Ph. D., Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, 1993

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approaches the study and critique of social inequality by focusing on the role of discourse in the production and reproduction of dominance, which is defined as the exercise of social power by elites, institutions or groups, that results in social inequality, including political, cultural, class, ethic, racial, and gender inequality (van Dijk, 1993, pp. 249-250). One important social issue that be examined in any given culture in terms of dominance and inequality is gender. The historical discussion of the present study is used to suggest that institutions in political power have weaved a thread of propaganda throughout Germany's history that has used its citizen's sense of folk community for its own agenda and has consistently put women in the secondary role in terms of their contributions to the state. The present study examines the roles of women in Germany's democratic political culture of the present and compares these roles to roles of women in the Third Reich, based on popular media images of women and men, Nazi Propaganda and current issues of der Spiegel. Nazi propaganda is generally recognized as being highly "effective" in its potential for altering mass consciousness. Magazines like der Spiegel with wide scale distribution and political clout among readers in Germany are also in a position to influence the social environment. Some examples of linguistic and visual distortion that are illustrated by the data were selective use of direct quotation where authority is given to certain groups of people and is withheld from others, role allocation where specific groups of people are described through selective roles, and assimilation where other than the elite everyone is blended into a homogeneous group. The present study suggests this type of implicit interpretational distortion serves the same function as the Nazi propaganda in an even more effective manner precisely because it is implicit and indirect.

Since its entry into the literary field in the late eighteenth century, the vampire has seen many permutations, ranging from the truly monstrous to the present-day seductive stranger. The creature’s mutability stems from its liminal placement, hovering as it does between life and death. In exploring the figure of the vampire within the Germanic tradition, two works separated not only by medium, but also by nearly a century of time, emerged as the focus of this thesis: Ludwig Tieck’s Romantic Kunstmärchen “Der Runenberg” and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s Expressionist film Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens. Superficially, this link appears tenuous, but in analyzing Tieck’s fairy tale and Murnau’s neo-Romantic film several thematic connections emerge. Both works contain a complex and fluid depiction of gender, a narrative of infection, and a vampire that is an embodiment and corruption of nature. Using a syntagmatic approach, this thesis explores the similarities between the two works, as well as the differences, with a focus on the element of vampiric nature and the representations of gender. / Graduate

The purpose of this study is to examine depictions of individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to reach an understanding of how they perceive their diagnosis. Furthermore the purpose of this study is to reach an understanding of how sense of stigmatisation can be related to the diagnosis and how depictions of ASD can affect the individual’s sense of stigmatisation. The study is based on narrative analysis of autobiographies by individuals diagnosed with ASD. The study is also based on document analysis of material containing facts about ASD. The theoretical approach used in the study is stigma theory. The study shows that individuals diagnosed with ASD perceive their diagnosis as part of their personality. Furthermore the study shows that receiving the diagnosis contributes to sense of stigma, but also contributes to self perception. The analysis discusses how knowledge of perceptions of stigma related to the diagnosis can be useful to professionals working with individuals with ASD.

The objective of this study is to observe how women and their bodies are being objectified and sexualized through famous designer companies’ Instagram accounts. More specifically, this study is interested in defining which certain aspects of an image contribute to a dehumanizing and degrading view of the female sex, but also how women are being cognitively affected by this. To be able to specify which parts of an image confirm this specific viewpoint the study used a multimodal critical discourse analysis (MDCA) in combination with elements of a feminist critical discourse analysis. The two methods are considered useful for these types of studies due to their semiotic and feministic approaches that focus on depicting which connotative characteristics are present in images. In order to confirm the problematic aspects of the material in this study, results from previous scientific articles and theories were used in order to confirm or contradict this study’s research questions. In the end the analytical results confirm that the women present in the images that were selected for this study were being objectified and sexualized. The women in the pictures often wore tightly fitting clothes, underwear or were naked, which presented their bodies in a way which made them easily objectified by the observer and/or the male gaze, which means that the observer in fact could gain a sexual satisfaction through watching the women that were being portrayed. The results of this demonstrates the problematic aspects of female portrayal in media and why it could potentially be harmful

This essay is about women in ancient Egypt and their relation to aging and why they are rarely depicted other than beautiful and young, when it was a possibility for men to be depicted old in ancient Egypt. Looking at the examples in existence of depictions of aging in women, following questions will be discussed. How is a woman with signs of aging depicted and what does these characteristics convey to the viewer? By looking at tomb paintings and statues showing signs of age, these questions will be discussed and put in context in hope of gaining a better understanding of how female age was perceived in ancient Egypt. The main conclusion drawn from this study is that signs of aging in ancient Egypt had a pronounced symbolic value. In addition to this, there is no direct answer why the signs of aging on women were depicted as they were, but there are some speculations why a woman is portrayed older and why she is not.

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In thesis "Explicit depictions of contemporary Japanese literature" I deal with contemporary prose literature describing problems of nowadays Japanese society. In the first part I define taboo and chose suitable novels for the need of this work. I focus on different types of characters - freeters, foreigners, social outsiders and victims. Next I take Murakami Ry's literature as an example of explicit depictions and show different ways of processing and various topics chosen by the author. Then I compare and contrast his work with selected prose of younger writer Kanehara Hitomi, who represents the literature of female authors in contemporary Japan. In conclusion I discuss the aesthetic function of literature of explicit depictions and its position in the field of art. By comparing and contrasting the various novels I reach my own characteristic of contemporary Japanese literature of explicit depictions.

La thèse consiste en une étude monographique analytique et transdisciplinaire des peintures médiévales à sujet religieux de la vallée de Suse (Piémont). Cette région présente en effet, et particulièrement dans cette longue fin du Moyen Âge, entre les XIVe et XVIe siècles, une aire géographique dense et fréquentée puisqu'il s'agit d'une des voies de traversée des Alpes par excellence. Articulée entre deux grandes entités politiques, les états de Savoie et le Dauphiné de Viennois, la vallée relève du diocèse de Turin mais connaît une agitation religieuse certaine par la présence vaudoise. Elle offre ainsi un panorama complexe et une lecture fascinante des vallées de montagne des Alpes occidentales. Son corpus de peintures murales conservées et documentées représente un matériel important pour son analyse à travers les représentations culturelles dans les images, suivant une approche anthropologique. À travers l'étude des caractéristiques iconographiques et stylistiques en parallèle des données pluricontextuelles religieuses, politiques et sociologiques, la recherche a pour objectifs d'analyser les enjeux culturels des représentations murales alpines. La thèse explore ainsi d'une part les interactions entre les territoires et les pouvoirs, les relations entre l'image et les pratiques religieuses. L'analyse se penche d'autre part sur les réceptions artistiques en lien potentiel avec les aléas historiques et religieux et l'implantation spatiale. Les effets de migration des artistes mais aussi la question des transferts culturels et artistiques les concernant sont traités, notamment à travers les relations entre les sites centraux et ceux de périphérie. L'objectif de la thèse est en effet d'esquisser une synthèse de la peinture murale valsusaine à la fin du Moyen Âge, tout en questionnant la problématique des cultures alpines, finalement plurielles, et leurs enjeux à travers l'image murale médiévale. / The thesis comprises a monographic, analytic and transdisciplinary study of the medieval paintings with religious subject matters in the Susa valley (Piedmont). This area is densely populated and travelled, particularly during the long end of the Middle Ages between the XIVth and XVIth centuries, as it is one of the main thoroughfares through the Alps. Split between two major political entities, Savoy and the Dauphiné Viennois, the valley pertains to the diocese of Turin despite the religious turmoil due to the waldensian presence. Thus it offers a broad view of the complex and fascinating mountain valleys of the western Alps. Its corpus of preserved and documented wall paintings is a substantial material for analysis through cultural depictions with an anthropological approach. By studying distinctive iconographic and stylistic features concurrently with the pluricontextual religious, political, and sociological data, the study aims to analyse cultural stakes of alpine mural depictions. The thesis delves on the one hand into the interactions between territories and powers, the relationships of images with devotional customs. On the other hand the analysis looks into artistic receptions and their links to historical and religious vagaries or spatial settlements. The effects of artist migrations and the broader question of cultural and artistic transference they pertain to are also addressed, for instance through the relationship between central and peripheral sites. The objective of the thesis is indeed to sketch a summary of Susa valley paintings in the end of the Middle Ages, while surveying the issues of the subtly plural alpine cultures and their stakes through medieval murals.