This dissertation investigates how disability has been defined, and focuses on the shift in the conception of disability as an individual and medical problem to disabi1ity as a form of social oppression. Starting from an historical perspective the position of disabled persons in society is traced. The advance of disabled persons, from a condition of enforced social invisibility, to one in which they make themselves seen and heard through social movements fighting for their rights, is outlined as an introduction to a record of practical engagement through pedagogy in a concrete South African context. . After examining the way myths and stereotypes continue to perpetuate discriminatory practices against disabled persons, attention is drawn to the representation of disability through negative and positive images reflected in media as discourse. Thereafter, the material conditions that help, construct the confined, isolated position of disabled persons within society are considered. Attention is drawn to the theoretical positions of Foucault, Fanon and Bulhan to understand how disabled persons have been excluded and/ or exclude themselves from active participation in society. In the light of the foregoing, the dissertation argues for the position of drama as a means of developing a positive self-concept and a positive self-image within disabled persons. The utility of drama in fulfilling this need is demonstrated by way of a qualitative analysis of the experience of drama teaching over a period of several years. The use of drama within special education is urged as a learning medium, with drama as performance and drama as a means of consciousness-raising to advocate for the acceptance and recognition of disabled persons within society. In conclusion, the placement, value and organisation of drama within the Special School Curriculum is considered. The dissertation emphasizes the value of drama as part of culture in which children develop, understand and reflect on their social values, and concentrates on their part in the dialectics of change. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1994.

Today. the pandemic of HIV/AIDS has become a serious challenge especially in developing and underdeveloped nations. For this reason, all nations, different health institutions and nongovernmental organizations are investing their wealth to increase public awareness on the seriousness of this pandemic disease. Media institutions also play an unparalleled role in controlling HIV/AIDS through educating the society. HIV/AIDS is a great threat both to South Africa and Eritrea as they are part of the Sahale Sahara of Africa. That area is highly affected and infected by the pandemic. It is certain that media have been used to disseminate information in the society about HIV/AIDS in both countries. This study attempts to identify the nature of communication strategies that are employed against HIV/AIDS by Radio Ukhozi FM in South Africa and Radio Dimitsi-Hafash Programme Tigringa in Eritrea. The study attempts to identify the communication formats that both radio stations utilize to increase public awareness about HIV/AIDS. It also examines whether both stations are using Entertainment-Educational communication strategies to disseminate HIV/AIDS messages. Furthermore, the study assesses target audience participation; both stations assessment of their programme and scheduling of HIV/AIDS awareness messages. Finally, it attempts to single out the challenges that both stations encounter in designing messages for combating HIV/AIDS in their respective communities. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

Cultural policy studies, or studies in the relations of government and culture (Mercer, 1994) were initiated in Australia in the 1980s, where cultural studies have been reinterpreted into a dialogue of policy-making and cooperation between the government and academia (Cunningham, 1994; Hunter, 1993/1994; Molloy, 1994; Santamaria, 1994). This Australian-pioneered "cultural policy moment" (Cunningham 1994; Hawkins, 1994) thus provides an epistemological starting point for an analysis of cultural policy developments in South Africa, especially after 1994. Early South African cultural policy studies tend to draw from the Australian experience (Tomaselli and Shepperson, 1996). It must be noted that in terms of South African film policy analysis, there have been two cultural policy moments, one that addresses film post World War II to 1991, a period that is generally characterised as a "cinema of apartheid" (Tomaselli, 1989). This period is indebted to the seminal work of Keyan Tomaselli and Martin Botha. The second cultural policy moment begins in 1991 and continues to the present. It is this "moment" that informs the research and critical focus of the ways in which cultural studies in South Africa have modified the foundation of its critical position towards the state in response to developments since 1990. The aim of this thesis is to critically examine the ways in which South African cultural studies have responded to the Australian "cultural policy moment" in terms of academic-state relations, and the impact of discussions that were engaged in by various film organisations on film policy after 1990, and which resulted in the written proposals on film submitted to the Arts and Culture Task Group in 1994 and 1995. The Arts and Culture Task Group was the case study within which the notion of cultural policy was studied, along with the White Paper on Film. This thesis draws on and applies a variety of methods: firstly, there is the participatory research: I was employed by ACTAG to undertake research into film policy. My own experience of the process in which I worked very closely with the film sub-committee provides an "insider" account of assumptions, conflicts, practices and how outcomes were reached. I was also designated, along with Professor Tomaselli and Dr Botha, as one of the co-authors of the White Paper, and was thus part of the process of revising the ACTAG recommendations into draft legislation. Secondly, there is the method of comparative study: this thesis initially draws on the Australian cultural studies and film policy on the one hand, and South African cultural studies and film policy on the other. It then evolves into a critique of the "cultural policy moment" (Cunningham, 1994; Hawkins, 1994) as it related to the development of South African film policy between 1991 and 1997. Lastly, there was the empirical investigation: ACTAG, which was established to counsel Dr Ben Ngubane on the formulation of policy for the newly established government (see Chapter Four of this thesis, and see Karam, 1996), served as a case study. The final ACTAG document resulted in a reformulated arts and culture dispensation consistent with the new Constitution. This process in turn led to the origination and publication of the Government of National Unity's White Paper on Film in May 1996. Incorporated into this analysis was an "information trawl" (Given, 1994; Mercer, 1994 and Santamaria, 1994) of prior and extant policy frameworks and assumptions of various film, cultural and media organizations formulated during the period under review. The link between film and culture, and hence film and cultural policy, emerges from the following two commonplace associations: firstly, that film as a form of visual creation is therefore a form of art; and secondly, that the concepts of art and culture are inextricably connected. What drives the present debate is the Australian appropriations of Raymond Williams's description of culture as "a whole way of life". This, while validly dissolving the early-twentieth century identification of culture with "high" or "canonical" forms of traditional literature, sculpture, or painting, none the less leaves theorists with a "distinct fuzziness" (Johnson, 1979) as to what the term "culture" actually denotes. Australian policy studies' approaches tend to focus on culture as personifying a structure of "livability" under terms of employment, environmental concerns, and urban planning (Cunningham, 1994; Hawkins, 1994). In general, however, the focus has only attained any concrete outcomes when research has resuscitated precisely the link between culture and the arts, thereby drawing on the old polemics of "high" versus "low" and "popular" culture. The individual chapters cover the following topics: the Introductory Chapter provides a general historical overview of the South African film subsidization system, a crucial element of the analytical framework, from its inception in 1956 to it's dissolvement in the 1980s; Chapter Two, "Cultural Policy" deals with the origination and development of the concept of "cultural policy"; Chapter Three focuses on the Australian "cultural policy moment" and it's application to film; Chapters Four and Five deal with the ACTAG Film Sub-committee and the White Paper on Film respectively; and the last chapter, Chapter Six critiques these processes and their resulting documents, as case studies, from a cultural policy standpoint. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1997.

The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between media, language and gender stereotypes. It assumes that language usage in mass media creates and reproduces gender inequalities. Its main objectives are firstly, to randomly select terms for Zulu women from the chosen TV case study, Kwakhalanyonini. Secondly, selected terms will be analyzed, using the 'transvaluative analysis technique', in order to explain their meaning and hierarchy. This having been done, an attempt will be made to show how the usage of these terms reflect gender stereotypes, by locating women into subordinate positions. A question may well be asked; why Zulu language? I am a native Zulu speaker, with Zulu speaking parents. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1996.

Voices of Our Forefathers (2008) is a participatory video that was made with a group of Khwe Bushmen in Platfontein in the Northern Cape. It is unique not only for its inclusion of the Khwe subjects in the production process, but also for its unique representation of them. It portrays them from historical as well as modern perspectives. This research explores how a group of Khwe youth – the research participants – engaged and negotiated their encounter with the Voices of Our Forefathers (2008). It does this within the context of participatory communication for development and participatory video. It draws on theories of empowerment, reception and representation. A qualitative methodology was employed with in-depth interviews comprising the main data collection method, and thematic analysis and semiotics being the main data analysis methods. Thematic analysis was aided through the use of a software programme, Nvivo 8. The research explores research participants’ responses to Voices of Our Forefathers and critically examines articulations of empowerment. Most of the research participants felt empowered because VOOF (2008) incorporated the Khwe in the production process, particularly in terms of how they wanted to be represented. The Khwe Bushmen’s participation in their representation resulted in a range of nuanced interpretations and responses to VOOF (2008), which included discussions on rethinking their identities, learning new skills, fostering a sense of ownership of the film and the use of their language (Khwedam) in The Voices of Our Forefathers. It is argued, however, that although the research participants may have expressed that they are empowered, this needs to be understood and critically examined with respect to the larger contexts within which Bushmen, in general, live, which may or may not affect their senses of and the realities of their empowerment. Finally, it is argued that VOOF (2008) needs to be understood as a part of an on-going process in participatory communication for development. It might not have provided research participants with the necessary resources to completely transform their lives; it did, however, contribute to changing how they perceive themselves, which, according to Freirean theory, is a necessary step in empowering oneself. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

The thrust of this dissertation is concerned with investigating beneficiary communities‟ participation in HIV/AIDS communication through community radio stations. The aim is to understand the presence and access of targeted community voices in the dialogue against HIV/AIDS. The research focused on a single case study of a community radio station that is based in Platfontein, Kimberley in the Republic of South Africa. X-K FM is a community radio station under the auspices of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and its primary target audiences are !Xun and Khwe communities of Platfontein. It is the only formal communication channel that targets these San community members in their respective mother tongues. The study approaches communication at a nuance level in that it evaluates participation possibilities between communicators and the communicated. In its third decade, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus is one of many challenges facing sub-Saharan Africa and the Republic of South Africa is no exception. This dissertation attempts to understand participation and access of civil voices in the strategies of prevention, care, support and treatment of HIV/AIDS. On a broader level, the dissertation seeks to understand the possibilities of bottom-up approaches in communicating about HIV/AIDS. In analysing the beneficiary community participation at X-K FM, the research was underpinned by the theory of Jurgen Habermas: The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere – An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. The data was gathered using semi-structured interviews, as well as simple and partial participant observation. The study concludes that the radio station has provided some avenues to facilitate the process of beneficiary community participation in HIV/AIDS communication content. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

This thesis proposes that the merging of the theories of ‘accented’ cinema and postcolonial feminisms allows for the establishment of a theoretical framework for the analysis of (what will be argued for) an emerging postcolonial feminist film practice. In An Accented Cinema: Exilic and Diasporic Filmmaking (2001), Hamid Naficy argues that even though the experiences of diaspora and exile differ from one person to the next, films produced by diasporic filmmakers exhibit similarities at various levels. These similarities, he says, arise as a result of a tension between a very distinct connection to the native country and the need to conform to the host society in which these filmmakers now live. Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta are women filmmakers of the Indian diaspora whose films depict Indian women – in comparison with their popular cinematic construction - in unconventional and controversial ways. These characters, at some crucial point in the films, transgress their oppressive nationalist representation through the reclaiming of their bodies and sexual identities. This similarity of construction in Nair and Mehta’s female protagonists, as a result, facilitates a filtering of postcolonial feminisms throughout the narrative of their films. Even though the postcolonial feminist writings of Chandra Talpade Mohanty (1991, 1994, 1997) and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (1990, 1994, 1996, 1999) do not relate directly to the study of film or cinematic practices, their works, specifically those regarding the construction, maintenance and perpetuation of nation and nationalism in postcolonial narratives, serve as a specifically gender-focused appropriation of Naficy’s theories. Mohanty and Spivak’s arguments surrounding the use of text and, particularly, narrative as tools for the representation and empowerment of Third world women, women of colour and subaltern women, work toward illustrating how postcolonial feminisms articulate through a specific moment of ‘accented’ filmmaking: that of women filmmakers of the Indian diaspora. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic; and for South African Authorities it is still a huge concern. 17 per cent of the population aged 15 to 49 live with the HIV virus and KwaZulu-Natal remains the area most affected by the pandemic. In order to prevent the disease’s expansion among university students, the health authorities have make available across all campuses and for free Choice and Love condoms.This study explores the perception of the positioning of these government brands compared to the other commercial condoms available among students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The study is in part a survey, using research questionnaire administered to more than 200 students at the Westville and Howard College and Nelson Mandela Medical School campuses to determine their perceptions of the competing condom brands. The study primarily makes use of the marketing theory of brand positioning to address the issue; a perceptual map is designed indicating the respective positions of the competing brands. The survey revealed that the Love brand is not very well known by students, and confirmed that the Choice brand is perceived as poor. One reason provided is the negative association of the South African government with the brand. Many students complained of experiencing a bad smell after using Choice. That led to the variant of scent being used in the study as an essential component for condom preference. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Teenage childbearing is a global social and health concern. South Africa is not spared from the problems of teenage pregnancy be they related to health or to the social sphere. Researchers have been entreated to investigate teenagers’ sexual behaviour and the determinants to their behaviour especially in light of HIV/AIDS and other sexually related diseases. Various programmes and interventions have been developed and implemented in an effort to manage prevalence rates and address the challenges of teenage pregnancy. Inspite of these concerted efforts, pregnancy rates continue to increase. These efforts have been hampered by the absence of the voice of teenagers in research as interventions implemented do not adequately capture the complexity of teenage pregnancy. Research has also divorced teenagers from the environment within which teenage pregnancy takes place and as a result come up with interventions that are not pro teenagers. The absence of teenagers’ input in these interventions results in little uptake of interventions as teenagers feel no ownership or entitlement to these intervention. This study therefore seeks to bridge the gap by addressing teenage pregnancy from the perspective of teenagers themselves and locates teenage pregnancy within the lived experiences of teenagers. Guided by the Social Ecology Model and The Health Belief Model, this study seeks to analyse teenagers’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards teenage pregnancy. This study is qualitative in nature and is situated within the interpretive paradigm that enables the researcher to explore people’s lived experiences. Using the case study approach, the study employs focus group discussions to elicit information from participants on their knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards teenage pregnancy. The study concludes that knowledge; attitudes and perceptions are influenced and affected by various factors such as peer pressure, lack of adequate information and gender dynamics. To address teenage pregnancy challenges, there is a need for addressing the structural factors that influence teenagers’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions. Knowledge on safe sex and contraception abounds though this knowledge does not to translate to positive health affirming behaviour. This gap is attributed to the structural factors that influence and affect health behaviour. As such these factors, such as entrenched poverty and lack of proper sexual health communication need to be addressed if teenage pregnancy is to be managed.