Current research into language change and evolution focuses on native varieties of English, Schneider’s (2007) settler strand, but we have little knowledge concerning diachronic changes in non-native varieties of English, Schneider’s (2007) indigenous strand. Such a theory must take into account language contact as well as theories pertaining to Second Language Acquisition. This dissertation describes the diachronic changes which occur in one feature of Black South African English (BSAE), namely the progressive aspect. Current synchronic research on BSAE suggests that the progressive aspect is overextended to include stative verbs. This dissertation aims to evaluate the value of this hypothesis, and determine whether there is evidence of this overextension in diachronic data. In order to observe instances of language change, a diachronic corpus of BSAE was complied. This corpus consisted of data from letters, fiction, and newspapers ranging from the 1870s until the 2000s. Using this corpus, analyses were performed in order to determine the frequency of progressive use, the distribution of aktionsart categories, and which temporal meanings were denoted by stative verbs and activity verbs used in the progressive aspect. These analyses were then repeated for data taken from the historical corpus of White South African English (WSAE), in order to ascertain whether changes in BSAE developed parallel to WSAE, or if it follows its own trajectory of change. One further analysis was conducted on BSAE: the aspectual categories of 71 state verbs were analysed in order to determine whether speakers of BSAE indeed do overextend the –ing progressive form onto stative verbs describing states and qualities. The results indicate that the frequency of verbs used with the progressive aspect increases for BSAE, but decreases for WSAE. The comparison of aktionsart distribution indicates that BSAE has a higher overall frequency of communication verbs and accomplishments, while WSAE has a higher frequency of activity verbs, verbs denoting the future, and stative verbs. Achievements are used as expected by both varieties. The analysis of the temporal meanings of stative verbs indicates that speakers of WSAE denote the prototypical short duration associated with the progressive aspect for 74.83% of the verbs, while BSAE uses an extended temporal meaning for 46.86% of the verbs, indicating that speakers of BSAE more likely to overextend the temporal duration of stative verbs than WSAE speakers. The temporal meanings for activities were the same for both varieties; the prototypical short duration is denoted by 77.83% of the total activities in BSAE, and 77.11% of the activities in WSAE. The extended duration in both varieties may be due to language change in general, while the additional temporal meanings for statives in BSAE are a result of substrate transfer. / MA (English)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis has two objectives, namely: • The construction of a deduced model to evaluate the strategic management of a company. • The application of this deduced model to evaluate the strategic management of the South African Breweries Limited. In essence the model deduced that a company's overall strategic success would ultimately be embodied and reflected in the following aspects: • The company's ability to achieve its stated vision and mission. • The company's ability to add value to its shareholders. • The company's financial performance. • The company's diversification strategy. • The company's shareholding. • The company's ability to be flexible. • The company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The South African Breweries Limited strategic performance, based on the deduced model, essentially and by exception indicated the following for the period 1991 to 2001 (see Chapters 3 and 4 for detailed and quantified analysis): • SAB achieved its stated vision and mission long before its target date. • SAB's drive to add value and maintain its shareholders confidence has been relatively successful. • SAB's operational performance has been relatively successful with a very evident strategy of low cost / low margin, but high volume strategy. Asset utilisation was however not on par with the largest brewer in the world. • SAB's strategic intent to be viewed by its customer as best cost provider has been relatively successful in that its price increases has been less than 85% of the official CPI, whilst at the same time it was awarded international accolades for product quality. • SAB's financial performance compares favourably against Anheuser Busch's, but it performed dismally with regards to its debtors' collection period since 2000 with an all time high of 101 days in 2001. • SAB's diversification strategy has refocused on its core business of consumer beverage market since South Africa's re-admission to the world market in 1994. • The rumour of another large brewer obtaining a relative large shareholding in SAB with a potential future merger was countered by SAB themselves in 1999 I 2000. • Since South Africa's re-admission to the world market, SAB has been able to refocus on its core business very quickly and shed its non-core businesses whilst at the same time becoming a world player. SAB South Africa has however faltered slightly in not being able to counter the slight loss of market share to substitute products. • SAB's entrance to the world markets, especially the emerging markets, has not only presented opportunities, but also threats and risks related to emerging economies. • The Chief Executive, Mr G Mackay, indicated that the investments in the emerging markets require optimisation and productivity improvements in order to achieve similar successes to its South African beer business. In summary it is evident that SAB has undoubtedly been successful up to 2001, but that the real challenge and proof of sustainable success in a multi country economy remains to be seen. To ensure continual growth as well as reduce and hedge its risk associated with emerging markets, diversification into an established first world brewing company, brand and market seem to be a logical next step. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis het twee doelstellings: • Die samestelling van 'n afgeleide model om die strategiese bestuur van 'n maatskappy te evalueer. • Die toepassing van hierdie model om die strategiese bestuur van die South African Breweries te evalueer. In wese lei die model af dat 'n maatskappy se strategiese sukses uiteindelik weerspieël word op die volgende gebiede: • Die maatskappy se vermoë om sy bepaalde toekomsblik (visie) en doelstellings (missie) te bereik. • Die maatskappy se vermoë om sy aandeelhouers toegevoegde waarde te bied. • Die maatskappy se finansiële prestasie. • Die maatskappy se diversifikasie strategie. • Die maatskappy se aandelehouding. • Die maatskappy se vermoë om buigsaam te wees. • Die maatskappy se sterk punte, swakhede, geleenthede en bedreigings. Teen die agtergrond van die model het die South African Breweries se strategiese prestasie van 1991 tot 2001 die volgende getoon (sien hoofstukke 3 en 4 vir 'n gekwantifiseerde ontleding): • SAB het lank voor sy vasgestelde mikdatum sy voorafgestelde visie en missie bereik. • SAB se strewe om toegevoegde waarde te bied en sy aandeelhouers se vertroue te behou, was relatief suksesvol. • SAB se bedryfsprestasie was redelik suksesvol met 'n baie duidelike strategie van lae koste/winsgrens met hoë volumes. Die benutting van sy bates was egter nie op dieselfde vlak as by die wêreld se grootste brouer, Anheuser Busch, nie. • SAB se doelstelling om deur sy kliënte as 'n verskaffer van die beste waarde beskou te word, was redelik suksevol insoverre dat prysverhogings minder as 85% van die amptelike VPI was. Terselfdertyd is hy internasionaal lof toegeswaai vir die gehalte van sy produkte. • SAB se finansiële prestasie vergelyk gunstig met die van Anheuser Busch, maar hy het klaaglik misluk met skuldinvordering sedert 2000, met 'n hoogtepunt van 101 invorderings dae in 2001. • Sedert Suid-Afrika se terugkeer na die wêreldmark in 1994 is SAB se strategie om te diversifiseer weer gekonsentreer op sy kernbedryf, naamlik die verbruiker-drankmark. • Gerugte dat 'n ander brouer 'n relatiewe groot aandeelhouding in SAB wou bekom met die oog op 'n toekomstige samesmelting is in 1999/2000 deur SAB afgeweer. • Sedert Suid-Afrika se hertoelating tot die wereldmark het SAB homself baie vinnig weer toegespits op sy kernbedryf en ontslae geraak van nie-kern-sake. Terselfdertyd het hy 'n rolspeler op die wereldmark geword. SAB Suid-Afrika het egter nie heeltemal daarin geslaag om te keer dat hy 'n marginale markaandeel afstaan aan alternatiewe produkte nie. SAB se toetrede tot die wereldmark, veral opkomende markte, het nie net geleenthede gebied nie, maar ook verwante bedreigings en risiko's van ontwikkelende ekonomieë meegebring. • SAB se Hoof Uitvoerende Beampte, mnr. G. Mackay, sê dat SAB beleggings in opkomende markte verg optimalisering en groter produktiwiteit om soortgelyke sukses as in die Suid-Afrikaanse biermark te behaal. Opsommend is dit duidelik dat SAB tot in 2001 suksesvol was. Daar lê egter groot uitdagings voor en die bewys van sukses in 'n meerlandige ekonomie moet nog gelewer word. Om aanhoudende groei te verseker sowel as om die risiko's verbonde aan opkomende markte te verminder en daarteen te skerm, lyk aansluiting by of investering in 'n gevestigde brouer in die eerste wereld na 'n logiese volgende stap.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis takes as its subject matter a small field of activity in South African fiction in English, a field which I provisionally title the post-transitional moment. It brings together several works of literature that were published between 2004 and 2011. In so doing, it recognises that there can be no delineation of the field except in the most tenuous of senses: as Michael Chapman asserts, such “phases of chronology are ordering conveniences rather than neatly separable entities” (South African Literature 2). In attempting to take a reading of this field, I draw on discussions of the innumerable post-transitional flows and trajectories of meaning advanced by critical scholars such as Ashraf Jamal, Sarah Nuttall, Louise Bethlehem and others. In this thesis, I trace the “enigmatic and acategorical” (Jamal, “Bullet Through the Church” 11) dimension of this field through several works by South African authors. These works are at once singular and communal in their expression: they are singular in the sense that they are unique literary events1; they are communal because they share a particular force in their writing, a force that resists thematic bestowing. The schism between these conflicting/contiguous poles forms the basis of this thesis. I examine the works of a diverse selection of South African authors, finding in them a common, if discontinuous, seam in their treatment of excess, by which I mean the irreducible surplus that always demarcates the limits of representation. I find that these works each engage a movement towards the aporetic moment opened up by their characters’ experience of the traumatic. To be sure, these particular works of literature are notable for their exploration of ideas of alterity, loss and the capacity for survival in the routines of ‘South African’ lives. I use literature as the primary site of navigation for this enquiry because, as the scholars cited above have observed, literature is often a generator of meanings and a space where complex ideas about identity are explored and played out through the medium of the everyday. I recognise here that in the post-transitional moment, literature’s affective capacity in the world of action is limited – in Simon Critchley’s terms, it is ‘almost nothing.’ My thesis seizes this almost as the site of exploration. Taking as its starting point the existential question ‘have we learnt to imagine ourselves in other ways?’ I propose a number of positions from which these post-transitional works of literature might be read. The first chapter attempts to give account of the theoretical problem that attends to the reading of that which exceeds language’s capacity to invest with meaning. I use works by Diane Awerbuck, Annelie Botes, Shaun Johnson and Kgebetli Moele to inform my argument. In the next chapter, I explicate the problem of excess via a reading of Mark Behr’s Kings of the Water (2009). I then trace the aporetic nature of Otherness as it occurs in J.M. Coetzee’s Summertime (2009), paying particular attention to the ways in which that novel performs a refusal of meaning. Finally, I read Ishtiyaq Shukri’s The Silent Minaret (2005) as a work that posits the failure of alterity as a launching point for future ethical action. The burden of this thesis, as I see it, lies in the apophastic nature of its subject matter. In embarking upon an exploration of the incommensurable, my argument is for an ethics of reading that seeks to explicate the ways in which literature works by thinking through its affective capacity the better to affirm its performative dimensions. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die onderwerp van hierdie proefskrif behels ‘n klein veld in Engelse Suid-Afrikaanse fiksie wat ek voorlopig met die term “post-oorgangsmoment” sal aandui. Dit bring verskeie letterkundige werke byeen wat tussen 2004 en 2011 gepubliseer is. Hierdie kunsmatige afbakening hou rekening met Michael Chapman se stelling dat “phrases of chronology are ordering conveniences rather than neatly separable entities” (South African Writing 2). In ‘n poging om hierdie aangeduide veld te lees, put ek heelwat uit besprekings wat tans gevoer word oor die ontelbare betekenistrajekte van die post-oorgangsmoment deur kritici soos Meg Samuelson, Leon de Kock, Ashraf Jamal, Sarah Nuttall, Louise Bethlehem en andere. In hierdie proefskrif skets ek die “enigmatic and acategorical” (Jamall, “Bullet” 11) aspekte van die aangeduide veld soos dit uiting vind in verskeie werke van Suid-Afrkaanse outeurs. Hierdie werke is terselfdertyd alleenstaande en gemeenskaplik in hul uitdrukking: hulle is alleenstaande omdat hulle unieke literêre gebeurtenisse verteenwoordig en gemeenskaplik omdat hulle ‘n spesifieke impuls deel, ‘n impuls wat tematiese kategorisering teenstaan. Die kloof tussen hierdie opponderende/naburige pole vorm die grondslag van hierdie proefskrif. Ek ondersoek die werk van ‘n diverse seleksie Suid-Afrikaanse outeurs en vind ‘n gemene, dog diskontinue, soom in die manier waarop hulle oorskot hanteer, dit wil sê, die onreduseerbare surplus wat alle representasie begrens. Ek vind dat hierdie werke elkeen ‘n weg na die aporetiese moment oopskryf deur die karakters se ervarings van trauma. Hierdie letterkundige werke word ook gekenmerk deur hulle verkenning van idees soos alteriteit, verlies en die oorlewingskapasiteit in die roetines van ‘Suid-Afrikaanse’ lewens. Ek gebruik literêre werke as die primêre navorsingsveld vir hierdie ondersoek aangesien die letterkunde dikwels as ‘n genereerder van betekenis dien en as ‘n ruimte funksioneer waar komplekse idees rondom identiteit deur die medium van die alledaagse verken kan word. Ek is bewus dat die letterkunde ‘n beperkte affektiewe kapasiteit in die wêreld van handeling in die post-oorgangsmoment besit – dit is bykans niks, soos Simon Critchley dit stel. My proefskrif betrek hierdie bykans as brandpunt vir die ondersoek. Ek stel verskeie posisies voor vanwaar hierdie post-oorgang literêre werke gelees kan word deur die beantwoording van die eksistensiële vraag of ons geleer het om onsself op ander maniere te verbeel as uitgangspunt te gebruik. Die eerste hoofstuk poog om die teoretiese probleem te omskryf wat ontstaan as ‘n mens probeer om die oorskot van taal se betekenisgewende vermoë te lees. In die daaropvolgende hoofstuk belig ek die probleem van oorskot deur Mark Behr se Kings of the Water (2009) te lees. Daarna skets ek die aporetiese aard van Andersheid soos dit in JM Coetzee se Summertime (2009) voorkom, deur spesifiek ook aandag te skenk aan die maniere waarop die roman ‘n weiering van betekenis aanbied. Laastens lees ek Ishtiyaq Shukri se The Silent Minaret (2005) as ‘n werk wat die mislukking van alteriteit as ‘n beginpunt gebruik om toekomstige etiese handelings te rig. Die hooftema van hierdie proefskrif lê myns insiens in die apofastiese aard van die onderwerpsmateriaal. Deur ‘n ondersoek na die onmeetbare te onderneem, staan ek ook ‘n bevrydings-etiek van lees voor wat poog om die manier waarop literêre tekste werk te verhelder deur die affektiewe vermoë van literêre tekste te bedink.

Thesis (MDram)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores the representation of the white male character in various South African plays from the period 1980–2000, a time when South Africa was experiencing severe changes and upheavals as a result of the crumbling of the apartheid state and the dawning of a new, democratic and „free‟ South Africa. Taking into account a number of appropriate philosophical and sociological theories (for example 20th century western concepts of whiteness and masculinity), the thesis looks at the way in which such an enormous social and political transformation was able to influence the life and reality of the individual white man and his reactions to it. By considering the interaction of collective and personal identity within the framework of a changing South Africa, the study explores some of the ways in which such interactions may create insecurity and threaten the foundations of a particular cultural or ethnic group. . The focus of the study is an analysis of selected works by playwrights Paul Slabolepszy, Greig Coetzee, André P. Brink and Deon Opperman, and focusses specifically on three predominant themes identified in the plays, namely: recognition, dangerous insecurity (ressentiment) and the ever-present past. These themes are used to explore and illustrate a particular cultural group‟s psyche (as well that of its individuals members) during a specific period in South African history and, to a certain extent, their attempts to redefine their identities. These are characters (and thus, one may infer, playwrights) who were all trying to make sense of a tumultuous past, an insecure present and an uncertain future, and trying to understand their own contribution to and place in it. The final conclusion is that the South African white male was going (is going?) through a form of collective, existential, “mid-life crisis”, one in which they needed to accept that they had become outnumbered and were in a sense alone in their crisis. They were forced to compromise their collective identity in this new reality, a situation epitomised by the way they seek to construct (new) personal identities in order to adapt. A final conclusion is that this is an ongoing process clearly displayed by the new work on offer at contemporary arts festivals. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie bekyk die uitbeelding van die wit man as 'n karakter in verskeie Suid-Afrikaanse toneelstukke gedurende die jare 1980 tot 2000. In hierdie tyd het Suid-Afrika drastiese veranderings ondergaan as gevolg van die val van die apartheid staat en die onstaan van 'n demokratiese, "vrye" land. In die studie word dan, in die lig van toepaslike filosofiese en sosiologiese teorieë (soos bv 20ste eeuse westerse konsepte van manlikheid en witheid) meer spesifiek ondersoek ingestel na die impak van sodanige ekstreme politieke en sosiale omwentelings in 'n land op die lewe en realiteit van die individuele wit man, en sy respons daarop. In die proses word daar verder ook gefokus op die wisselwerking tussen kollektiewe en persoonlike identiteite in die raamwerk van 'n veranderende Suid-Afrika en hoe hierdie wisselwerking selfs 'n sekere kulturele of etniese groepering se fondamente kan laat wankel. Die ondersoek word onderneem aan die hand van ontledings van enkele toepaslike toneelstukke van Paul Slabolepszy, Greig Coetzee, André P. Brink en Deon Opperman, en daar word spesifiek gekyk na drie oorheersende temas wat in die stukke geïdentifiseer is: herkenning (“recognition”), gevaarlike onsekerheid (“dangerous insecurity” of “ressentiment”) en die altyd teenwoordige verlede (“ever-present past”). Hierdie temas word gebruik om die psige van 'n spesifieke kulturele groep (asook sy indivdue) te illustreer gedurende 'n spesifieke tydperk in die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis en om tot 'n sekere mate sy identiteit te help her-definieer. Hierdie karakters (en selfs dramaturge) probeer sin maak uit hul onstuimige verlede, komplekse hede en onseker toekoms en hul eie bydrae tot en plek daarin. Die gevolgtrekking word bereik dat die Suid-Afrikaanse wit man wat hier uitgebeeld word 'n tipe kollektiewe eksistensiële krisis ervaar het (of steeds ervaar?) waarin hulle moes aanvaar dat hulle die minderheid was en ook op hierdie manier alleen is in hulle krisis. Hulle word geforseer om hul kollektiewe wese (=identiteit) te probeer wysig om in te pas by die nuwe realiteit waarin hulle hulself bevind. Dit word geïllustreeer deur hul soeke na (nuwe) persoonlike identiteite. 'n Finale gevolgtrekking is dat hierdie proses 'n aanhoudende een is, soos gedemonstreer deur heelwat nuwe werke wat te sien is op hedendaagse kunste feeste.

The study explains the regional roles of Egypt and South Africa in the last two decades by reference to the state’s relationship with society, a variable that has long been underplayed in international relations and foreign policy literature. It suggests that the different character of this relationship in each country has shaped the opportunities and constraints affecting the foreign policy choices of both the state and societal institutions in the two countries. The study adopts a cross-disciplinary approach using debates on state capacity and its relationship with regime type in comparative politics and political economy to understand and evaluate the two countries' foreign policies in their respective regions. After analysing the impact of state-society relationships on the regional role conceptions of the state and societal actors, the study compares the performance of these actors in two case studies; the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the case of Egypt and the Zimbabwean crisis in the case of South Africa. It concludes that although the role of each state in resolving its respective regional conflict has been less than effective, the post-apartheid democratic dispensation has provided opportunities for South African social forces to play roles that complemented, checked and balanced the role of the state, compared to their Egyptian counterparts. On the other hand, the soft authoritarian Egyptian state used its role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to maintain the international alliances that helped to sustain its domestic control. This constrained the state's foreign policy options. It made marketing peace as 'a strategic choice' and containing resistance movements the priorities of Egypt's intervention in the Palestinian issue. The co-optation of the Egyptian business community and the exclusion of Islamist forces by the state weakened their roles in conflict resolution, depriving the state of tools of effectiveness. In the case of South Africa, racial politics, the ANC's liberation movement psyche, and the domination of the presidency over foreign policy making have hindered the promotion of NEPAD's principles of democracy and respect for human rights in the case of Zimbabwe. However, South African civil society played a crucial role in supporting its Zimbabwean counterpart, holding the South African state accountable to its foreign policy principles and its democratic institutions, and intervening where the state's role was missing or insufficient.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the criteria for the c[egree of Master of Arts / The literature produced by writers who align themselves with national liberation and resistance movements presents a serious challenge to dominant standards of literary . aesthetics. Resistance writing aims to break down the assumed division between art and politics. and in this view literature becomes an arena of conflict and struggle. This dissertation examines certain aspects of the poetry of Mongane Wally Serote in order to explore the relationship between aesthetics and resistance in his writing. Over the last two decades, Serote has made a significant contribution to the development of South African literature, and his work has important implications for literary criticism in South Africa. Chapter 1 looks at some of these implications by discussing the concept of resistance literature and the main issues arising from the debates and polemics surrounding the work of Serote and other black political writers. Perhaps the most important here is the need to construct a critical approach to South African resistance literature that can come to terms with both its aesthetic qualities and political effects. This kind of approach would in some way attempt to integrate the seemingly incompatible critical practices of idealism and materialism. Accordingly, Chapter 2 is a materialist approach to aspects of Serote's early poetry. The critical model used is a simplified version of the interpretive schema set out by Fredric Jameson in The Political Unconscious. This model enables a discussion of the poetry in relation to ideology, and also suggests ways of examining the discursive strategies and symbolic processes in this particular phase of Serote's development. Serote's later work is 'characterised by the attempt to create a unifying mythology of resistance. Chapter 3 thus looks at Serote's long poems from an idealist perspective that is based on the principles of myth-criticism, As this is a complex area, this chapter merely sketches the main features of Serote' s use of myth as a form of resistance, and then suggests further avenues of exploration along these lines. The dissertation concludes by pointing towards some of the implications of recent political developments in South Africa for Serote and other resistance writers. / Andrew Chakane 2018

Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, History of Arts, 2013 / This report examines the collecting practices of the private collector of South African art, situated in South Africa, and considers the way in which the act of collecting influences both the contemporary market and the construction of the art historical canon. The report questions the contribution made to the South African art world by collecting practices and considers what is involved in the collecting of fine art. I discuss the collector in relation to Sylvester Ogbechie’s (2010) notion of cultural brokerage; I examine notions of both public and private through the writings of Michael Warner (2002); and I consider what makes into one a collector, with reference to Thomas G. Tanselle’s (1998) text A Rationale of Collecting, while engaging several other sources. The report continues with a comparison between international collectors, with a focus on the ways in which they contribute to what becomes and remains relevant, as well as discussing some local collectors. I conclude with an examination of the way in which auction houses have played a seminal role in the establishment of the canon in South Africa, and the role of the collector in relation to this system. In summary, this paper examines the ways in which the private collector of South African art has a great influence on what is perceived as relevant to the canon, to culture and to art history.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Arts, 1988.

This dissertation analyzes the South African musical, King Kong, and its resounding impact on South African society throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. A “jazz opera” based on the life of a local African boxer (and not the overgrown gorilla from American cinema), King Kong featured an African composer and all-black cast, including many of the most prominent local musicians and singers of the era. The rest of the play’s management, including director, music director, lyricist, writer and choreographer, were overwhelmingly white South Africans. This inter-racial collaboration was truly groundbreaking in a nation where apartheid was officially enacted a little over a decade prior to King Kong’s 1959 debut. Relatively apolitical in its message, King Kong proved accessible to South African audiences regardless of race or background, and became overwhelmingly lauded as an endeavor that all of the country could enjoy and cherish. The musical successfully toured South Africa’s major metropolises, often to sold-out crowds. Its domestic success later spurred a tour of Britain in 1961, making it the first major South African theatrical production to be staged abroad. Due to the multi-racial efforts behind King Kong, its success and the high quality of its performers, the musical initiated a new era in South African music and theatre for decades to come. Despite being based around King Kong, this dissertation contextualizes the production, as it uses King Kong’s creation, development and legacies to further analyze larger themes within South African and global histories. Each chapter, as a result, examines the evolution of the musical from the life story of the boxer from which the play is based, the musical’s making and tour of South Africa, the play’s 1961 tour of the United Kingdom, the experiences of the black casts in exile, and the failure of the play’s 1979 remake. By examining the play, its cast, and their collective legacies both in South Africa and further afield, this project complicates our understanding of the Black Atlantic framework by infusing Africans as active participants in these transnational discussions. / text

This thesis represents the first extended study of South African poetry in English from a gender perspective. It is conceived in two parts: firstly, a deconstructive analysis of the dominant tradition of South African English poetry in order to reveal its masculine or androcentric base; and secondly, the reconstruction of an alternative gynocentric tradition that gives primacy to women and the feminine in poetry. The first section consists of an examination of the ways in which the feminine has been. excluded from the poetic tradition in historical terms by means of social and economic constraints on women. The study begins with a brief reference to the beginnings of cultural gender discrimination in British poetry, from which South African English poetry derives, and then moves to a more extended consideration of the ways in which this discrimination has manifested itself in the South African context in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This is followed by an analysis of the "poetics of exclusion", the ways in which the tradition genders itself as masculine by defining its central speaking position or subjectivity as male and masculine, and so excludes women and the feminine. The second section commences with the reconstruction or recovery of a gynocentric tradition of women's poetry in English in South Africa by means of a gynocritical "map" or survey, followed by a discussion of the nature of the feminine discourse or "poetics" required to provide the critical context for this poetry. The preliminary "map" is given greater detail by in-depth discussion of the women poets considered to be major contributors to the gynocentric tradition: Mary Morison Webster, Elisabeth Eybers, Tania van Zyl, Adele Naude, Ruth Miller, Ingrid Jonker and Eva Bezwoda. The study ends with an examination of the work of contemporary women poets in South Africa, especially the black women poets of the 1970s and '80s, and the poets - both black women and white women - who wrote from exile in the 1980s. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.