No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

This thesis, titled “Normative Media Theory and the Rethinking of the Role of the Kenyan Media in a Changing Social Economic Context,” is a theoretical study that discusses the role of normative media theory in shaping and guiding debate on the role of the media and attendant policy making processes in a changing Kenyan social economic context. This is done against the background of acknowledgment of the general state of flux that characterizes normative media theory in a postmodern, globalized and new media landscape. The study thus extensively describes the Kenyan media landscape, with a view to demonstrating how it has and is continuing to be transformed by a variety of developments in the social economic set up of the Kenyan society. In order to provide a theoretical basis for explaining these developments, the study then indulges in an extensive theoretical discussion that presents a synthesis of current arguments in the area of normative media theory. This discussion fundamentally brings to the fore the challenges which characterizes normative media theory in a changing social economic context and therefore the inability of traditional normative theory to account for new developments in the media and society in general. In an attempt to integrate normative media theory and practice, the study then discusses (against the backdrop of theory) the views and opinions of key role players in the Kenyan media landscape, in regard to how they perceive the role of the media. Particular attention is given, inter alia, to matters such as media ownership, media accountability processes, changing media and communication technologies, a changing constitutional landscape, the role of the government in the Kenyan media landscape, the place of African moral philosophy in explaining the role of the media in Kenya, and the growth of local language radio. Finally, on the bases of theory, experiences from other parts of the world and the views of key role players in the Kenyan media landscape, the study presents several normative guidelines on how normative theory and media policy making in Kenya could meet each other, taking into account the changes occasioned by globalization and the new media landscape. These proposals are essentially made to enrich general debate on the role of the media in Kenya, as well as attendant media policy making efforts. / Communication / D.Litt. et Phil. (Communication)

The present study draws on uses and gratifications and media system dependency perspectives for examining factors related to Internet usage behaviors of international students and their motives to use their home-country Internet resources.

<p>This investigation into the status of English in Iran and cultural presentations in Iranian English has two areas of emphasis. The first is a sociolinguistic profile of English in Iran in which the status, functions, uses and users of this language are described within in the country’s social and political contexts. In this part, contributing factors to the growth of English in three political periods, including the Qajar dynasty (1796 -1925), the Pahlavi era (1925-1979) and post-Revolutionary time (1979 – present), are elaborated upon to establish the historical and political bases for the second area of focus.</p> <p>The second focus is the cultural content in the locally developed English textbooks used from 1939 to the present time (2020). Accordingly, the content of four generations (across five textbook series) of Iranian high school English textbooks are analyzed based on an evaluation scheme which the author has developed. This research finds answers to the questions on the status of culture in the Iranian English textbooks; distribution of Iranian and non-Iranian cultures; dominance of cultural elements (products, practices and perspectives) in each English textbooks series; and the political and ideological influence of each era on the content of English textbooks.</p> <p>This investigation finds that the English textbooks which were developed before the Islamic Revolution (first and second generations) were highly cultural compared to the post-Revolution materials (third and fourth generations). Also, non-Iranian cultural components (particularly the American and British cultures) were more represented in the English textbooks of the Pahlavi period, whereas Western cultures were all eliminated in the post-Revolution textbooks, replaced by the Islamic/Revolutionary cultures. Additionally, cultural perspectives outnumbered cultural products and practices in the first and second generations of English textbooks (Pahlavi era) whereas cultural products dominated the post-Revolutionary English materials. This study finds that political and ideological hegemony of each era have directly influenced the textual and illustrative content of locally developed English textbooks in Iran.<a> </a></p>

<p>  </p> <p>Empathy is a complex emotional response to others’ experiences that can both advance and obstruct mutual understanding. Many fields in the humanities and social sciences have their own theories of empathy, including recent advances in rhetoric and composition. However, writing center studies have not yet arrived at a theory of empathy despite a body of scholarship that invokes empathy as a necessary skill or disposition in writing center praxis. This dissertation argues that empathic dispositions can be evoked and tempered in staff education classrooms through assignments that facilitate critical self-reflection on one’s positionality. The present pilot study describes four aspects of empathic dispositions that can be tempered in a writing center curriculum. The first chapter categorizes different concepts of empathy in writing centers and theorizes four aspects of empathic dispositions that align with theories on rhetoric, affect, and feminist approaches to empathic, critical engagement with others. The second chapter outlines the feminist methodologies and methods that were used to collect and analyze interviews with research participants. The third chapter describes a sixteen-week staff education course that was oriented to evoking and developing students’ empathic dispositions. The fourth chapter shares interviews with new consultants who reflect on their first semester in our writing center and how their work was influenced by their assignments and experiences in our curriculum. The final chapter concludes the study by outlining its limitations, charting a path forward for future research, and offering a pedagogical approach to cultivating empathic dispositions that I call resonant reflection. The results of this study indicate that consultants draw from their own experiences and values when they imagine a writer’s circumstances. They can access their rich, yet tacit, experiences through deliberative reflection, a necessary component of developing empathic dispositions that advance mutual understanding. These findings implicate that a stronger theoretical framework for empathy in writing centers can advance not only writing center research and pedagogy but also our commitments to social justice in our centers. </p>

L'objectif principal de cette maîtrise était de conduire une recherche appliquée en communication de l'histoire. Le support choisi fut une exposition en milieu muséal. Le problème historique présenté était celui de la marginalisation d'une communauté, en l'occurrence, les protestants francophones dans le Québec majoritairement catholique du XIXe siècle. Cela fut réalisé dans l'exposition Un autre son de cloche. Les protestants francophones au Québec, qui se tient depuis le 31 mars au Musée des religions (Nicolet). Le texte qui suit présente les objectifs du projet et son contexte, les recherches historiques et muséologiques qu'il a requis, les étapes de sa réalisation et le bilan de l'expérience. / Québec Université Laval, Bibliothèque 2013

Ce mémoire présente le compte-rendu et l'analyse d'une expérience complète de communication de l'histoire, de la conception de l'outil de communication à son expérimentation sur un public. En août 1995, nous avons dirigé un site d'animation sur le commerce au Moyen âge, aux Médiévales de Québec. Le site était animé par douze personnages construits à l'aide d'une recherche approfondie dans les sources historiques et les travaux d'historiens. Notre produit de communication d'histoire visait à transmettre aux visiteurs des Médiévales des connaissances sur le commerce au Moyen âge et un savoir-faire lié à la culture historique. Le mémoire présente toutes les étapes de production de l'instrument de communication de l'histoire: la construction d'une documentation historiographique et d'un corpus de sources, la conception du site d'animation (personnages, mise en rue, décor) et la réalisation du produit de communication (collaboration avec l'employeur et avec l'équipe d'animation). / Québec Université Laval, Bibliothèque 2013

An immense degree of linguistic diversity exists in the work force where it is possible for speakers of twenty-three home languages to come into contact on the work floor. The language of management in industry is predominantly English; while supervisors are primarily English- or Afrikaans-speaking. Misinterpretation of speaker intent plays a significant role in communication breakdown that occurs when management or foremen/supervisors communicate directly with workers who do not understand the two erstwhile official languages sufficiently or not at all. Reagan ( 1 986) hypothesized that the greatest number of problems are caused by what might be termed mutual ignorance, rather than by language difficulties. The aim of the thesis was therefore to establish what constitutes the mutual ignorance that leads to misinterpretation of speaker intent. The Hymesian model, the ethnography of speaking, was used as a model for an analysis of sociolinguistic features in factories in the Pretoria-WitwatersrandVereeniging area. For data collection a process of triangulation was used and qualitative and quantitative methods used. The Free Attitude Interview technique was used for unstructured interviews. Other methods include observation, and elicitation procedures such as the Discourse Completion Test, which were used in structured interviews. Language preference, forms of address and politeness markers were examined. Findings revealed that the major differences were found to be in the area of non-verbal behaviour. Speakers of Afrikaans and English are, on the whole, unaware of politeness markers used by speakers of African languages. Afrikaans and English speakers are unaware of offensive non-verbal behaviour used by them. It is revealing that speakers of the official languages believe this to be the very area that makes communication possible, but it is the area in which they may cause offence. It was also found that speakers of African languages have adopted many of the features of the power dominant group at work. The findings of the research are important for the development of strategies for overcoming misinterpretation of speaker intent and negative stereotyping. This research was undertaken as part of the Human Sciences Research Council's programme entitled Language in the labour situation. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

This study sought to examine linguistic and discursive strategies used to construct messages reflective of the implementation of the HIV and AIDS policy for Zimbabwe of 1999 by government and private newspapers. Such analysis was perceived to be important since media content has a bearing on Zimbabweans‘ perception and attitudes regarding HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment and control. The study was aimed at comparing messages from newspapers with views by the people of Zimbabwe regarding the implementation of the policy. Findings reveal that empowerment programmes particularly those targeting women and children are lagging behind as Zimbabweans, literature and newspaper data sources testify. In addition, information sources concur that cultural (For example, stigmatisation, polygamy, religious practices, spouse inheritance) and structural (For example, patriarchy, masculinity, bureaucracy, politics) are stumbling blocks that negatively affect the implementation of the policy. Further, even though private and government newspapers do not fully agree on the portrayal of human agents, there is a general consensus between newspaper reports and Zimbabweans that people still face socio-economic and econo-political challenges that militate against the smooth implementation of the HIV and AIDS policy. Government newspapers tend to downplay aspects which reveal inadequacies of government activities. The study notes this as betrayal of use of ideological squares both by government and private newspapers whereby certain aspects regarding the implementation of the policy are either downplayed or highlighted to influence perception. The study reveals that newspaper reports used nominalisation, quantification, positive politeness, thematisation, rhematisation, intertextuality, euphemism, proverbs, idioms, action verbs, metaphors and citation of experts as linguistic and discursive strategies both for agenda setting and building purposes regarding the implementation of the HIV and AIDS policy. Other devices used particularly in the encoding of Operation Murambatsvina are, claptraps, deictic referencing, personal pronouns, adjectives and direct speech. The study attributes problems regarding the Zimbabwean HIV and AIDS intervention model to the top – down approach inherent in the policy. Hence, the call for an adoption of an unhu/hunhu/ubuntu inspired bottom – up HIV and AIDS intervention model in Zimbabwe. This would inculcate pro-family, pro-village, pro-nation/people and ―servant leadership‖ (Mangena and Chitando, 2011) values in the fight against the pandemic through the embracing of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS). Unfortunately, such values largely continue to elude the radar of the current top – down HIV and AIDS intervention model cuurently in use in Zimbabwe. / African Languages / D. Litt et Phil. (African Languages)

Mental health care in South Africa has long been governed by inequalities (Foster & Swartz, 1997). During apartheid, those who did not speak English and Afrikaans could not access mental health services in the same way as those who did (Foster & Swartz, 1997). One main reason for this is the majority of mental health practitioners could not, and were not required to speak languages other than English and Afrikaans (Swartz, 1991). The South African mental health literature suggests that language and communication must be prioritised if there is to be an improvement in mental health care services for those individuals who do not speak English and Afrikaans (Bantjes, 1999; Drennan & Swartz, 1999; Swartz & Drennan, 2000; Swartz & MacGregor, 2002). Drawing on Prasad's (2002) interpretation of Gadamer's critical hermeneutic theory and utilising thematic networks analysis (Attride-Stirling, 2001), this study investigated the process of translated clinical assessment interviews within a psychiatric hospital in the Eastern Cape Province within South Africa. Results of the study revealed that contextual factors, issues concerning linguistic and cultural heritage, clinicians' role expectations regarding translators' role performance, as well as relational dynamics regarding individual levels of control and influence within the translation triad, all impacted on the effectiveness of communication, translation and service provision. These fmdings are supported by literature on the theory and practice of translation that identifies these issues as prominent (Robinson, 2003). Specific recommendations regarding the formalisation of translation practices within the hospital setting, as well as the familiari~ation of clinical practitioners and psychiatric nurses with the intricacies of translation processes are offered.