This thesis examines the way in which dance work produced by postcolonial dance artists is often misread and exoticised by critics, funders and audiences. Yet the works produced have a disruptive effect and are products and clear indications of the sometimes oppressive processes that create cultural representation and identities. These postcolonial dance artists also have to contend with problematic umbrella terms such as ‘Black’ and ‘South Asian’ which are not fully descriptive of their dance practice and have the effect of stereotyping the work produced. The thesis investigates the artists Mavin Khoo, Shobana Jeyasingh, Akram Khan, Bode Lawal, Robert Hylton and Phoenix Dance Company who have created works that have asserted their individual agency through the use of particular cultural dance practices and have engaged in concepts such as classicism, modernism and postmodernism in order to establish a place within the British dance canon. Choreographic work produced by artists such as Khoo and Hylton have ‘educated’ audiences about the dance traditions that have been ‘passed down’ to them, whilst artists and companies like Phoenix have worked within a primarily Western medium, yet acknowledging that their work is informed by their distinctive African, African-Caribbean and Indian identities also. Although the work produced by these artists is often viewed from a white and Eurocentric perspective and exoticised to fit with conventional notions of ‘Indianness’ and ‘Blackness’, this thesis demonstrates that through the use of methodologies from cultural theory/policy, postcolonial theory and dance studies it is possible to reveal and illuminate meanings in the choreography and performances of postcolonial artists, and open up the dialogue that their works initiate in a multicultural and globalised context.

Masters of Art / This Creative Writing project is an album of South African songs written specifically in the context of American blues music. Although blues is an intrinsically American genre of Western popular music, it has its roots (along with other African-American forms of musical expression such as ragtime and jazz) in African culture, and as a South African musician and writer, I am intrigued by the possibilities of exploring African-American blues in the context of South Africa. This project therefore attempts some hybridity between these two cultural expressions, and to ascertain what kinds of lyric might be possible in modern South Africa in terms of the formation and perpetuation of a South African identity. Blues songs traditionally have a rather narrow focus as far as lyrics are concerned, but the genre’s melodic structure, its instrumentation and its very specific vocal qualities have over the last century formed the bedrock of the whole of modern Western popular music.

This essay examines the complex identity struggles of Kwame Asante and Nana AdakuII in Mabel Dove-Danquah’s “Anticipation” and “The Torn Veil.” Dove-Danquah, a pioneer in African literature and politics, portrays the tension between traditional Ghanaian values and colonial influences. Through the lens of Mimicry, Hybridity, and Orientalism, the essay explores the characters’ negotiations between modernity andtradition. Kwame’s pursuit of education and status, juxtaposed with Nana’scommitment to cultural heritage, illustrates the post-colonial identity crisis. The analysis extends to societal impacts, showing how colonial legacies challenge traditional values. By delving into these stories, the essay highlights the cultural negotiation, resistance, and adaptation in postcolonial Ghana, offering insights into identity formation aftercolonialism. Mabel Dove-Danquah discusses through these narratives the enduring influence of colonialism on African societies.

The thesis re-presents the lived experience of cultural animation and policy production in postcolonial Zimbabwe, seeking to place these observations and theories in the domain of Cultural Policy Studies. The nation was in transition from oracy to literacy and from colonial control to socialist independence. Cultural workers in Bulawayo were very productive after Independence without apparently being aware of any policies. How, then, did things get done? The initial premise was that people living in oral cultures were always able to discuss plans and implement decisions, and that endogenous and exogenous influences (theorised as memes) were incorporated experimentally in a cultural bricolage. Part One introduces the pre-policy context of cultural change in precolonial and postcolonial situations, theorises cultural change at a micro level in terms of memetics and explains the methodology of multiple case studies. Part Two looks for origins of cultural concepts in 19th century white-authored journals and 20th century revolutionary texts and presents a critical analysis of formal documents controlling cultural policy since Independence. The importance of plurilingualism, translation and literacy in interactions between social actors is examined. Part Three provides empirical evidence to refine the original proposition in a detailed synchronic study of local cultural praxis. Discourse analysis of conflict and consensus operating at grassroots level is followed by accounts of the increasing management capacity of some groups as they become professional performers in international arenas. Contrasting instances of individual and communal animation are found in the development of institutions. Part Four discusses the role of dynamic oral policies in cultural action both in a pre-policy situation and in the implementation of documented policy in a democratising polity. The thesis also has potential for its theoretical findings to be applied in different national contexts of development and beyond cultural policy to other spheres where an increasing volume of policy initiatives challenges the people charged with their implementation.

La tesi affronta alcune grandi questioni relative al rapporto tra trasformazioni sociali e mondi culturali nella contemporaneità. La prospettiva adottata è caratterizzata da un approccio multifocale, che cerca di integrare la riflessione che ha per oggetto di analisi il medium musicale, le sue caratteristiche, funzioni e potenzialità con un contributo che cerca di rilevare l'emergenza di nuove formazioni identitarie nella Gran Bretagna del nuovo millennio. In particolare, il focus della ricerca è costituito dall'analisi dell'esperienza di produzione e fruizione di islamic conscious rap da parte dei giovani musulmani britannici di origine asiatica, che la più recente riflessione sociologica definisce Brasian, figli della diaspora, protagonisti di quella svolta culturale che contribuisce ad una continua riconfigurazione dell'identità postcoloniale. Nell'ambito di questo contributo si è cercato di analizzare in prospettiva critica le diverse categorie che hanno cercato, nel corso degli ultimi decenni, di definire ed inquadrare il concetto forte di "identità" sullo sfondo di eventi macro quali colonialismo, diaspora, globalizzazione e migrazioni. / This thesis is focused on the relationship between cultural worlds and social transformations within contemporary British society. Our study is based on a differentiated approach where the analysis of popular music material, of its features and its functions merges with the emergence of new identity configurations in the UK. The main research focus is the production and consumption of Islamic conscious rap by Brasian Muslim youth, a category that has been recently introduced within the international debate on identity. Through their social and cultural experience Muslim young people of South Asian origin are at the forefront of a new cultural turn in the redefinition of postcolonial identity, also in relation to many other contemporary issues: colonialism, Diaspora, globalisation and migration. The process of cultural reterritorialisation together with that of cultural reproduction constantly change the cultural landscape of this youth: thank to their multicultural skills and their transcultural capital young Muslim people manage to balance within different cultural worlds, and Islamic rap is here considered as link with the translocal Muslim Ummah. This work's aim is to describe the reconfiguration of translocal scenarios through the processes of cultural respatialization and retorritorialisation through the musical medium within the local-global nexus.

This dissertation seeks to ethnographically explain an apparent paradox: the tremendous popularity of U.S. country & western (C&W) in postcolonial St. Lucia. The music's reputation as a "white" expressive form contradicts the decolonization ethos of a young, predominantly Afro-creole nation and appears to challenge an emerging St. Lucian postcolonial identity. I show how St. Lucians use C&W to effect significant continuities with Afro-creole culture. Its creolization in the St. Lucian context makes C&W a compelling expression of post-colonial identity. I argue that with considerable genius, St. Lucians have creolized ways to dance to C&W much as they creolized European country and court dances in earlier centuries. In this instance, however, the music was already more creole than is customarily admitted. St. Lucians make U.S. C&W their own by curating songs with a particular Caribbean resonance, creolizing the dance on habanera beats, and syncretizing it with marginalized Afro-St. Lucian folk practices. Denying simplistic cultural imperialism, St. Lucians have reclaimed C&W, highlighting its under-acknowledged but already creole ingredients, merging it with their own Afrocreole folk forms, and transforming it into a music of black social experience. The dialogic continuities are many: storytelling; working-class and real-life themes; social dance context of communal, cross-island exchanges; instruments and genres from Africa, including fiddle and banjo, yodel and drum; updating of the already creolized Kwadril complex; and, perhaps most revealing, the way the dance creolization incorporates the habanera beat. Given these continuities, the popularity of country & western in St. Lucia seems virtually over-determined rather than counter-intuitive. To analyze this specific challenge of cultural decolonization, I develop the concepts of "postcolonial creolizations" and "empire rollover." I trace the varied meanings of the term creole--and suggest that its variability should be the foundation of theoretical potency. I use Bakhtinian notions of intertextuality to examine how expressive forms from different worlds come into dialogue with each other, and show how the conversations eventually produce new creations. I show how postcolonial creolizations prompt us to rethink how power relations get reconfigured in postcolonial contexts. I argue that by attending to ways that postcolonial actors are shaping creolization processes now, we can better understand how colonial and modern imperial forces come together to challenge meaningful decolonization and sovereignty. I call this convergence process "empire rollover." This refers to the uneven processes involved as one form of imperialism gives way to subsequent imperial relations. I use this concept to answer important questions regarding the degree to which power is reclaimed in postcolonial transformation of expressive culture and to what extent creolization is decolonized. I show how the St. Lucia banana industry case epitomizes the phenomena economically wherein colonial-type benefits rollover to a new imperial power (U.S.) and continue to accrue, while advantages gained during decolonization do not. The C&W case, in contrast, shows how St. Lucians use "imperialist" forms in creative, distinctively St. Lucian ways, such that it is not simply an expression of neocolonial relations.

This research studies Pakeha who have engaged with Maori cultural learning contexts. Within a social constructionist theoretical framework, and with a combination of the critical and communicative approaches to cultural identity, the research explores the meaning these Pakeha bring to being Pakeha. Discourse analysis tools of interpretative repertoires and linguistic resources are used to analyse data from semi-structured interviews with six Paheha participants. Participants have experienced Maori cultural learning contexts before or during the research, through learning te reo, tikanga Maori and about nga ao o nga iwi Maori. The research found that, largely, meanings participants brought to being Pakeha were in contrast to stereotypical notions of what it means to be Pakeha. Participants demonstrated that for them being Pakeha meant being connected to nga ao o nga iwi Maori; being aware of Pakeha privilege; mediating and negotiating being Pakeha with dominant notions of Pakehaness; valuing the history of Aotearoa-New Zealand, along with valuing te reo me ona tikanga. Furthermore, the research also found that the consistently postcolonial identity participants brought to being Pakeha shifted according to context, troubling the meanings of Pakeha also.

This dissertation investigates the contradictions and similarities regarding the depictions of Afrikaner ancestry in two works by Charles Davidson Bell: The landing of Van Riebeeck, 1652 (1850) and Cattle boers' outspan (s.a.). The works were discussed and compared from a conventional perspective in order to establish the artworks' formal qualities, subject matter and thematic content This reading was extended by employing postcolonial theoretical principles in order to contextualise these two artworks within their Victorian ideological frameworks, social realities and authoring strategies. The extended comparative reading revealed a number of similarities and contradictions regarding the artist's depiction of Afrikaner ancestry in these two works. Postcolonial theory further facilitated a more comprehensive and dense reading of the chosen artworks, as well as of the artist's oeuvre. / Thesis (M.A. (History of Arts))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

This dissertation investigates the contradictions and similarities regarding the depictions of Afrikaner ancestry in two works by Charles Davidson Bell: The landing of Van Riebeeck, 1652 (1850) and Cattle boers' outspan (s.a.). The works were discussed and compared from a conventional perspective in order to establish the artworks' formal qualities, subject matter and thematic content This reading was extended by employing postcolonial theoretical principles in order to contextualise these two artworks within their Victorian ideological frameworks, social realities and authoring strategies. The extended comparative reading revealed a number of similarities and contradictions regarding the artist's depiction of Afrikaner ancestry in these two works. Postcolonial theory further facilitated a more comprehensive and dense reading of the chosen artworks, as well as of the artist's oeuvre. / Thesis (M.A. (History of Arts))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

The issue of identity is receiving the most attention in recent times. Communities, groups and individuals tend to ask themselves who they are after the colonial period. The dawn of modern democracy and the fall of the Berlin Wall have become important sites of self-definition. In this study, I examine narratives of self-invention and selflegitimisation from a variety of texts ranging from poetic to dramatic voices. The author creates characters who represent his wishes, desires and fears in dramatic form. The other characters re-present the other members of his family. He uses autobiographical voices to re-create and re-present history, particularly his family history which has been dismembered by memory's inability to recover the past in its entirety. Memory, visions and dreams are used as tropes to negotiate the pain of loss. These narratives assist him to recapture that which has been lost dearly, and imaginatively re-members what has been dismembered. The autobiographical I shifts into an autobiographical we where the author uses his poetry to lambast the injustices of apartheid. The study further examines some aspects of postcolonial identity, which include the status of African writing and the role of africalogical discourse, the conception of home in apartheid South Africa as well as the juxtaposition of power between indigenes and settlers. These reflect the problem of marginality as a postcolonial condition and how the marginals can be returned to the centre of power. Marginalisation of the indigenes occurs by coercion, inferiorisation, tabooing certain political and cartographical spaces, harassment, torture and imprisonment. Despite these measures, the poetry of NS Puleng persisted to remove the fetish of apartheid disempowerment and disenfranchisement. / African Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)