" literatuur gekategoriseer en is volgens modemiste dus nie geskikte materiaal vir 'n diepsinnige bespreking me. Die literere paradigma ten opsigte van populere kultuur en dus strokies het egter intussen verander en die pluralistiese leesstrategie van 'n postrnodemistiese benadering maak dit moontlik om akademiese aandag aan hierdie voorheen miskende kunsvorm te skenk. Die tesis is 'n poging om 'n benaderingswyse voor te stel tot Bitterkomix as Suid-Afrikaanse underground-strokiestydskrif. As agtergrondstudie ondersoek dit die ontstaan en ontwikkeling van die strokie in die algemeen, asook die veranderinge wat plaasgevind het in die tradisionele benaderingswyses tot die modeme strokie. Daama fokus die bespreking op geselekteerde tekste uit die oeuvres van Botes en Kannemeyer om te probeer aantoon hoe Bitterkomix as underground-strokie binne die veranderende Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing funksioneer. Die skrywers gebruik onder andere uitgangspunte en strategiee van die underground-strokie, soos dit veral in die sestigerjare in Arnerika gevind is. Hulle doelbewuste inspeling op beide die tekenstyle en verhaalinhoude van skrywers soos Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson asook die Belgiese Herge maak intertekstualiteit een van die sterkste postmodemistiese kenmerke van Bitterkomix. Botes en Kannemeyer se gebruik van intertekstualiteit, metafiksionaliteit, en ander postrnodemistiese vertelstrategiee verleen aan Bitterkomix 'n literere kwaliteit wat om 'n akademiese benaderingswyse vra. / Instituut vir Navorsingsontwikkeling van die Raad vir Geesteswetenskaplike Navorsing

Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts / Thesis (MA (VA)) -- Stellenbosch University, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Cultural evolution & genre: an investigation of three South African graphic narratives of the South African Border war (1975-1988) Magister in Fine Arts thesis, Department of Fine Arts, Stellenbosch University This study analyses three South African graphic narratives in the context of culture evolving in the Darwinian sense. It is deemed necessary to consider evolutionary theory in such a study of graphic narratives as it considers the development of culture as resulting from a process of evolution akin to natural selection. Special attention is paid to the theory of memetics, in the field of evolutionary epistemology, and its proposal to model cultural evolution. While this model relies on evolutionary theory, the development of culture is seen as evolving separately from biological evolution. This evolutionary perspective on culture is combined with the concepts of discourse and genre in social semiotics and media studies to investigate the changes in the depiction of the Border war in South African graphic narratives. As such this study focuses on the strategic viewpoint of cultural evolution, the role of memes in genre and its interaction with the evolution of discourse. This approach is offered as a useful method to analyse cultural artefacts. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kulturele evolusie & genre: 'n ondersoek van drie grafiese verhale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Grensoorlog (1975-1988) Magister in Beeldende Kunste tesis, Oepat1ement Beeldende Kunste, Universiteit van Stellcnbosch Hicrdie studic ontleed drie Suid-Afrikaanse graficse verhale in die konteks van kultuur wat evolueer in die Oarwinistiese sin. Oit word belangrik gereken om evolusieteorie in so 'n studie van grafiese verhale in ag te neem aangesien die ontwikkeling van kultuur as die resultaat van 'n proses van evolusie, verwand aan natuurlike seleksie, geag word. Spesiale aandag word geskenk aan die teorie van meme, in die veld van evolusieepistemologie, en die teorie se voorstel om kulturele evolusie te modelleer. Terwyl so 'n teorie op evolusieteorie steun, word die ontwikkeling van kultuur beskou as 'n afsonderlike proses van natuurlike seleksie. Hierdie evolusienere perspektief op kultuur word verenig met die konsepte van diskoers en genre in sosiale semiotiek en media studies om die veranderende uitbeelding van die Grensoorlog in Suid-Afrikaanse gratiese verhale na te vors. Sodanig fokus hierdie studie op die strategiesc oogpunt van kulturele evolusie, die rol van meme in genre en die interaksie met die ontwikkeling van diskoers. Hierdie benadering word aangebied as 'n waardevolle metode om kulturele artefakte te ontleed.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores an analysis of autobiographical illustration, as it relates directly to autobiographical devices employed in Bitterkomix and my own visual journals. The result is a practitioner-specific approach that frames my own work within a discourse of comics and consequently within the larger discourse of visual narrative. These devices are analysed in the works of artists in Bitterkomix who employ autobiography, not only as a means of effecting more intimate interactions between the reader and the narrative, but also as a form of legitimising narrative. A principal deduction that I have made is that autobiographical writing operates through the filter of memory and language translation. A divergence occurs within Bitterkomix, as well as within my own work, between the artist as himself and the artist as his autobiographical self - the two are never identical. I choose to define autobiographical illustration as an interpretative and experimental visual writing process used to affirm and negate perceived concepts of self through the filters of memory, language translation and imagination. Imagination acts as an extension of current memory from which perceived past, present and future identity constructs emanate and extend. These constructs are by no means indicative of historical fact but often appear to be so given autobiography's association as a referential text. The visual journal as an autobiographical object, like Bitterkomix, seeks to legitimise itself in 'naturalising narrative' by feigning to make it the outcome of a documentative process. It is exactly the tension between autobiography's perceived characteristic as a genre that involves 'real' experiences and its actual function as a narrative construction of identity that merits its use as a strategic device. I argue how my visual journals constitute autobiographical narrative objects and archives of autobiographical illustrative form and content. This tension is amplified in my visual journals in their association as deeply personal objects and as a result of what is perceived to be the artist's natural process. Most importantly, these narrative objects are placed within the public's gaze and are made to be read as autobiographical texts, ultimately as documents of this process. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek outobiografiese illustrasie wat direk verband hou met outobiografiese praktyke wat in Bitterkomix en in my eie visuele joernale gebruik word. Die resultaat is 'n praktisyn-spesifieke aanslag wat my eie werk binne die diskoers van stripkuns plaas, en sodoende binne die groter diskoers van visuele narratief. Hierdie praktyke word geanaliseer in die werk van Bitterkomix-kunstenaars wat outobiografie gebruik, nie net as 'n manier om meer intieme interaksies tussen die leser en die narratief te bewerkstellig nie, maar ook om die narratief legitiem te maak. Ek maak die afleiding dat outobiografiese skryfwerk deur die filters van geheue en taal werksaam is. In beide Bitterkomix en my eie werk is 'n skeiding tussen die kunstenaar self en die kunstenaar se outobiografiese self sigbaar – die twee is nooit identies nie. Ek verkies om outobiografiese illustrasie te definieer as 'n interpretatiewe en eksperimentele visuele skryfproses wat gebruik word om waargenome begrippe van die self deur die filters van geheue, vertaling en verbeelding te bevestig en te negeer. Die verbeelding dien as 'n voortsetting van huidige geheue waaruit waargenome identiteitskonstrukte van die verlede, hede en toekoms voortvloei. Hierdie konstrukte is geensins aanduidend van historiese feite nie, maar kom dikwels so voor gegewe outobiografie se assosiasie as verwysende teks. My argument is dat my visuele joernale beide outobiografiese narratiewe objekte én argiewe van outobiografiese illustratiewe vorm en inhoud is. Visuele joernale as outobiografiese objekte, soos in die geval van Bitterkomix, probeer sigself legitiem maak deur middel van 'naturaliserende narratief', deur voor te gee dat dit die resultaat van 'n dokumenterende proses is. Dit is juis die spanning tussen outobiografie se aard as 'n genre wat gegrond is op 'ware' ervaringe, en outobiografie se funksie as 'n narratiewe konstruksie, wat die gebruik daarvan as 'n strategiese middel die moeite werd maak. Hierdie spanning word in my visuele joernale verhoog deur hulle diep persoonlike aard, en as gevolg van wat gesien word as die kunstenaar se natuurlike proses. Belangriker nog is dat hierdie narratiewe objekte binne die publiek se sigveld geplaas word om as outobiografiese tekste gelees te word, en ook uiteindelik as dokumente van die proses.

Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / This thesis aims to investigate the representation of gender in Afrikaans underground comics. Initially the work of Conrad Botes and Anton Kannemeyer in Bitterkomix, dating from 1992 to 2004, will be discussed, followed by a closer look at Stripshow. Chapter one is primarily a discussion about pornography, starting with an overview of feminist arguments against it. This is followed by a number of counter arguments which are also rooted in feminist discourse. The sexually explicit images in Bitterkomix are then analysed according to the mentioned feminist arguments with a short investigation of the context which led to Bitterkomix’s inception, focusing on the dynamics of power and authority. This leads to a discussion of the origin of pornography which establishes Bitterkomix as part of a tradition where sexual explicitness is used in the service of social commentary. Chapter two investigates the connection between satire and iconoclasm and relates it to Stripshow and Bitterkomix. A discussion of the context in which Stripshow originated then follows. Finally, one story in Stripshow is analysed according to the preceding research in order to investigate the manifestation of satire and irony in the relationship between word and image.