Thesis (M.A.)--Ball State University, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Sept. 09, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. [75]-80). Discography: p. [i]-iv.

Konstanz, Univ., Diplomarb., 2001.

Thesis(M. A.(Communication studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / Twenty-three years since the transition into the democratic government, the South African post-apartheid government continues to grapple with the challenges of recurring trends of youth protests. The post-apartheid government has been experiencing violent protest actions resulting from dissatisfactions with poor service delivery or lack of social services, unemployment, slow pace of transformation in some South African socio-economic spaces, specifically institutions of higher learning and agitation for affordable access to tertiary education. Many young people demand social change through protest action, which often results in destruction of public infrastructure for this method seems to be an effective way of communicating grievances (Mbindwane, 2016). A first trend in youth protest is related to economic issues and social service provision. This qualitative study explored how high rates of unemployment amongst the youth and poor service delivery was a concern and a motivation for protests. The study of youth protests in the Fetakgomo-Greater Tubatse Municipality in the Limpopo Province was used as a case study, with the protests being used as a tool of communicating socio-economic challenges. Unemployment amongst the youth and poor service delivery in the municipality were challenges that motivated young people to actively communicate their dissatisfactions through toyi-toying (street protest). The municipality has been reported to have the highest rate of youth unemployment, standing at 53, 5%, in spite of the 18 mines that operate in the region (Statistics South Africa, 2016). A second motivation for youth protest trend in post-apartheid South Africa is affordable access to higher education. Exorbitant tuition fees, annual increments, and agitation for affordable access to tertiary education have made headlines since September 2015 when the Minister of Higher Education, Dr Blade Nzimande, announced that university fees were going to rise by 11, 5% in the 2016 academic year. The study revealed that tertiary education has become a commodity in the country and many students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds could not afford to pay for their fees. The drastic fee increments also exceeded expectations of those earning enough to pay for their children’s education, to an extent where they felt that the cost of education was clearing their pockets. The study further showed that the funding mechanisms failed to keep up with the ever-increasing tuition fees. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and other student loans/bursaries could no longer provide full bursaries as students’ tuition rose exponentially. The final trend of youth protests studied in this paper related to transformation and decolonisation of academic spaces – the case of #RhodesMustFall campaign. The sluggish transformation in South Africa, particularly in institutions of higher learning, first triggered student demonstrations at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and eventually spread to almost the rest of South African universities. The study further discovered that the presence of the Rhodes’ statue at UCT prompted a variety of emotions and rage among students, predominantly the previously marginalised. It appeared to be a constant reminder of colonial oppression and slow pace of transformation in the academia. Amongst other things, the study found that students pressed for the removal of all symbols of colonialism, from renaming streets that are perceived to carry the apartheid legacy, decolonising the curriculum, and advocating for greater representation of Black people in senior management positions, specifically the women as they were less represented in the past.Through in-depth qualitative interviews with selected youth, university management representatives, government representatives, and media archival materials, the study examined the concerns that shaped the trends and the nature of youth protests in the post-apartheid South Africa and explored how activism and protests were not merely a social agitation, but tools for communicating youth social and economic experiences.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisor: Dana Cloud. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Display of disagreement in a public space under the form of strikes, rallies and not only, is not the sole form of protest. Popular culture can easily be used to send messages of discontent. The paper focuses on popular music by looking at one of the most representative music charts in the world: The Billboard Chart. By screening the Year End Billboard Rock Chart for a period of 5 years the paper tries to identify songs that can be labelled as protest songs and see what they are protesting against, what themes they address, what are their characteristics and how are the messages transmitted in both textual and visual narratives, in order to draw a picture of the contemporary protest song that is present in a popular chart. The theoretical framework of the paper discusses popular culture, the classical image of the protest song, the creational process of music within the music industry and its politic and economic sides. After a first screening of the charts with the help of content analysis, by using the concept of narrative, the paper examines the stories presented in the lyrics and, where possible, the videos made for the songs. The findings of the paper show that even if not respecting the theoretical characteristics of the classical protest song, The Year End Billboard Rock Chart has several songs with strong political messages either in lyrics or videos or in both at the same time.

For over two decades, development practitioners, scholars, and institutions have celebrated microfinance—broadly defined as the provision of small-scale financial services to the world’s poor—as an effective tool for poverty alleviation and local economic development. Critics of microfinance, however, suggest that there is little clear evidence to support the claims that microfinance lifts the poor out of poverty and fosters local economic development. In this thesis, I explore some of the challenges to microfinance in northern Nicaragua by exploring a case study of a group of borrowers who have confronted microfinance and exposed some serious problems. Since 2008, thousands of microcredit clients in Nicaragua have expressed their extreme frustration with microfinance and its detrimental effects in their lives. In this case, Nicaraguans caught up in the microfinance scheme risk losing their homes and livelihoods and falling into greater poverty. These borrowers, organized as El Movimiento de Pequeños Productores, Comerciantes y Microempresarios del Norte (the Movement of Producers, Merchants and Small Business Owners of the North), demand new terms on their microcredit debts and new client protections. I explore the reaction and the demands of these borrowers and their direct and indirect critiques of the microcredit sector, its practices and its alleged goals. I argue that the resistance of the MPCN reveals the political and economic rationale and neoliberal ideology behind microcredit as a poverty alleviation intervention, and their contestation challenges its underlying logic. These critiques and demands provide us with a foundation for rethinking the prevailing market-oriented approaches to development. / text

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archives@tulane.edu / 1 / Mart Trasberg