Este trabalho é dedicado à análise de duas obras ficcionais, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, de Zora Neale Hurston, e “Light in August”, de William Faulkner. O ponto de partida da análise é a ideia que identidades são construídas de acordo com injunções discursivas específicas, que variam de contexto para contexto. Para tanto, foram analisados os dois personagens principais dos textos, Janie Crawford, uma mulher negra, e Joe Christmas, um homem cuja identidade racial é desconhecida. A comparação entre os dois se baseou na forma como ambas as identidades são construídas nos romances, em relação ao seu acesso à língua e a possibilidade de articulação dentro dela, e ao contexto no qual estão inseridos. / This research is dedicated to the analysis of two fictional works, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) by Zora Neale Hurston and Light in August (1932) by William Faulkner. The starting point of the analysis is the idea that identities are constructed according to specific discursive injunctions, which vary from context to context. The study is focused on the main characters of both novels, Janie Crawford, a black woman, and Joe Christmas, a man whose racial identity is unknown. The comparison between the two characters is based on how their identities are constructed in the novels in relation to their access to language and their possibility of articulating within it, and the context in which they are inserted.

Disability and animality have frequently been conjoined in American literature as the limit cases of cognition, language, and narrative. In modern and contemporary fiction, this intersection is not just thematic, but also an opportunity for formal experimentation. My dissertation considers a century-spanning group of authors that includes William Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, and contemporary disabled writers and artists such as Jillian Weise, Kathy High, and Sharona Franklin. It uses a combination of close reading, historical research, and theoretical analysis to argue that some of the last century’s most influential literary experiments have built upon aesthetic modes associated with both disability and animality. For instance, in The Sound and the Fury, Benjy Compson’s famously associative narration is driven as much by canine-identified sensory tendencies of smell and touch as it is by human cognitive difference, and the folkloric interludes central to Their Eyes Were Watching God are catalyzed by the work-debilitated body of a mule. Few scholars have recognized the extent to which disability and animality are entangled as aesthetic categories, because each field has typically disavowed the other: disability studies makes “full humanity” a goal while assuming the inferiority of nonhumans, and animal studies often elevates nonhuman species by emphasizing their intelligence and physical abilities. My project bridges this impasse by showing how disability and animality come together to push language and literature in new directions, revealing an unrecognized literary tradition in which narratorial capacity, ethical consideration, and even access to the text do not depend on supposedly human-defining abilities like spoken language and written literacy.

Despite contemporary movements towards tolerance and appreciation of differing cultural entities within the United States, the normative standard of beauty serves as a pinnacle of division amongst women. The normative standard of beauty—implemented by the dominant race within the States—encourages discrimination in regards to the perception of African American female beauty. Although information exists identifying the original influence pertaining to the negative perception of African American female beauty, the reason for its continued perpetuation within the African American community remains ill defined. Effects of this standard amongst African Americans are psychological and physiological. The destruction of self-image and appreciation for natural features by African American Women occur as a result. The influence of this standard extends to individuals outside of the African American community also and in turn impact their perception of African American aesthetics. Scholarly and Literary writers have chosen to comment on this topic. Some dissect the features that constitute to the considered level of attractiveness attributed of African American women. As these writers explore the realm aesthetic perception, discriminatory tendencies amongst those from the dominant race as well as the marginalized group—in this case African Americans—are revealed. Theories offering explanations in regards to the perpetuation of negative perceptions of African American female beauty arise.

Summary in English / Text in Afrikaans / Awareness of and interest in the incidence of sexual child abuse has been increasing. The current prominence of this phenomenon in south Africa, . is evidenced by reports in the printed and electronic media. A study of the prehistoric era, ancient civilizations, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and later shows that children have been sexua·lly abused throughout all ages. Yet, the sexual abuse of children is incompatible with the values and goals of authentic nurturing. i • Child sexuality can never ~e equated w1.th adult I sexuality. The child lacks the emotional~ mental, intellectual and physical capabilities to manage sexual contact with an adult person. He/ she is therefore not in a position to agree to intimate intercourse. This research project mainly focused on the relationship between the identification of and aid to the sexually abused child, and the personality functioning of adults who were sexually abused as children. An ontological-antropological approach to childhood has shown that the sexually abused child has the right to the school guidance teacher's respect for his dignity as child and a need for a response to his pain and yearning. The sexually abused child is situated in a distinctive lifeworld and sexual abuse has affective, social and physical consequences. Social relations are negatively affected and some children show self-destructive behavior. The establishment of an authentic and stable sexual identity is especially threatened. Children should be educated to resist the sexual advances of adults, while sexually abused children should be provided with adequate aid. Educators (guidance teachers) should therefore have the necessary guidelines at their disposal for the prevention and treatment of sexual child abuse. / Psychology of Education / D.Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Understanding of the fate of oil in the environment is of utmost importance; however, accurate, predictive models are still in very early stages. To aid in the development of these models, photodegradation of selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in an n-alkane hydrocarbon matrix was followed for individual PAHs and mixtures of PAHs similar to that found in the Deepwater Horizon spill. Tetracene in tetradecane photodegraded quickest of all observed PAHs, with a loss of 99% after only one hour of irradiation. Binary mixtures of PAHs showed different degradation amounts, including changes in PAH kinetics. These results suggest that the formation of dimers or aggregates as well as photosensitization reaction is important in the degradation of PAHs in oil. Kinetics of PAH photodegradation and PAH sensitized photodegradation will be presented. This information will provide a better understanding of the fate of oil in environmental systems.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in African Languages. Wits University, Johannesburg, 2015 / This report interrogates the representation of blackness in post-1994 black-centred films in South Africa. With a particular focus on Khalo Matabane’s films, I analyse Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon (2005), When We Were Black (2007) and State of Violence (2011) across a spectrum of themes. I also interrogate and introduce several critical concepts such as ‘blackness’, ‘the image of blackness’, ‘black identity’, ‘masculinity’, ‘femininity’, ‘the Gaze’ and ‘Otherness’. These concepts are interlinked in ways that bring about an understanding of the concept of black-centred films, which is central to the research report. Amidst the different interpretations of black-centred films, the vantage point from which the concept is used is interested in black-centred films as films that are made by a black filmmaker, whose content addresses issues of blackness and is targeted at a black audience. However, these three factors need not always resonate in a single film in order for it to be considered and analysed as a black-centred film. The lens through which Matabane holds the camera questions his representation of the black image and whether it is from an insider or outsider’s perspective. The view from which Matabane holds the camera is important in establishing whether he has purported to represent historically stereotypical images of blackness, or whether his endeavours in filmmaking are occupied by the relentless pursuit to present new images of blackness.

This thesis investigates how Victor Turner’s concept of ‘cultural performance’ can be used to explore and analyse the experience of film. Drawing on performance theory, hermeneutics, phenomenology and Bakhtin’s dialogism, Sections One and Two develop this investigation through a theoretic discussion which relates and yet distinguishes between three levels of ‘performance’ in film: filmmaking performance, performances as text and cultural performances. The theory is grounded within four films which were researched for this thesis: Once Were Warriors (Lee Tamahori, 1994), Rats in the Ranks (Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson,1996), beDevil (Tracey Moffatt, 1993) and Link-Up Diary (David MacDougall, 1987). Section Three undertakes the close analyses of the latter two films. These analyses address specific cultural performances that are performed ‘across’ cultures and which are concerned particularly with Australian society’s relationship with indigenous Australians. ¶ Section One locates Turner’s concept of ‘cultural performance’ within his wider theory of ‘social drama’ and introduces the three-tiered mode of analysis which is developed throughout this thesis. His concept of ‘liminality’ is also investigated in order to consider specific relationships between performances which take place in film and theatre. Performances which take place in film are located in this Section within the theatrical understanding of performance as ‘for an audience’. I describe this relationship between performances in film and theatre through Kristeva’s interpretation of Bakhtin’s concept of heteroglossia as intertextuality, especially through her distinction of a ‘transformative’ intertextuality. Three specific concepts from theatre and performance theory are interrogated for their relevance to film theory: 1. Brecht’s theory of ‘gest’, 2. ‘direct address to the audience’ in relation to the ‘gaze’ in film and 3. Rebecca Schneider’s conceptualisation of ‘the performance artist’. ¶ Using these three tropes of performance, Section Two develops a theory of performance in film. Besides Turner’s concept of ‘cultural performance’, this theory draws on aspects of several other substantial bodies of work. These works include Richard Schechner’s performance theory, Michael Taussig’s understanding of ‘mimesis’, Vivian Sobchack’s phenomenology of film, Paul Ricoeur’s theory of text ‘as meaningful action’, Gadamer’s concept of ‘meaningful play’, Bakhtin’s conceptualisation of a ‘dialogic’ text and Catherine Bell’s theory of ‘ritualised behaviour’. The two analyses in Section Three do not rigidly follow the three-tiered process of analysis which is developed in the previous two Sections. They rather focus on the films as sites for particular cultural performances which are specific for each film and which need for their description, different aspects of the theory that is offered through this thesis. These analyses especially draw on my interpretation of David MacDougall’s ‘transcultural cinema’ and Jodi Brook’s conceptualisation of a ‘gestural practice’ in film, which she positions both in terms of Brecht’s theatrical concept of ‘gest’ and Walter Benjamin’s concept of the ‘shock’ of modernity. ¶ The film analyses are of one fiction film, beDevil, and one non-fiction film, Link-Up Diary. Both films use audiovisual images of Aboriginal Australians as content. According the terms of this thesis, these people must also be considered as filmmakers. Although this role may constitute varying degrees of authority and power, a film analysis which considers the filmmaking roles of people whose images are present in the filmic text also allows a particular consideration of the social relationships which exist between people who ‘film’ and people who ‘are filmed’. My focus on the cultural performances of these two films allowed an even closer description of this relationship for two reasons. Firstly, both Moffatt and MacDougall respectively present their own images in the films. Secondly, my analyses of these films as cultural performance draw out and describe the different ways in which the two films address the same ‘social drama’: the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. My analyses expose how a description of these differences in address can extend beyond the distinction between one film as ‘fiction’ and the other as ‘non-fiction’ towards a description of the different ways in which people relate to each other, at both the individual level and at the level of society, through the production and reception of a particular film. While locating these films as cultural performances within in particular sets of social relationships, my consideration of film in this thesis in terms of theatrical performance also enables a description of the experience of film which draws on the social experience of live theatre. The theory developed in this thesis and its application in the analyses of these two films suggest further areas of research which might look more closely at whether or not, or how much people draw from the social practices of live theatre as they live their lives with film – a signifying practice which has existed just over one hundred years.

This thesis investigates the way "healing" may be seen to be represented and enacted by three recent New Zealand music theatre productions: Once Were Warriors, the Musical-Drama; The Whale Rider, On Stage; and Footprints/Tapuwae, a bicultural opera. This thesis addresses the ways each of these music theatre productions can be seen to dramatise ideologically informed notions of Maori cultural health through the encounter of Maori performance practices with American and European music theatre forms. Because the original colonial encounter between Maori and Pakeha was a wounding process, it may be possible that in order to construct a theatrical meeting between the "colonised" Maori and the "colonial" non-Maori, "healing" is an essential element by which to foster an idea of the post-colonial, bicultural togetherness of the nation. In all three productions, Maori song and dance forms are incorporated into a distinctive form of western music theatre: the American musical; the international spectacle; Wagnerian opera. Wagner's attempts to regenerate German culture through his music dramas can be compared to Maori renaissance idea(l)s of cultural "healing" through a "return" to Maori myths, traditions and song and dance.

The purpose of this study was to investigate educator perceptions of the implementation of Integrated Quality Management Systems (IQMS) in Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges in South Africa. Quality in education is presently put more firmly on the agenda not withstanding the fact that a vast range of literature is available to support the process of improving the quality in education. The department of education has made many attempts to introduce an effective appraisal system in support of quality education only to find that the previous appraisal systems were rejected by the educator force for the mere fact that it was perceived as a form of inspection and supervision rather than for development purposes. This study also focuses on a review of the integrated quality management system (IQMS), of its purpose, guidelines and its subsequent implementation in FET colleges in South Africa in 2004. The primary focus of the discussion is on the processes, the methods, the guiding principles and the pitfalls of the implementation of quality management systems in educational organizations To guide this discussion literature reviews on quality, quality education, quality management and quality management systems were undertaken. The empirical study entailed gleaning information from a structured questionnaire which was distributed to a sample group of lecturers at Sedibeng College for FET in the Gauteng Province. The questions were structured in a manner to gain information about the understanding of the operational principles of quality management, the aims and guiding principles of IQMS, the importance of quality control and the external relationships of the college. The major finding emanating from this study was that there was a need for intensive training in IQMS, thus a management's strategy for ensuring that IQMS is effectively implemented was proposed. The overall recommendation arising from this study includes ensuring that management designs a quality manual to guide the process of quality assurance. / Thesis (M.Ed. (Education Management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The purpose of this study was to investigate educator perceptions of the implementation of Integrated Quality Management Systems (IQMS) in Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges in South Africa. Quality in education is presently put more firmly on the agenda not withstanding the fact that a vast range of literature is available to support the process of improving the quality in education. The department of education has made many attempts to introduce an effective appraisal system in support of quality education only to find that the previous appraisal systems were rejected by the educator force for the mere fact that it was perceived as a form of inspection and supervision rather than for development purposes. This study also focuses on a review of the integrated quality management system (IQMS), of its purpose, guidelines and its subsequent implementation in FET colleges in South Africa in 2004. The primary focus of the discussion is on the processes, the methods, the guiding principles and the pitfalls of the implementation of quality management systems in educational organizations To guide this discussion literature reviews on quality, quality education, quality management and quality management systems were undertaken. The empirical study entailed gleaning information from a structured questionnaire which was distributed to a sample group of lecturers at Sedibeng College for FET in the Gauteng Province. The questions were structured in a manner to gain information about the understanding of the operational principles of quality management, the aims and guiding principles of IQMS, the importance of quality control and the external relationships of the college. The major finding emanating from this study was that there was a need for intensive training in IQMS, thus a management's strategy for ensuring that IQMS is effectively implemented was proposed. The overall recommendation arising from this study includes ensuring that management designs a quality manual to guide the process of quality assurance. / Thesis (M.Ed. (Education Management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.