M.Ed. (Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

As social media platforms and the internet have become an integral part of our civic and political lives, many questions about how to approach digital politics and civic engagement have emerged in the past few years. This project attempts to address some of those questions, specifically how we may think about civic education in the digital age. I begin with the premise that in the digital age, education for democracy must focus on its epistemic aspect. While proponents of aggregative forms of democracy consider vote to be the main form of citizen participation, forms of epistemic democracy such as deliberative democracy seek to contribute to social knowledge through communication amongst citizens, civil society, market players and state institutions. I initially ground my inquiry within the American context by highlighting the participatory character of the American democratic ethos. For this, I evoke John Dewey’s view of democracy as involving collective inquiry that allows both individual growth and the enrichment of collective life. Then, by examining Jürgen Habermas’ deliberative and Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic models of democracy against the backdrop of increasing digital mediation of civic and political discourse, I problematize democratic subjectivity in the digital age and suggest using Etienne Balibar’s notion of transindividuality, which he develops from 17th century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. While Habermas demonstrates that certain communication conditions are necessary for legitimate political action, Mouffe reminds us that taking into account the importance of collective affective drives can help us take seriously the plurality of our contemporary democracies. However, I argue that in the digital age the strengths of these two approaches must be adapted to the evolving materiality of the environment in which people’s lived experience takes place rather than merely kept for instances of communication that occur within state institutions. For this, Balibar’s suggestion to think of the process of freedom of speech as a public good allows us to ground discourse in the material context in which it is produced and maintained, and provides a generative way of thinking of the role of education in our times.

A research report submitted to the faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Wits University, Johannesburg, 2017 / In blackface colonial history, “amusing” white blackface performances that depicted black people as the “natural born fool” were popular with white audiences during a time when whites perceived their racial superiority to be threatened. In Post-1994 South Africa, white supremacy is no longer an uncontested “fact”. As a result, white identities that are premised on “old” legislated notions of racial superiority are made insecure by perceived threats posed against whiteness. The previously disenfranchised and excluded black is now the central focus of South African power and politics and the loss of white centrality creates the “victim” perception that all post-apartheid societal pressures and changes are put on, and against whites. Their power has been “confiscated” and thereby no longer unique to white identity. Blackface is utilised by Leon Schuster in the post-apartheid film, Mama Jack (2005) to reproduce old ideologies of whiteness that remind viewers of its presence, privilege and power. As in the colonial past, it is through the principle white character Jack Theron and his mobilisation of blackface that white supremacy remains intact throughout the film. / XL2018

The study adopts Uses and Gratifications (U&G) theory as the framework to test antecedents and consequences in using fanqiang (bypassing Internet censorship) as an alternative medium along with accessible Internet, TV, newspaper and radio as mainstream media in a Chinese context. By online between-group experimentation (N = 132 in the experimental group, N = 127 in the control group), the study shows that curiosity about forbidden political content and political apathy predict fanqiang and most accessible media use tendencies. Moderation effects exist between curiosity and self-efficacy in predicting fanqiang tendencies. Disappointment as an emotional effect is directly related to curiosity and political apathy, where the mediation effects of media use tendencies are not salient. Explicit Internet censorship increases curiosity about forbidden political content and decreases the dimension of lack of interest in political apathy. However, it does not change accessible media use tendencies and disappointment levels. Still, participants show fewer of fanqiang tendencies than with accessible media, except radio. The results highlight the cognitive roots of motivations and emotional constructs as a part of gratification in U&G research, that self-efficacy as a necessary requirement for curiosity to drive media use, and that information attributes can change motivations. We urge future scholars to build broader explications of political apathy when applied to different societies, to try diverse methods like experimentation in U&G research, and to adopt a sociopsychological approach when studying the influences and effectiveness of Internet censorship.

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Political Studies Department, Faculty of Humanities, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa 8 March 2015 / HIV is the most pressing public health and development challenge facing Botswana. Reducing gender-related vulnerability to HIV is one of the top priorities of the government and its development partners. Civil society organisations (CSOs) have been identified as crucial in these efforts. As a result, civil society has grown in Botswana, in both numbers and size, to deliver services such as home-based care, counselling, and testing. Yet to reduce gendered vulnerability to HIV, social and human development goals must be met in several sectors of society. The focus on HIV-related services has implications in practise, policy, and theory that may compromise long-term development aims and co-opt civil society. This research draws on critical theory and uses action research methods to investigate the role of civil society in Botswana for reducing gendered vulnerability to HIV, now and in the future. The case of Botswana is a crucial one, as it has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates, as well as the resources, both domestic and from partners, to mobilise a comprehensive response. The combination of these factors has afforded the opportunity to gain insights to inform civil society theory and development approaches in both policy and practise to improve the HIV response and civil society’s role in it. Through a literature review, interviews with key informants, a survey, and a workshop, this research found that the HIV response in Botswana is addressing many of the issues suggested by global development partners, such as UNAIDS, at the policy level, though implementation is lacking, especially concerning male involvement in gender programming. It found that efforts to meet the immediate needs are in place, but the long-term strategic interests are only incrementally addressed. This suggests that HIV is causing a development deficit. Additionally, the roles that CSOs serve in the response are focussed on serving these immediate needs, making it increasingly difficult for the response to effect broader social change to achieve gender equality and development. Civil society is taking on more responsibility in the public sector, which puts it in a vulnerable position. Its role needs to be reconceptualised in the HIV response and in development more broadly. This research proposes theoretical and policy implications to inform civil society-state relations; approaches to address complicated social development issues, such as genderbased violence; and offers an 18-point analytical framework to address operational and programmatic capacities in civil society. The framework offers a new category for the dynamic analysis of civil society organisations while working with the state called ‘civil agents’. It also describes the bridge function that CSOs serve when working with key populations, such as sexual minorities, in criminalised settings. Together these theoretical and policy implications can contribute to the understanding of civil society in the HIV response, and gender equity in the context of the post-2015 global development agenda. Key words: Civil Society Organisations, Non-governmental Organisations, HIV, Gender, Botswana, Development, Critical Theory, Action Research / MT2016

Thesis (Ph.D. (Business Science))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic & Business Sciences, 2017 / With the contemporary diffusion of media technology, the majority of researchers have come to position the Internet as a political instrument that has the potential to stimulate consumer behaviour. The Internet has expanded persistently as a news source and digital technologies have become more accessible and abound with user generated content. These digital media backdrops afford a valuable opportunity to empirically examine the effects of digital media effects on consumer decision-making. It is therefore important to examine how consumer perceptions and attitudes towards voting impact their decision-making in order for political marketers or politicians to develop coherent strategies that offer a conducive environment sufficient to influence voting decision-making. Whereas previous studies on voting behaviour have merely explored voting behaviour in a global context, the current study investigates the effect of digital media exposure on perceptual and cognitive constructs within a Zimbabwean context. Moreover, few studies have explored this topic in a consumer behaviour context amongst the Zimbabwean constituency. This study aims to determine whether digital media exposure influences voter-consumers’ intention to vote in subsequent Zimbabwe presidential elections. In order to empirically test the effect of digital media exposure on perceived image of a political party (PI); perceived image of a presidential candidate (PPC); attitude towards voting (ATV) and voting intention (VI), a conceptual model premised on the reviewed political marketing literature was developed. The model proposed four distinct domains that drive voting intentions. In this conceptualised model, digital media exposure is the predictor variable, while perceived image of the presidential candidate, attitude towards voting, perceived image of the political party, are mediators and voting intention is the single outcome variable. By exploring the significance of digital media use on voter behaviour, this study contributes towards specific contextual knowledge on consumer behaviour and political marketing in developing countries particularly Zimbabwe. The present study is positioned in the positivist research methodology, and assumes a deductive approach within the quantitative paradigm to test the proposed hypotheses. This study uses stratified probability sampling to arrive at the required number of provinces for the study. Using quantitative methodologies based on the nature of the research questions, data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from 305 eligible voters from selected Provinces and Districts in Zimbabwe selected through stratified probability sampling to arrive at the required number of provinces for the study.The measuring instrument was designed from existing scales, which were adapted to suit the present study. The data analysis ii | P a g e was done in SPSS 24 for demographic data analysis and AMOS 24 was used for the structural equation modelling and path modelling. The findings support all the hypotheses in a significant way except H1 and H5. Likewise, voter-consumers’ perception of the presidential candidate has an influence on the attitude towards voting and all latter perceptual and attitudinal variables have significant influence on voting intention. Important to note about the study findings is the fact that digital media exposure has a stronger effect on perceived image of the political party (H3) than attitude towards voting (H2). However, perceived image of the political party strongly influence attitude towards voting. Remarkably, the relationship between perceived image of the presidential candidate and attitude towards voting is robust. The findings indicate that digital media exposure can have a strong influence on voting intention through attitude towards voting. The contribution of this study is threefold: Firstly, by exploring the significance of digital media exposure on voting behaviour, this study adds to contextual knowledge on relationship marketing, political brand management and experiential marketing (the final stage of the mental brand responses), consumer marketing and specifically, political marketing. Secondly, as a growing body of literature explores the use of digital technology in political campaigning/marketing to create a competitive advantage, this study provides researchers with a broad understanding of this phenomenon among voting citizens in developing countries particularly Zimbabwe. Theoretically, it is positioned in political marketing and contributes to theoretical literature that focuses on consumer behaviour, branding and brand relationship. Lastly, by investigating digital media exposure and its influence on consumers’ voting intention, the findings provided political marketing practitioners with a better understanding of strategies that can be employed to influence citizens’ voting behaviour, through the use of digital media. The study thus submits that politicians ought to pay attention to both media agenda and brand image in order to build a positive attitude towards voting which significantly influences the intention to vote. In order to maximise voter ‘purchase’, marketers can implement strategies to encourage positive behaviour from voter-consumers and exploit multi-sensory experiences in order to influence voting intentions. The study makes a significant contribution to brand management literature and consumer behaviour literature by systematically exploring the impact of media exposure on brand image and attitude towards voting in Zimbabwe. The study demonstrates that political data can be used in consumer behaviour studies and provides a theoretical method for predicting voting intentions using voter behaviour in the form of voter perception of political parties and perceived image of a presidential candidate as well as attitude towards voting. The study further highlights the significance of using digital technologies and ingenuity to create a comparative advantage as well as a differential advantage. / MT 2018

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree master of science (Development Planning) / Urbanisation processes in South Africa have historically been influenced and affected by the government's political ideology based on segregation and racial discrimination. This led to the constrained urbanisation of the African population facilitated by literally hundreds of restrictive pieces of legislation. ( Abbreviation abstract) / Andrew Chakane 2018

University of the Witwatersrand Masters Research Report History of Art 31 March 2015 / Landscape representations in Western art have long stood as metaphors for power relations inscribed on the earth, encoding imperial aspirations, national identity, poetic and aesthetic experiences about humankind, nature and the environment. However, contemporary landscape imagery of large-scale industrial, and particularly mining sites, have come to signify, pre-dominantly through the medium of photography, meta-narratives that go beyond the political, economic, and environmental power relations historically endemic to landscape representation. Indeed, I suggest they constitute the formation of a sub-genre within the category of Landscape. Mining activities characterise extensive landscape interventions, often with catastrophic results both above and below ground. Perhaps a mined landscape more than any other, exemplifies not only the interwoven political and economic power relations inscribed upon the land, but also testifies to the underlying pathology of the land. Contemporary landscape studies cut across disciplines and go beyond the apprehension of surface, taking into account the geological as well social histories of land, and thus signal a shift in the aesthetic experience of land, both emotionally and intellectually, and consequently the way in which land is made visible. The visualisation of these land sites through imagery has precipitated an interface of aesthetic experience that simultaneously makes visible the politics symbolically encoded in the landscape itself, and the politics that impact viewership and reception. Nevertheless, accompanying the need to make visible those land sites hugely modified by mineral extraction, from both a historical and current perspective, is an unprecedented urgency that is weighted by a political anxiety over future implications of such land interventions. This anxiety is driven by the spectral nature of mined landscapes. Although monumental in scale, mined landscapes are often ‘not seen’, partly because they exist in restricted zones or are located underground, but often they are rendered invisible through a process of assimilation and naturalisation. A case in point has been the collective presence of mine dumps along Johannesburg’s southern periphery, and which, now in the process of being re-cycled, form the focus of my selected case study, an image by British photographer, Jason Larkin and titled Re-Mining Dump 20 (2012). By seeking to bring sites of mining activity into public consciousness, contemporary representations of mined landscapes also mediate current relations between humankind and the natural environment. As an agent of mediation, I propose that an image of a mined landscape functions as an interface. By situating Larkin’s image within a theoretical framework motivated by Jacques Rancière’s politics of aesthetics and Malcolm Andrews and W.J.T. Mitchell’s landscape theory, I proceed with my investigation in the form of a two-part interrogation: one that places emphasis on theory followed by a practical, creative response to Larkin’s image by way of repeat photography of Dump 20 and its surrounds. To demonstrate the concept of interface, I ‘excavate’ the aesthetic experience of Dump 20 as both sensory apprehension and through Rancière’s lens of emancipated viewership. There is an aesthetic quality of the sublime that appears to pervade visual representations of mined landscapes. Described as industrial sublime, toxic sublime or even apocalyptic sublime, the attention-holding quality these images exercise, through a strategy of aesthetic appeal, contribute to a politics of visibility by subversively implicating the viewer as a member of the human race. Global citizenship overrides national identity in these landscape representations, disrupting a sense of belonging with one of complicit participation in the formation of mined landscapes through reliance on mineral extraction for manufacturing consumer goods. Not only do representations of mined landscapes demand a rethink about aesthetic appreciation of landscape imagery and the endemic political connotations implicated in an understanding of landscape. They actively seek to penetrate surface visibility of land by taking into account the very pathology of land as an on going narrative of human and environmental interaction and life continually in process.

Research Report for the Degree of Master of Arts in Political Studies Graduate School for Humanities and Social Science University of the Witwatersrand Submitted: March, 2015 / This dissertation delves into the contested post-1994 transition to deliver economic justice and development in South Africa, particularly the country’s more recent quest to emulate the interventionist economic strategies successfully implemented in South East Asia. It follows from the governing African National Congress (ANC) being one among a few governments that have explicitly committed themselves to building a developmental state. Among some of its intentions, such a state aims to alter market incentives, reduce risks, offer entrepreneurial visions and manage conflicts. Specifically, the research study examines the role of industrial sector planning in South Africa as a component of a developmental state. In the 20th century East Asian developmental states, also known as early generation developmental states, such selective industrial policy was characterised by close ties between government and business that facilitated the sharing of information. These countries – Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore - were also distinguishable by the ability of the state to “discipline” capital through treating incentives, not as “gifts” but as enforceable performance contracts. The paper is split into three parts. Part 1 looks at the origins and evolution of the concept of a developmental state, along with key elements of such a state and their applicability to South Africa. Part 2 traces South Africa’s association with industrial sector planning, from the Jan Smuts era, through Hendrik Verwoerd until the Jacob Zuma administration. Part 3 is a case study that examines two particular sectors, the automotive industry and the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector (consisting of offshore call centres and related activities) to gauge the level of corporatism, along the state’s ability or desire to “discipline” or “reward” companies in pursuit of its industrialisation goals.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Arts (Development Studies), August 2017 / This study examines the new online phenomenon called Black Twitter and the publics that have been formed on this platform in regards to issues affecting black lives. Specifically, it not only introduces to the reader the South African Black Twitter market, but more importantly, it looks at how Black Twitter users construct and articulate their gender identities online. This is done through analyzing trending topics, particularly, through a specific hashtag (#IFApartheidDidntHappen) and accounts (@blak_terrorist and @KasiMlungu) which offer rich insight around racial identities and enables one to analyze the content and possible discourses that come into play on this Black Twitter platform. This paper also contributes to the growing literature on the growing black middle-class by exploring how Black Twitter is providing a voice to groups that were historically excluded from the mainstream media discourse. The key purpose of this paper was to explore, as has been suggested, Black Twitter as a public platform and how its young group of users are moving into spaces to challenge the status quo and change historically dominant discourses. / XL2018