Abstract Beaivi, Áhcážan (English, The Sun, My Father) is a complex, multidimensional work of poetry and art. The creator of this work, Sámi artist and poet, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää originally conceived of the work as a govadas-image drum, capable of conveying the totality of Sámi (earlier, Lapp) worldviews in its pages. Comprising 571 images and photos, and accompanied by a soundtrack of the poems, along with yoiks and natural sound, the work contains personal, seasonal, cultural, and cosmic cycles. The photos, from Western archives worldwide, comprise a kind of Sámi family album, while the Western translations without photographs serve more as guides to the Sámi original. In the absence of a strong Sámi literary cultural tradition, this researcher turned to the emerging theory of literary ecology to help interpret the work. Literary ecology uses an understanding of human-natural relationships to illuminate an understanding of literature in its overall cultural and natural context. While Sámi literature has been collected for centuries by Lappologists, Sámi scholars are only now beginning to create critical theories with which to interpret authored, creative literature. An examination of how nature has been used in the researcher's native New England — particularly nature writer Henry David Thoreau and nature poet Robert Frost — was used to establish the Western approaches to nature and culture. Native American literature, which is slightly in advance of Sámi literature in its native literary criticism — particularly poet-novelist Leslie Marmon Silko and poet-critic Paula Gunn Allen — provides another angle of vision with which to read Beaivi, Áhcážan. Following Nils-Aslak Valkeapää's lead in his theoretical and critical essay, "The Sun, the Thunder, the Fires of Heaven," this study also considers Sámi literature as part of a larger northern, native tradition. In distinct contrast to Western nature traditions, which see nature as apart from culture, Sámi native traditions see nature as a part of culture. Nils-Aslak Valkeapää has deliberately constructed Beaivi, Áhčážan as a shaman drum, and the shaman-poet deliberately uses the images on that drum as ways to interpret the past, the present and the future. In contrast to Robert Frost, who constructs his images and meanings through metaphorical association, Valkeapää constructs his meanings through metonymical attachment. These linguistic constructions are reflected further in the worldviews of both traditions. In the Western tradition, the wild sublime is seen as a site of transcendence, a way of achieving the immanent Godhead, while in the native tradition the same landscape serves as home and kin. The sun IS father, and spring IS sister. Despite the seeming simplicity of this perception, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää confirms its elegant complexity in a work of great creativity and subtle concealment. / Tiivistelmä Beaivi, Áhčážan (englanniksi, The Sun, My Father; suomeksi, Aurinko, isäni) on moninainen, moniulotteinen runo- ja taideteos. Sen luoja, saamelainen taiteilija ja runoilija Nils-Aslak Valkeapää teki tämän työn kuvahiseksi, jonka sisältö piirtää esiin saamelaisten maailmankuvan. Saamelainen teos sisältää 571 kuvaa ja runoa sekä kasetin, jossa runot, joiut ja luonnonäänet kuuluvat. Teoksessa on henkilökohtaiset, ajalliset, kulttuuriset ja kosmiset syklinsä. Valokuvat maailman arkistoista luovat saamelaisen perhevalokuvakirjan. Läntiset käännökset ovat vailla valokuvia ja toimivat enimmäkseen oppaina saamelaiseen alkuperäisteokseen. Vahvan saamelaisen kaunokirjallisen perinteen puuttueessa tukeuduin uuteen teoriaan, kaunokirjalliseen ekologiaan. Keskeistä kaunokirjallisessa ekologiassa on ihminen-luontosuhde, joka valaisee kaunokirjallisuutta kulttuurisessa ja luonnollisessa yhteydessään. Lappologien keräämää saamelaista kirjallisuutta on ollut jo pitkään, mutta vasta nyt saamelaiset ovat luomassa omaa teoreettista viitekehysään kirjallisuutensa analysoimeen. Perehtyminen siihen, miten luontoa käytetään Uudessa Englannissa — varsinkin luontokirjailija Henry David Thoreaun ja runoilija Robert Frostin teoksissa — auttoi minua perehtymään luontoon ja kulttuuriin liittyviin läntisiin näkökulmiin. Amerikan intiaanien kaunokirjallisuus, joka on hieman saamelaisten estetiikkaa kehittyneempi — varsinkin runoilija-romaanikirjailija Leslie Marmon Silko ja runoilija-kritiikko Paula Gunn Allen — antoi uuden näkökulman siihen, miten suhtautua teokseen Beaivi, Áhčážan. Kirjoitelmassaan "Aurinko, ukkonen, taivaantulet," Nils-Aslak Valkeapää itse olettaa, että saamelainen kaunokirjallisuus kuuluu myös laajempaan pohjoiseen alkuperäiskansojen perinteeseen. Kun läntisessä luonnonperinteessä luonto on kulttuurista erillään, saamelaisessa ja muissa alkuperäisperinteissä luonto ONkin kulttuuri. Nils-Aslak Valkeapää on tarkoituksella rakentanut Beaivi, Áhčážan šamaanin kuvahiseksi ja lukee šamaanirunoilijana tietoisesti kuvahisen kuviota ymmärtääkseen menneisyyttä, nykyisyyttä, ja tulevaisuutta. Robert Frost rakentaa kuvioita ja merkityksiä metaforilla, kun taas Valkeapää rakentaa niitä kuvilla. Nämä kahdenlaiset rakenteet heijastuvat myös Valkeapään ja Frostin maailmankuvissa. Läntisessä perinteessä maiseman uljauden kautta voi siirtyä tuonpuoleiseen, jossa jumala on havaittavissa, mutta alkuperäiskansojen perinteessä sama maisema on sekä koti että suku. Aurinko ON isä, ja kevät ON sisar. Tämän havainnon yksinkertaisuudesta huolimatta Nils-Aslak Valkeapää vahvistaa sen hienon moninaisuuden luovassa ja syvällisessä teoksessaan. / Čohkkáigeassu Beaivi, áhčážan (eŋgelasgillii The Sun, My Father; suomagillii Aurinko, isäni) lea máŋggabealát, máŋggaolat dikta- ja dáiddagirji. Dan lea ráhkadan sámi dáiddár ja diktačálli Áillohaš, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää. Son dagai dán duoji govadassan, man siiddut sisttisdollet sámi máilmmeoainnu. Dát sámi girji sisttisdoallá 571 gova ja divtta sihke kaseahta, mas gullojit divttat, luođit ja luonddujienat. Girjjis leat peršovnnalaš, áiggálaš, kultuvrralaš ja kosmihkalaš gearddit. Čuovgagovat, mat leat čoggojuvvon máilmmi arkiivain, dahket das sámiid bearašgovvagirjji, muhto oarjemáilmmigielat jorgalusain eai leat čuovgagovat ja dat leatge eanaš ofelažžat sámegielat girjái. Go nana sápmelaš čáppagirjjálaš árbevierru váilu, ráhkaduvvui veahkkin ođđa teoriija, čáppagirjjálaš ekologiija. Guovddážis čáppagirjjálaš ekologiijas lea olmmoš-luondu — gaskavuohta, mii čilge čáppagirjjálašvuođa kultuvrra ja luonddu oktavuođas. Lappologat leat juo guhká čoaggán sámi njálmmalaš girjjálašvuođa, muhto easkka dál sámit ieža ráhkadit iežaset teorehtalaš kritihkaid, maiguin sáhttet analyseret iežaset girjjálašvuođa. Dat ahte oahpásmuvai dasa, mot geavahit luonddu dutki ruoktoguovllus Ođđa Englánddas, Amerihkás — erenoamážit luonddugirječálli Henry David Thoreau` ja diktačálli Robert Frost'a girjjiin — veahkehii dutki beassat sisa oarjemáilmmi oainnuide luonddus ja kultuvrras. Amerihká indiánaid čáppagirjjálašvuohta, man sii ieža leat teoretiseren veháš guhkkelebbui go sámit — erenoamážit diktačálli, románagirječálli Leslie Marmon Silko ja diktačálli-kritihkar Paula Gunn Allen — attii ođđa oainnu dasa, mot gieđahallat girjji Beaivi, áhčážan. Čállagisttis Beaivi, "terbmes, almmidolat" Nils-Aslak Valkeapää ieš navdá, ahte sápmelaš čáppagirjjálašvuohta gullá maiddái viidát davvi, álgoálbmogiid árbevirrui. Go oarjemáilmmi luondduárbevierus luondu ja kultuvra leat sierra, sámi ja eará álgoálgosaš árbevieruin luondu LEA kultuvra. Nils-Aslak Valkeapää lea eaktodáhtos ráhkadan Beaivi, áhčažan`a noaiddi govadassan ja noaidediktačálli lohká eaktodáhtos govadasa govvosiid vai áddešii doložiid, dálážiid ja boahtteáiggi. Robert Frost ráhkada metaforaiguin govvosiid ja mearkkašumiid, go Valkeapää nuppe gežiid ráhkada govain merkkašumiid. Dát guovttelágan ráhkadusat vuhttojit maiddái guktuin máilmmioainnuin. Oarjemáilmmi árbevierus ebmos, villa meahcci lea das, gos mannet ráji rastá duon ilbmásii, doppe gos ipmil lea lahka ja oidnosis, vaikko álgoálgosaš árbevierus seamma eana lea ruoktu ja sohka. Beaivi LEA áhčči, giđđa LEA oabbá. Vaikko dát fuobmášupmi lea áibbas ovttageardán, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää nanne fiinna máŋggaláganvuođa dán kreatiiva ja čiekŋalis girjjis.

This thesis argues that Cassius Dio used his speeches of his Late Republican and Augustan narratives as a means of historical explanation. I suggest that the interpretative framework which the historian applied to the causes and success of constitutional change can be most clearly identified in the speeches. The discussion is divided into eight chapters over two sections. Chapter 1 (Introduction) sets out the historical, paideutic, and compositional issues which have traditionally served as a basis for rejecting the explanatory and interpretative value of the speeches in Dio’s work and for criticising his Roman History more generally. Section 1 consists of three methodological chapters which respond to these issues. In Chapter 2 (Speeches and Sources) I argue that Dio’s prosopopoeiai approximate more closely with the political oratory of that period than has traditionally been recognised. Chapter 3 (Dio and the Sophistic) argues that Cassius Dio viewed the artifice of rhetoric as a particular danger in his own time. I demonstrate that this preoccupation informed, credibly, his presentation of political oratory in the Late Republic and of its destructive consequences. Chapter 4 (Dio and the Progymnasmata) argues that although the texts of the progymnasmata in which Dio will have been educated clearly encouraged invention with a strongly moralising focus, it is precisely his reliance on these aspects of rhetorical education which would have rendered his interpretations persuasive to a contemporary audience. Section 2 is formed of three case-studies. In Chapter 5 (The Defence of the Republic) I explore how Dio placed speeches-in-character at three Republican constitutional crises to set out an imagined case for the preservation of that system. This case, I argue, is deliberately unconvincing: the historian uses these to elaborate the problems of the distribution of power and the noxious influence of φθόνος and φιλοτιμία. Chapter 6 (The Enemies of the Republic) examines the explanatory role of Dio’s speeches from the opposite perspective. It investigates Dio’s placement of dishonest speech into the mouths of military figures to make his own distinctive argument about the role of imperialism in the fragmentation of the res publica. Chapter 7 (Speech after the Settlement) argues that Cassius Dio used his three speeches of the Augustan age to demonstrate how a distinctive combination of Augustan virtues directly counteracted the negative aspects of Republican political and rhetorical culture which the previous two case-studies had explored. Indeed, in Dio’s account of Augustus the failures of the res publica are reinvented as positive forces which work in concert with Augustan ἀρετή to secure beneficial constitutional change.

This dissertation studies certain Hindi and Persian narratives of the War of Succession (1658) to succeed Shah Jahan (r.1627-1658). All the narratives under study were written during the reign of Aurangzeb (r.1658-1707), the successor of Shah Jahan. The study evaluates the significance of the War as a landmark moment in the social history of India, especially in the formation and inter-relationships between religious communities. The dissertation demarcates the larger epistemological and ontological canvas on which these communities took shape and interacted with each other. The research outlines the ways and the contexts in which terms such as Hindu, momin, musalman, Islam, din and Rajput were deployed in literary texts. It asks whether Hinduism and Islam were two disparate traditions, as previous histories of the War and Mughal India had contended. The dissertation argues that social communities of Hindus and Muslims were mutually and similarly circumscribed within an Islamic worldview and concept of din. Hindu traditions could portray Muslims in concepts and terms borrowed from Indian epics but within an over-arching Islamic cultural dispensation. The War was not a moment of evolution between two independent Hindu and Muslim traditions. Rather, the War was a moment that saw the evolution, even if it be of an antagonistic kind, of Hindu and Muslim traditions within a larger Islamic framework. Besides the above primary focus, the dissertation provides the reader with important insights and overviews regarding allied subjects such as the literary histories of Persian and of Hindi/Urdu, especially in the Dingal and Khari Boli dialects, the political culture of Hindu India, Rajput political culture, Mughal political culture, patronage networks in Mughal India, notions of soldierly duty in seventeenth century India, language and status, preaching in the Hindu and Islamic traditions, the sociological ideas of acculturation and Islamisation, and twentieth century history-writing.

M.A. / An overview of reviews on Antjie Krog’s ‘n Ander Tongval (2005), shows that critics find it difficult to classify the text and to determine the genre of the book. This study is intended to investigate the hybrid nature of ‘n Ander Tongval which is a mixture of poetry, essays, journalistic report, autobiography, academic research and personal anecdotes. This study is primarily an examination of a specific example of a text that can be considered “literary non-fiction” to contribute to the description of the nature of this particularly problematic genre, while at the same time contributing to the literary criticism of Krog’s “literary non-fiction”. Secondly ‘n Ander Tongval is examined to determine the specific demands that this kind of text makes of the reader. This examination of ‘n Ander Tongval contributes to the description and problematising of the term “literary non-fiction” and many other genres which can be associated with these kind of texts because of its hybrid nature. This is also linked to the current debate about the growing interest in what Leon de Kock (2010) describes as “Creative Non-fiction”. De Kock considers this kind of writing distinctive of South African literature. Eventually it becomes clear that ‘n Ander Tongval does not only advocate change (transformation), but makes a change possible by the choice of genre (literary nonfiction) which is itself a text that “changes” established genre conventions and thereby guides the reader to read differently and look at the text and the country in a different way.

D.Litt. et Phil. (Afrikaans) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (African Languages) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (English) / This dissertation begins by examining the central tenets of Russian Formalism and American New Criticism. Although it is a term coined by the Russian Formalists, both these schools of thought, in their own ways, are concerned with literariness – that is, that which distinguishes the literary work from other forms of writing. This study traces the ways in which these two critical movements account for the specifically literary language that they claim characterises literary works. Based on the principles derived from these two schools I analyse aspects of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and demonstrate that defamiliarization is at work on various levels of this novel. Thereafter, I examine criticism pertaining to Woolf and illustrate that there are numerous illuminating parallels that can be drawn between recent critics’ studies on Woolf and the principles of the formalists. In particular, I attempt to show that the principle of estranged form continues to inform our critical thought about Woolf’s works. I focus primarily on the arguments posited in two critical studies: Edward Bishop’s Virginia Woolf (1991) and Oddvar Holmesland’s Form as Compensation for Life: Fictive Patterns in Virginia Woolf’s Novels (1998). These studies were selected because they centre on questions of language and form and, as such, coincide in a number of interesting ways with the tenets of formalism.

Learning to read is one of the most crucial life tasks that the young child must acquire whilst in primary school. In modern society, much of what one does is dependant on having the ability to read. While a great deal of research has focused on how children learn to read, relatively little attention has been paid to the literary quality of the material the children are exposed to whilst learning to read. In the past few years I have become increasingly concerned with the number of teachers who use material designed for teaching children to read without being aware of the literary quality of the material. While numerous teachers are aware of the issues surrounding the learning to read debate and use up to date materials to teach reading, far too many accept the material supplied by the school without questioning its literary merit and its impact upon the young reader. This piece of research is an attempt to evaluate the literary quality of two reading schemes currently in use in Cape Education Department schools. The chief conclusion of the research is that the schemes examined fall far short of the standards required for them to be considered good literature. Although the research is limited to two reading schemes, it is hoped that a teacher using other schemes could use the framework supplied in this study to examine the literary quality of the material she is using. Furthermore, the final chapter offers suggestions as to how to replace material of poor literary quality with books of a higher literary standard. On the basis of the above findings it is suggested that there is a need for individual teachers, schools, teacher training institutions and the Cape Education Department to examine the literary quality of reading schemes and books that are used in the process of teaching children to read. It is hoped that this piece of research will create a greater awareness amongst teachers of the literary quality of reading materials and prompt further research into such materials that will be of benefit to the central character in this study; the young child learning to read

The aim of the thesis was to explore two focus questions using the phenomenological approach. Firstly, what it meant to be an artist for three particular artists; a painter, a writer and a playwright. Secondly, what a general explicitation (after Van Kaam, 1958) of the three subjects' artistic creative experience and working processes revealed in essence. The taped data of the three artists were reduced and explored through a number of phenomenological strategies. This led to the formulation of four essential descriptions for each artist, which were based structurally on Van den Berg's experiential categories in A Different Existence. Thus, the essential descriptions reflect each artist's relationship with his/her world, body, fellow people and time. The final step was the achievement of a general extended description. The major conclusion arising from the phenomenological explication is that art affords a way through which artists are able to live an authentic existence. That is, the body and world of the artist are in harmony and the artist's art roots him in the past, is manifest in the present and indicates the future direction of his work. Another conclusion is that the artist is Janus-faced and this enables him/her to balance subjectivity and objectivity in the Lebenswelt and to communicate what he/she sees to others in a healthy way through art. The artist's relationship with world, body, fellow people and with time, is postulated as being qualitatively richer than that of the nonartist. The two focus questions were successfully answered through the research explication and were validated by two independent judges. The viability of the phenomenological approach in the field of artistic creativity was therefore demonstrated. Suggestions for future research were made, one of which was that more phenomenological research aimed at eliciting specific information on the creation of art works might render more information on the artistic creative process.

Broadly, the objective of this dissertation is to contribute to the ongoing studies on the biblical theology of the Acts of the Apostles. CHAPTER ONE examines the canonical critical approach and its underlying presuppositions. Foundational to the present study is the supposition that the whole Scripture is word of God and thus, the expectation of a theological unity that is centered on “the Son” (John 1:1-4; Heb 1:1-4). It is my thesis that some specifics of that theological and Christological unity can be discerned when Acts is read in the light of the preceding canonical contexts which were ordered by the post-Ireneaus early church as hermeneutical guides for interpreting the NT Scriptures. The canonical contexts that are examined are: (1) the immediately preceding context of the Fourth Gospel [CHAPTERS TWO AND THREE], (2) the four Gospels as a unified whole [CHAPTER 4] and, ultimately, (3) the Old Testament [CHAPTER FOUR]. It is proposed that a canonically informed reading may yield significant insight into the theology that not only is inherent in the history Luke records in Acts about the continuation of “all that Jesus began to do and teach” following his ascension, but also guides the literary choices Luke makes in narrating that history. The present study proceeds from the rhetorical critical observation that the ascension of Jesus, recorded in the opening discourse of Acts, creates the primary rhetorical ‘problem’ addressed in Acts: how will the mission to establish the kingdom of God on earth, inaugurated by Jesus as narrated in the Gospels, continue postascension? CHAPTER TWO makes a case from a canonical point of view that, among the four gospels, the rhetorical ‘problem’ posed by the ascension of Jesus in the opening discourse of Acts is most anticipated, most intentionally and comprehensively addressed by Jesus in the second half of the Fourth Gospel. It is proposed and argued in this chapter that Jesus’ teaching in the Fourth Gospel about the postascension roles of the Holy Spirit and the apostles best facilitates an introduction to and understanding of the theology intrinsic to the history and narrative art in the opening scenes of Acts. CHAPTER THREE views the opening discourses of Acts from the perspective of the exegetical insights argued in chapter two. Chapter three assesses whether Jesus’ anticipation of and pre-planned response to the “problem” of the ascension is actualized in the opening scenes of Acts. CHAPTER FOUR addresses the “problem” created by the ascension in Acts from the broader canonical perspective of the four-fold Gospel testimony about Jesus’ mission. It is argued that Jesus’ mission was defined by Old Testament messianic categories and fulfills the mission of Israel. It is proposed that the reader of Acts, being familiar with the four-fold Gospel, may perceive the striking resemblance of Jesus’ mission, gospel and the concurrent conflict and controversy he provoked manifest in the church’s life and ministry in the narrative of Acts. This chapter argues from a broader canonical approach that the tri-fold Old Testament missional roles of prophet, priest and king, which Jesus fulfills as the Messianic servant in the Gospels is clearly exhibited in Luke’s literary choices and underlying missional theology in Acts. The church’s continuation of Jesus’ tri-fold missional roles in Acts yields a second major plot dynamic that permeates the historical narrative of Acts: persecution. It is argued that these two core elements of theology endemic to the canonical history of God’s people work in literary counterpoint in the history and literary art of Luke in Acts. As the post-ascension manifestation of the body of Christ on earth, the church continues to live out the tri-fold messianic, missional roles of Jesus in fulfillment of his words: “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also” (John 15:20). These two contrapuntal themes set forth the core theology that guides Luke’s literary artistic choices and explains the ebb and flow and interconnectedness of the narratives of the continuation of Jesus’ mission by the church in Acts. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / New Testament Studies / unrestricted