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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Dominique Botha‟s False River, published simultaneously with the rewritten Afrikaans text Valsrivier in 2013, is a fictionalised memoir presented as a novel that is written into the tradition of the plaasroman. The text follows the lives of the Bothas of Rietpan in the Free State and spans the years between 1980 and 1997. In this thesis I discuss the novel focussing on questions surrounding narration and its affirmation or negation of agency, embodiment and subjectivity, the narrative construction of the Botha family‟s isolating liberalism in its present post-apartheid context, and the perception of the author and the novel by Afrikaans and English literary communities. I explore the text‟s relationship to genre, drawing on J.M. Coetzee‟s examination of the literary pastoral in White Writing: On the Culture of Letters in South Africa. It is through this theoretical lens that I argue that False River depicts a conflicted, inconsistent and perforated view of Afrikaner identity and its relationship to gender, notions of landed belonging, Afrikaans-English linguistic co-habitation, and black subjectivity, in an agrarian landscape that dominates through anthropopsychism and primogeniture. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Dominique Botha se False River, tegelykertyd gepubliseer met die herskryfde Afrikaanse teks Valsrivier in 2013, is ʼn geromantiseerde memoir wat as fiksie aangebied word en is binne die tradisie van die plaasroman geskryf. Die teks beskryf die lewens van die Bothas van Rietpan in die Vrystaat vanaf 1980 tot 1997. In my tesis bespreek ek dié roman met die fokus op vraagstukke rondom die vertelling se bekragtiging of ontkenning van bemagtiging, beliggaming en subjektiwiteit; van die verhaalkonstruksie van die Botha-familie se isolerende liberalisme in die huidige postapartheid konteks, asook die persepsie van die outeur en die roman deur Afrikaanse en Engelse literêre gemeenskappe. Ek ondersoek die teks se verhouding tot genre, na aanleiding van J.M. Coetzee se behandeling van die literêre pastoraal in White Writing: On the Culture of Letters in South Africa, om aan te voer dat False River ʼn strydige, inkonsekwente en geperforeerde beskouing van Afrikaner-identiteit toon. Die verhouding van dié identiteit tot geslagtelikheid, grondbesit, Afrikaans-Engels linguistiese samebestaan, en swart subjektiwiteit word ook uitgelig binne die milieu van die agrariese landskap wat deur eersgeboortereg en die natuur-in-simpatie-procédé die karakters domineer.

This study sought to investigate factors that enable high pass rates at Cambridge Overseas School Certificate (C.O.S.C.) level at Botha-Bothe High School in Lesotho. The focus of the study has been on three broad possible factors, namely the nature of leadership within the institution, the relationships between administration and teachers, amongst the teachers and between the teachers and learners, as well as resources available in the school. The study used a triangulation of three instruments: interviewing, observation and document analysis to collect data. These three instruments helped the researcher to collect proof-checked information and arrive at concretized conclusions. The Principal, Deputy-Principal, HODs and teachers who participated in interviews, handed to the researcher the necessary documents and took the researcher around to different teaching centres. Having investigated and correlated all the results, the researcher concluded that the following are possible factors that could improve pass rates. The first factor is a sound leadership that allows interaction, that manages time, that motivates other stakeholders, and that includes its subordinates in decision-making. The second factor is warm relationships between management and staff, amongst the academic staff and between teachers and students. The third factor is the availability and good management of resources (human and material). / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

With this dissertation I propose to investigate critical theories dealing with memory and its role in photography. The function of memory is a well discussed and analysed topic within the ambit of historical research. Drawing from theoretical texts by critical theorists, namely, Roland Barthes, Annette Kuhn and Marianne Hirsch, I will critically address the function of memory in the understanding of photography; particularly how photographs have the ability to construct our identity in terms of history and narrative. I will study the content of memory in relation to visual images, focusing on what is remembered, what is suppressed, and finally, what is transformed when viewing an image. By doing so, I will consider whether or not still photographs have the ability to construct the past in a narrative form that is intrinsic to its medium. This consideration will be undertaken with specific reference to the works of contemporary South African artist Lien Botha. Special attention will be directed to her series of work entitled Amendment (2006), a series which permits me in turn, to deal with issues pertaining to memory and “visual narrative” which I have explored in my own professional art practice namely, Memory Boxes, Back Stories, Faces of You and Me, Memories Re-layered and Ghostly Remnants.

Published Article / Radiographers need to know how to react appropriately when a patient has a medical emergency; this is not only essential but lifesaving. This reaction stems from a theoretical framework that guides an automotive sense of knowing what to do and how to assist. Having the correct equipment completes this circle. The objectives of this study was to evaluate the responses of Bloemfontein radiographers in emergency situations based on the awareness of their role in emergency procedures and their role in the application of pharmaceuticals and equipment on the emergency trolley. A checklist compiled from literature was used to evaluate the state of emergency trolleys at four hospitals in Bloemfontein through impromptu visits. A questionnaire was used to determine the preparedness of radiographers for common medical emergencies. The currency of their first aid training was also established. The study results showed that 50% of the emergency trolleys' content conformed to guidelines in literature; the other trolleys contained expired medicine. Forty-five percent of the radiographers in the sample did not know how to assist effectively when using an emergency trolley. Of the participants 73.5% would respond according to protocol in emergency situations. Fifty-three percent of the radiographers in the study did not have valid first aid certificates. This study showed that though most participating radiographers would respond to emergency situations according to protocol, certain aspects of their response have shortcomings. Additionally the availability of equipment and medication is cause for concern.

Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / This investigation draws on theories of sacrifice to explore Wim Botha’s sculpture Premonition of War: Scapegoat in relation to nationalist and patriarchal thought. Since the artist deals with myth, his approach is discussed in terms of Barthes’ formulation of myth as a meta-language. It is maintained that Botha is using a meta-mythical language to deconstruct the narratives he deals with. Sacrifice is seen as an act that binds communities together but that also separates them from threats (Nancy Jay 1992:17). It is argued that the crucifix has been used as symbol of sacrifice to denote immortality, and that this over-emphasis of continuity has been to the detriment of those that do not fall within the boundaries of the “same” as defined by white men. The incorporation and exclusion of the feminine into male structures are discussed, as well as the role that institutionalised religious thought has played in South African Nationalism. An interpretation of Scapegoat using Freud and Žižek seems to point to the necessary compromise made by the Church with the dualisms it has created between its definitions of good and evil. Nietzsche’s conception of sacrifice as a system of debt when applied to the Scapegoat also seems to point to a contradiction inherent within it, since Botha’s inversion puts into question the idea of a gift given outside of a creditor/debtor system. The burnt appearance of the Scapegoat appears to indicate that the attempt to sacrifice the act of sacrifice is futile, since sacrifice eternally returns. However, the “pure gift”, or don pur that Derrida writes of, seems to point to a way beyond dialectics, towards a morality freed from duty.

Thesis (MA (Visual Art))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is bemoei met die wyse waarop die fotobeeld konvensioneel aan 'n mimetiese kode van "gedrag" onderhewig is, met die gevolg dat alternatiewe voorstellingsfunksies dikwels buite oorweging gehou word. 'n Interessante area van ondersoek word blootgestel wanneer die komplekse verhouding tussen die toeskouer en beeld betrek word om die broosheid van eersgenoemde se agentskap in die waarnemingproses te beklemtoon. Dit is dus vanuit hierdie gewaarwording dat ek my bespreking van die fotobeeld grotendeels binne 'n psigoanalitiese raamwerk situeer en aan die hand van konsepte soos Einfühlung, die Lacanian Real en John Dewey (2005) se teorie van kuns as ervaring, bespreek. Die skynbaar teenstrydige aard van die fotobeeld as (onder andere) beide mimetiese realiteitskopie en piktoriale fiksie, ooglopend onafhanklik van taal en eweveel deurspek met diskursiewe vertolkings, openbaar volgens my egter die ideale vertrekpunt vanwaar fotografie se voorstellingsfunksie heroorweeg kan word. Dié opponerende tweespalt, wat as kenmerkende karaktertrekke van die fotobeeld na vore tree, noop die toeskouer om die beeld met 'n verhoogde sensitiwiteit te benader – met die gevolg dat die foto se onlosmaaklike skakel met "haar"1 diskursiewe grense en aptyt vir die "onsêbare" as konstruktiewe koalisie gesien word. Die fotografiese werk van Lien Botha, veral haar Amendment–reeks (2006) en Parrot Jungle (2009), sal deurentyd as visuele bevestiging van my argumente betrek word. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is concerned with the way in which the photographic image has conventionally been subject to a mimetic code of "behaviour", resulting in the marginalization of alternative, representational functions. An interesting area of study is, however, laid bare when the complex relationship between the viewer and image initiates a discussion around the former's wavering position as autonomous agent within the observation process. Using this awareness as a point of departure, my discussion will be primarily situated within a psychoanalytic framework by focusing partly on concepts like Einfühlung, the Lacanian Real and John Dewey's theory of art as experience. An apparent dualistic rivalry, that situates the photo-image simultaneously as a mimetic agent of reality and pictorial fiction, apparently devoid of language and equally riddled with discursive interpretations, serves furthermore as an ideal complication of the photograph's conventional, representational function. These opposing "forces", recognizable as a typical characteristic of the photographic image, subtly challenges the viewer to regard it with a heightened sensitivity – resulting in an awareness that the photograph's inseparable bond with its discursive boundaries, and appetite for the "unrepresentational", does in fact represent a constructive coalition. The photographic work of Lien Botha, especially her Amendment-series (2006) and Parrot Jungle (2009) will serve as a visual emphasis of my arguments.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is an historical analysis of the American policy of Constructive Engagement and serves as a comprehensive review of that policy, its ideological foundation, formulation, aims, and strategies. This study also serves as a detailed assessment of the policy’s ties to the South African Total National Strategy. Constructive Engagement, according to the Reagan Administration, was designed to lend American support to a controlled process of change within the Republic of South Africa. This change would be accomplished by encouraging a “process of reform” that would be accompanied by American “confidence building” with the apartheid regime. Before this process could begin, however, the region had to be stabilized, and the conflicts within southern Africa resolved. With the assistance of American diplomacy, peace could be brought to the region, and South Africa could proceed to political reform within the Republic. In reality, the most important aims of Constructive Engagement were to minimize Soviet influence within the Frontline States of southern Africa and remove the Cuban combat forces from Angola. These goals would be largely achieved by supporting and encouraging the South African policy of destabilizing its neighbours, called the Total National Strategy. This alignment inexorably led to a situation in which global policy issues eclipsed regional concerns, thereby making the United States a collaborator with the apartheid regime. Consequently, South Africa was allowed to continue its program of apartheid while enjoying American encouragement of its policy of regional destabilization, particularly its cross-border attacks into Angola and Mozambique. The U.S. support for the apartheid government offered through Constructive Engagement made the policy vulnerable to criticism that the apartheid regime’s “experiment with reform” was not a move toward liberalizing the Republic’s political system but that it was tailored to deny citizenship through the establishment of Bantustans, a point that provided ammunition to domestic opponents of Constructive Engagement. For a time, U.S.-South African cooperation was effective; the Frontline States were grudgingly forced to accept Pretoria’s regional hegemony. However, dominance of the Frontline States did not improve the security of the South African state. The African National Congress had not been defeated and was determined to make the Republic ungovernable. Furthermore, by the late-1980s, Pretoria could not dominate southern Africa and Angola, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe, which, although crippled from years of war, appeared poised to reassert themselves in the region. For South Africa, the Total National Strategy had failed, and coexistence with its neighbours would be a necessity. Without a powerful apartheid regime with which to reduce communist influence in southern Africa, the Reagan Administration abandoned Constructive Engagement. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is ’n historiese analise van die Amerikaanse beleid van Konstruktiewe Betrokkenheid en dien as ’n omvattende oorsig van dié beleid, sy ideologiese grondslag, formulering, oogmerke en strategieë. Dit dien ook as ’n gedetailleerde beoordeling van die beleid se bande met Suid-Afrika se Totale Nasionale Strategie. Volgens die Reagan-administrasie was Konstruktiewe Betrokkenheid bedoel om Amerikaanse steun te verleen aan ’n beheerde proses van verandering binne die Republiek van Suid-Afrika. Hierdie verandering sou bereik word deur die aanmoediging van ’n ‘hervormingsproses’ wat met Amerikaanse ‘bou van vertroue’ met die apartheidregime gepaardgaan. Voordat dié proses kon begin moes die streek egter eers gestabiliseer en die konflikte binne Suider-Afrika opgelos word. Met behulp van Amerikaanse diplomasie kon vrede in die streek bewerkstellig word, en kon Suid-Afrika oorgaan tot binnelandse politieke hervorming. In werklikheid was die vernaamste oogmerke van Konstruktiewe Betrokkenheid om Sowjet-invloed binne die Frontliniestate van Suider-Afrika te minimaliseer en die Kubaanse gevegsmagte uit Angola te verwyder. Dié doelwitte sou grootliks bereik word deur die ondersteuning en aanmoediging van Suid-Afrika se beleid om sy buurstate te destabiliseer, wat as die Totale Nasionale Strategie bekend gestaan het. Hierdie ooreenstemming van belange het noodwendig gelei tot ’n situasie waar globale beleidskwessies streeksaangeleenthede oorskadu, en sodoende die Verenigde State van Amerika ’n kollaborateur van die apartheidregime gemaak. Gevolglik is Suid-Afrika toegelaat om sy apartheidprogram voort te sit terwyl hy Amerikaanse aanmoediging van sy beleid van streeksdestabilisering geniet, veral sy oorgrensaanvalle in Angola en Mosambiek. Die Amerikaanse steun vir die apartheidregering wat deur Konstruktiewe Betrokkenheid gebied is, het die beleid vatbaar gemaak vir kritiek dat die apartheidregering se ‘eksperiment met hervorming’ nie ’n stap in die rigting van die liberalisering van die Republiek se politieke stelsel is nie, maar eerder toegespits is op die ontsegging van burgerskap deur die vestiging van Bantoestans, ’n punt wat ammunisie verskaf het aan teenstanders van Konstruktiewe Betrokkenheid binne die VSA. Die VSA-RSA-samewerking was vir ’n tyd lank doeltreffend; die Frontliniestate moes skoorvoetend Pretoria se streekshegemonie aanvaar. Oorheersing van die Frontliniestate het egter nie die veiligheid van die Suid-Afrikaanse staat verbeter nie. Die African National Congress was nie verslaan nie en was vasbeslote om die Republiek onregeerbaar te maak. Boonop kon Pretoria teen die laat-1980s nie Suider-Afrika domineer nie en Angola, Mosambiek en Zimbabwe, hoewel verswak weens jare se oorlogvoering, het gereed gelyk om hulle weer in die streek te laat geld. Vir Suid-Afrika het die Totale Nasionale Strategie misluk, en naasbestaan met sy buurstate sou ’n noodsaaklikheid wees. Sonder ’n magtige apartheidregime waarmee kommunistiese invloed in Suider-Afrika verminder kon word, het die Reagan-administrasie Konstruktiewe Betrokkenheid laat vaar.

I begin by describing Western culture in the way proposed by Fritjof Capra whose ideas remain seminal to my argument throughout this examination. I argue that Western value systems are in the midst of a major transformation, exhibiting an increasing Ecological awareness. I define Ecology as an all-encompassing phenomenon which includes the biological definition of the term as well as the practice of environmental, peace and feminist groups and movements. As such it is seen as a philosophy or approach to experiencing the world which has much in common with many spiritual traditions, contentions and intuitions. I concentrate especially on Buddhism and Taoism insofar as they articulate seminal aspects of Ecology. Situating this notion of cultural transformation and Ecology into a South African context, I interpret Waiter Oltmann's sculptures in relation to this, inherently and consciously embracing Ecological concepts and ideas and redressing cultural imbalances with his images and techniques. Andries Botha's work is likewise seen to question cultural imbalances and to pose questions about new and dynamic relationships within society and culture. His work is seen to relate very closely to Capra's ideas. Finally I discuss my own sculptures, noting how they relate to Botha's and Oltmann's works and how I consciously set out to address and articulate ideas pertaining to Ecology and my experience of the world in these terms. I discuss the origins of my images, techniques and materials and the construction of my works, describing how these relate intentionally and intuitively to the ideas which inform my work. My discussion of art making in terms of Ecology intends as much to offer a new interpretation of this art making as it does to illuminate and illustrate aspects of Ecology. In conclusion I situate this argument in the South African context, discussing how my discourse can be seen to enrich and compliment a particularly South African interpretation of these artists' works which could draw on traditional South African or Christian cultures and traditions. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1995.

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