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1
Mazimhaka, Jolly Rwanyonga. "The discourse of difference, the representation of black African characters in english Renaissance drama." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp05/nq23965.pdf.
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Krueger, Anton. "Experiments in freedom : representations of identity in new South African drama ; an investigation into identity formations in some post-apartheid play-texts published in English by South African writers, from 1994-2007." Pretoria : [s.n.], 2008. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-10282008-141823.
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Hjul, Lauren Martha. "The family in Shakespeare's plays: a study of South African revisions." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001832.
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This thesis provides a detailed consideration of the family in Shakespeare’s canon and the engagement therewith in three South African novels: Hill of Fools (1976) by R. L. Peteni, My Son’s Story (1990) by Nadine Gordimer, and Disgrace (1999) by J. M. Coetzee. The study is divided into an introduction, three chapters each addressing one of the South African novels and its relationship with a Shakespeare text or texts, and a conclusion. The introductory chapter provides an analysis of the two strands of criticism in which the thesis is situated – studies of the family in Shakespeare and studies of appropriations of Shakespeare – and discusses the ways in which these two strands may be combined through a detailed discussion of the presence of power dynamics in the relationship between parent and child in all of the texts considered. The three chapters each contextualise the South African text and provide detailed discussions of the family dynamics within the relevant texts, with particular reference to questions of authority and autonomy. The focus in each chapter is determined by the nature of the intertextual relationship between the South African novel and the Shakespearean text being discussed. Thus, the first chapter, “The Dissolution of Familial Structures in Hill of Fools” considers power dynamics in the family as an inherent part of the Romeo and Juliet genre, of which William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is but a part. Similarly, the impact of a socio-political identity, and the secrecy it necessitates, is the focus of the second chapter, “Fathers, Sons and Legacy in My Son’s Story” as is the role of Shakespeare and literature within South Africa. These concerns are connected to the novel’s use of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, King Lear, and Hamlet. In the third chapter, “Reclaiming Agency through the Daughter in Disgrace and The Tempest”, I expand on Laurence Wright’s argument that Disgrace is an engagement with The Tempest and consider ways in which the altered power dynamic between father and daughter results in the reconciliation of the father figure with society. The thesis thus addresses the tension between parental bonds and parental bondage
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Gibbs, Jenna Marie. "Performing the temple of liberty slavery, rights, and revolution in transatlantic theatricality (1760s-1830s) /." Diss., Restricted to subscribing institutions, 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1554940031&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=1564&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Haxton, Robert Peter. "Refusal and rupture as a postdramatic revolt : an analysis of selected South African contemporary devised performances with particular focus on works by First Physical Theatre Company and the Rhodes University Drama Department." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015671.
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This mini-thesis investigates the concepts of refusal and rupture as a postdramatic revolt and how these terms can be applied and read within the context of analysing contemporary devised performance in South Africa. The argument focuses on the efficacy of Hans-Thies Lehmann’s postdramatic terminology and the potential of its use in an appreciation of contemporary performance analysis. I investigate the potential in South African contemporary devised performance practice to challenge prevailing modes of traditional dramatic expectation in order to restore the experience of discovery and questioning in the spectator. This research is approached through a qualitative process which entails a reading and application of selected critical texts to the analysis with an application of Lehmann’s terminology. This reading/application is engaged in a dialogue with the interpretative and experiential aspects of selected South African devised performances with particular focus on four cross-disciplinary works selected for analysis. Chapter One functions as an introduction to the concept of postdramatic theatre and the application of the terms refusal and rupture as deconstructive keywords in the process of a devised performance. Chapter Two is an analysis of several South African contemporary performances with particular focus on Body of Evidence (2009) by Siwela Sonke Dance Company, Wreckage (2011) a collaboration by Ubom! Eastern Cape Drama Company and First Physical Theatre Company, Discharge (2012) by First Physical Theatre Company, and Drifting (2013) by The Rhodes University Drama Department. This mini-thesis concludes with the idea that with an understanding of refusal and rupture in a postdramatic revolt, contemporary devised performance achieves an awakening in its spectators by deconstructing the expectation of understanding and the need for resolve; the assumption and need for traditional dramatic structures and rules are challenged. Instead, it awakes an experience of discovery and questioning.
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Powell, Catherine. "Meditations on culture, land, and memory in the drama of the new South Africa." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10593.
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Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-107).This work deals with the current state of the South African theatre; it focuses primarily on 'white' theatre: scripted plays with a single author produced for mainstream South African and international theatres. This study examines the historical, political, and social forces that have brought about a period of pronounced turmoil in the post-apartheid South African theatre; it then explores how particular playwrights have engaged with key crisis points in their society. This dissertation focuses on four plays, one from the late 1980s - Pieter-Dirk Uys' Just Like Home' and three from the first decade of the 21st century: Lara Foot's Reach, Craig Higginson's Dream of the Dog, and John Kani's Nothing But the Truth. Other plays are drawn on briefly for comparison. The theme of the study is 'places' of whiteness, as it explores how, in the new South Africa, identities are shaped by different ideas of place: temporal, cultural, and physical. Key questions arise from each of these places. Debates about land, public versus private identities, the right to belong, guilt and forgiveness, and reconciliation across cultural boundaries are addressed, if not fully resolved, in all of the plays under discussion. The study is divided into four chapters. The first chapter provides historical background for the works under discussion, highlighting the debates currently taking place about the state of South African arts and culture. It then lays out theoretical frameworks that will be useful for analyzing these plays, in particular Peter Brook's discussion of the deadly theatre, Bertolt Brecht's aesthetic models, and Raymond Williams' analysis of subjunctive dramaturgy. The second chapter compares Uys' play, which displays the exhaustion of struggle theatre aesthetics, with Foot's work, which seeks to find a new, post-apartheid 'aesthetic of the ordinary.' By doing so, Foot's work posits a model of reconciliation through care that, although flawed, is nonetheless worthy of analysis. The third chapter turns to Higginson's and Kani's plays. Drawing parallels with the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, this chapter explores questions of guilt, memory, and forgiveness; this provides a foundation for a further exploration of the redefining of identities in the new South Africa. The final chapter highlights the strengths and weaknesses of all four plays, each of which is only partially successful as a dramatic work. While emphasizing the contributions of all four plays to the task of building the new South Africa, this chapter also outlines the work that remains to be done in the South African theatre and suggests possible ways forward for later generations of theatre artists.
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Cornell, Carohn. "Script-writing for English second language classes in Cape Town : a contribution to liberatory education." Thesis, University of Cape Town, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23676.
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Panday, Sunitha. "Singing for the fatherland : four South African protest plays." Thesis, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/8988.
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Thela, Bongani Clearance. "Examining morality and corruption in South African post apartheid contemporary drama : a case of three dramas." Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10386/2408.
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Thesis (M.A. (English Studies)) --University of Limpopo, 2018The purpose of this study was to examine South Africa’s Post-Apartheid contemporary drama. Three dramas were used in order to examine three primary themes namely morality, corruption and class - the selected plays were John Kani’s Nothing but the Truth, Zakes Mda’s Our Lady of Benoni and Mike van Graan’s Some Mother’s Sons. The ideology carried out in this study was that there is a possible reinvention of Apartheid issues in Post-Apartheid South African drama, exchanging themes of protest and race for morality and corruption, while reflecting real events in the works of playwrights. Also, the study aimed at finding out whether there are connections between class issues and morality as presented in the selected plays. The study found that there is indeed a reinvention of Apartheid issues in Post-Apartheid South Africa, and that there are connections between class issues and morality, including corruption. Lastly, the study concluded that the current South Africa requires a serious intervention regarding moral regeneration as reflected in the selected plays.
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Shapiro, Lauren. "This night is different : a drama in two acts with a self-reflective essay." Thesis, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/1638.
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Mtheku, Raphael Vikinduku. "The examination of Zakes Mda's The Heart of Redness (2000) within a historical context." Thesis, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/10405.
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Thomas, Dorell Oneil. "Beyond Disciplinary Drama: Federal Dollars and ESL Instruction for African Americans." Thesis, 2019. https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-4abv-2141.
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This dissertation investigated the curious appearance of English as a second language pedagogy for African American freshmen at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in the Fall of 1969 (Scott & Angle, 1970, p. 4). The work explored the researcher’s professional and financial interests in literacy problems that attracted both foundation and National Defense of Education Act funding. Looking beyond disciplinary drama, this dissertation suggested that binaries between marginal researchers and creative ones take away from the complexity of disciplinarity. Oppositions foreclosed on indexing the normative role that sponsors played in our post-World War II and Cold War histories in English instruction.
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Steele, Dorothy Winifred. "Interpreting redness: a literary biography of Zakes Mda." Thesis, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1736.
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This study of Zakes Mda's life and sixteen of his plays and seven novels, written
from 1966 to the present day, set in South Africa, Lesotho and the United States
of America, shows how his life and works interweave, and how his
defamiliarisation mode, his magic realism and his juxtaposed timeframes
stimulate reader response and self-realisation, bringing about change.
Experiences of marginalisation due to early childhood sexual abuse, exile,
and being banished from church, and his involvement in political movements
outside the mainstream, have caused him to be an astute observer of life. He is
sceptical of authority and power, and is as critical of those who seek power,
becoming intoxicated thereby, as of those who give away their power and so
perpetuate unacceptable institutions and their own victimisation. At all times
though, his writing style is creative and entertaining, rooted in the African oral
tradition from which he springs, but also portraying international influences to
which he has been exposed over the years.English Studies
M.A. (English)
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Moolman, Jacobus Philippus. "Autobiography of bone : an original cycle of dramatic poems researching the problematics of reconceptualisation of the formal boundaries between the genres of poetry and drama." Thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/4662.
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Autobiography of Bone consists of a cycle of original dramatic poems and short poetic
dramas which investigate the problematics of a reconceptualisation of the genre-based
distinctions between poetry and drama. The work seeks to extend and then map the new
territory revealed to me as a result of my experiments with form, and with the
consequences that new forms have for content and meaning. The material in the cycle of
poems presents and explores a multi-layered and wide-ranging, rather than unitary,
response to issues of the body (specifically disability), memory and language. A
concluding scholarly essay, “Orthopaedia” – Understanding the Writing Practice”,
researches some of the theoretical and conceptual issues that informed the poems,
including the influence of verse drama and the contemporary long poem, in an attempt to
construct an archaeology of the writing process and the imagination of the writer.Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.
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Herrington, Neville John. "The English language television single play in South Africa : a threatened genre, 1976-1991." Thesis, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/8747.
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The thesis takes the form of an investigation into the various causes leading to
the demise of the English language television single play in South Africa. It does
not position the genre within any particular theoretical framework, but argues
within the context of a liberal/critical discourse that the single play owes its
development and significance to the contribution of its many writers, as well as to
the creative input of the various producers, directors, from within and outside the
SABC. Furthermore, it evaluates the genre within the bureaucracy of the SABC
and the input of the various drama managers, among others, whose decisions
have affected the position of the single play.
The single play is seen as a development of drama having evolved from the stage
play, though moving progressively towards the production values of film.
Research will show that in the South African context, the creative practitioners of
the single play and technology have intersected with style, reflecting the dominant
form of naturalism, mainly evidenced during the early period when many single
plays were produced in the studios of Auckland Park. Within a wider sociopolitical
context, the single play has been evaluated as a negotiation among
writers, censorship, technology, naturalism and bureaucracy.
The investigation will show that the major cause for its demise was the SABC's
increasing commercialisation of TV -1, with the result that programmes on this
channel were evaluated in terms of their ability to deliver large audiences to the
advertisers. This placed the single play in competition for transmission space with
the more popular drama series and serials. Furthermore, the business principle
of cost-effectiveness applied to the single play made it more expensive to produce
than series and serials.
The author's own practical involvement in the production of video and television
programmes, including drama, together with primary source information gleaned
from some forty interviews with practitioners and those whose decisions impacted
on the genre, have been added to the body of the research.Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.
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Logan, Margaret Elaine. "The whiteness of South African english radio drama : a postcolonial study of the rise, decline and demise of a dramatic sub-genre." Diss., 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/3408.
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An exposition of South African English radio drama tracing the historical, cultural and political issues which led to the demise of the art form in 1999, and its resurrection at ICASA’s insistence in 2006. The research demonstrates the ideological influences of both British Imperialism and Afrikaner Nationalism on the development of South African radio drama, drawing parallels between the development of Afrikaans radio drama, Zulu radio drama and English radio drama. The study also deconstructs the role played by English language radio drama in underpinning the ideologies of whiteness, and illustrates attempts made towards transformation from 1985. The recent development of an essentially South African form of radio drama is described, and the effects of new ideological constraints imposed by the SABC are discussed. The study also provides a critical lens through which the SABC’s failure to observe its public service mandate is made evident.Afrikaans & Literature
M. A. (Afrikaans & Theory of Literature)
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Krueger, Anton Robert. "Experiments in freedom : representations of identity in new South African drama : an investigation into identity formations in some post-apartheid play-texts published in English by South African writers, from 1994 - 2007." Thesis, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/29095.
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This thesis examines ways in which identities have been represented in new South African play texts. It begins by exploring various ways in which identity has been described from various philosophical, psychological and anthropological perspectives. In particular, the thesis describes its methodology in terms of Gilles Deleuze's definition of "rhizomatic" structures. The introduction also elaborates ways in which drama is uniquely suited to represent ¨C as well as to effect ¨C transformations of identity. The thesis then moves on to an examination of specific texts in terms of four broad areas of investigation ¨C gender, political affiliation, ethnicity and syncretism. In these chapters a number of play texts are investigated from different points of view. Firstly, in a chapter on gender, the thesis focuses specifically on issues of masculinity and exile in plays by Athol Fugard, Anthony Akerman and Zakes Mda. This chapter explores orientations of the masculine which have become embedded within notions of nationalism and patriotism. In terms of political affiliations, the thesis looks at what Loren Kruger has called "post-anti-apartheid theatre" (2002: 233) and considers the trend away from protest theatre. With reference to the plays of Mike van Graan it also examines new forms of protest theatre. This chapter also explores plays which were inspired by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and looks in more detail at Ubu and the Truth Commission by Jane Taylor. When considering ethnicities, the thesis reflects on how identity in terms of an ethnic collective is most often premised on laws of exclusion, and on the construction of what Benedict Anderson refers to as an "imagined community" (1991: 15). Representations of ethnic identities are then analysed in Happy Natives by Greig Coetzee. Syncretism seems to present a preferable description of how South African identities can be constructed and the thesis then elaborates attempts to forge a new identity in terms of amalgamation and a creative fusion of cultural resources, with particular reference to the plays of Brett Bailey and Reza de Wet. In the conclusion of this thesis, the thorny issue of racial identities is considered, and in particular the trope of the "rainbow nation", which many writers regard as a problematic blanketing description which cancels out difference. Instead, Ashraf Jamal's "radical syncretism", which does not seek to subsume heterogeneous identities, is suggested as a viable means of approaching definitions of identity. The final chapter also briefly touches on the development of physical theatre in South Africa and describes how the body can be used as a tool for transformation, relying principally on the writings of Mark Fleishman and Eugenio Barba in this regard. Finally, again resorting to a Deleuzian vocabulary which describes identity as constructed in terms of lines operating on particular planes, the thesis considers whether it may not be more beneficial in the post-apartheid context to favour paradoxical processes which relinquish identities, instead of those which attempt to consolidate them. @ 2008 Author Please cite as follows: Krueger, AR 2008, Experiments in freedom : representations of identity in new South African drama : an investigation into identity formations in some post-apartheid play-texts published in English by South African writers, from 1994 - 2007, DLitt thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-10282008-141823/ > D497/gmThesis (DLitt)--University of Pretoria, 2008.
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Scholtz, Pieter J. H. "Theatre for young audiences and the Commedia dell'arte : the living tradition of the Commedia dell'arte in theatre for young audiences, with specific reference to selected original texts and performances." Thesis, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/8694.
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The thesis affirms the relevance of "Theatre for Young Audiences" as a valid
and distinctive genre; a performance genre that should entertain, educate and
provide meaning in terms of its creative interaction with personal, social, artistic and
cultural issues. The practice of playwrighting is removed from the assumption that
it relies exclusively on inspiration, intuition and spontaneity; it is placed within a
creative, experiential and discursive mode in which dramatic, theatrical,
performance and structural issues can be researched, analysed and evaluated
culminating in the crafting, making and presentation of innovative and challenging
theatre.
The research component of the thesis attempts to identify the social and moral
responsibility of the playwright writing for young audiences. It is asserted that
knowledge about the maturation of young people is crucial in the creative processes
of writing plays and making theatre. The second chapter in Part One of the thesis,
asserts that knowledge about the physical, emotional and intellectual maturation of
the intended audience should clearly impact on the delineation of plot, action,
character, language, audience participation, ethics and morality. The thesis clearly
identifies the importance of this knowledge for the Arts Educator.
However, "Theatre for Young Audiences" does not function solely in the realm
of education. The thesis distinguishes this genre from those of "Theatre-in-Education"
and "Drama-in-Education". The thesis firmly supports this distinction
and affirms the status of "Theatre for Young Audiences" as a performing art. This
argument is given further credence by the creative interaction of original scripts with
the "living tradition" of the Commedia dell' Arte. The Commedia dell' Arte is
examined from an historical perspective; pertinent features are addressed, selected,
utilised and transformed into a dynamic theatrical experience for young audiences in
contemporary South Africa.
The Commedia dell' Arte serves as a theatrical model and becomes a creative
device for further and renewed innovation. The inclusion of three original plays in
Appendices 1, 2 and 3, plus numerous references to selected, original texts and
performances provide an illustration of the concept that playwrighting for young
people can effectively and imaginatively transpose theoretical inquiry into
imaginative and challenging theatre experience.
The thesis attempts to utilise a clear conceptual basis for the development of
argument - the educational and psychological perspectives provide a foundation for
ideas and critical writing. The theatre heritage becomes a catalyst for innovative and
pertinent theatre that affirms the status, purpose and nature of "Theatre for Young
Audiences" in contemporary South Africa.Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1992.
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Van, de Ruit John. "On the inside writing out : the dramatic represention of the private boys' boarding school on the South African stage." Thesis, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/9050.
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This dissertation sets out to analyze the manner in which the writers of dramatic fiction
deconstruct the mythology and ideology of the private boys' boarding school in their
work. It also seeks to interrogate the sociological and philosophical notions that underpin
this fictional work. The central thrust of this dissertation is to explore the representation
of the private boys' boarding school experience on the South African stage, with
particular reference to writers whose work reflects their personal experiences within such
institutions.
Private boys' boarding schools promote the ideology that they provide a superior
education based on liberal and democratic principles. These institutions supposedly
oversee the development of the individual's mental, physical, spiritual, cultural and social
education. The projected ideology of the private boys' boarding schools has become
entrenched and has manifested itself as a pervasive mythology, which glorifies and
glamourises the social reality of such institutions.
This mythology is challenged and refuted by the appropriation of various sociological,
and philosophical theorists, including: traditional Marxist critiques such as the theories of
Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis (1976); structuralist theories such as those proposed
by Louis Althusser (1971) and Antonio Gramsci (1971), whose notions of hegemony
carry much relevance when considering private boys' boarding schools; and finally,
Michel Foucault's (1977) theories of power and power hierarchies (Lotringer, 1989;
Smart, 1985).
Since South Africa's democratization in 1994, a number of fictional works have emerged
that have engaged with the social reality of private boys' boarding schools. Most
notably, two plays, Anthony Akerman's Old Boys (2000) and John van de Ruit's War
Cry (1999), have highlighted issues surrounding private boys' boarding schools in South
Africa. Together with a variety of texts written for different media these works have
formed a critical base that, to some degree, has undermined the supremely positive
resonance of the entrenched private school mythology, and in so doing, challenge the
projected ideology. This dissertation's prime focus is on South African private boys'
boarding schools; however, it also includes texts that articulate the social reality of
private education in England and America. These texts are relevant firstly because the
South African private schools are modeled very closely on the English public school
system and secondly, because their inclusion adds weight and variety to the discussion.
Important areas of study within this dissertation will be the interpretation of the various
thematic concerns raised, and character constructions created by the various writers. This
will be underpinned by the theoretical framework, which analyzes systems of power and
power hierarchies, and the notion of hegemonic masculinity. Finally, the private boys'
boarding school will be examined as a site for hegemonic struggle where power and
privilege are continually contested in a relationship characterized by coercion and
consent. The critical discourse of the fictional texts and its theoretical underpinning will
be placed in opposition to the elitist mythology of the private boys' boarding school and
the ideology that these institutions espouse.Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.
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McMurtry, Mervyn Eric. "The playwright-performer as scourge and benefactor : an examination of political satire and lampoon in South African theatre, with particular reference to Pieter-Dirk Uys." Thesis, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/8666.
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During the 1970s the plays of Pieter-Dirk Uys became causes celebres. In the 1980s he
was, commercially and artistically, arguably the most successful South African satirist.
By 1990 he had gained recognition in the United Kingdom, the United States of America,
Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Germany. Yet relatively little research has been
undertaken or published which evaluates his contribution to South African theatre as a
playwright and performer of political satire. This dissertation aims to document and
assess the satiric work of Uys and that of his precursors and contemporaries.
The first chapter identifies certain characteristic features and purposes of satire as a
creative method which cannot be defined in purely literary terms. The views of local
practitioners and references to its manifestation in various non-literary and indigenous
forms are included to support the descriptive approach to satire in performance adopted in
later chapters.
Of necessity to a study of Uys's lampoons, Chapter 2 discusses the origins of lampoon and
the theatrical presentation of actual persons by Aristophanes (the first extant Western
playwright to do so). Both the textual and visual ridicule of Socrates, Euripides, Cleon
and Lamachus are considered, to argue that Aristophanes employed the nominal character
as a factional type to exemplify a concept for humorous rather than meliorative purposes.
Part One of Chapter 3 is a necessarily selective survey of the diversity, style and
censorship of satire in South Africa in various theatrical, literary and journalistic forms.
Part Two describes the use of satire by Adam Leslie, Jeremy Taylor, Robert Kirby and,
more recently, Paul Slabolepszy, Mark Banks, Ian Fraser, Eric Miyeni and the
'alternative' Afrikaners in plays and in revue, cabaret and stand-up comedy.
Chapter 4 examines the principal themes of Uys's plays to date, the 1981-1992 revues as
entertainment and as a reflection of certain social and political issues, the similarities
between his theatrical praxis and that of Aristophanes, and his satiric strategies in
performance: his preparatory and visual signifiers, his concern with proxemics, and his
mastery of kinesics, paralanguage and chronemics in depicting a spectrum of fictional and
non-fictional personae, including Evita Bezuidenhout, P.W. Botha and the Uys-persona.Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.
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Suh, Joseph Che. "A study of translation strategies in Guillaume Oyono Mbia's plays." Thesis, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1687.
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This thesis is focused on a study of translation strategies in Guillaume Oyono Mbia's plays. By using the sociological, formalistic and semiotic approaches to literary criticism to inform the analysis of the source texts and by applying descriptive models outlined within the framework of descriptive translation studies (DTS) to compare the source and target texts, the study establishes the fact that in his target texts Oyono Mbia, self-translating author, has produced a realistic and convincing portrait of his native Bulu culture and society depicted in his source texts by adopting the same default preservation and foreignizing strategy employed in his source texts. Oyono Mbia's works, his translation strategies and translational behaviour are situated in the context of the prevailing trend and attitude (from the sixties to date) of African writers writing in European languages and it is posited that this category of writers are in effect creative translators and that the strategies they use in their original compositions are the same as those outlined by translation scholars or effectively used by practitioners. These strategies enable the writer and the translator of this category of African literature to preserve the "Africanness" which is the essence and main distinguishing feature of that literature. Contrary to some scholars (cf. Bandia 1993:58) who regard the translation phenomenon evident in the creative writings of African writers writing in European languages as a process which is covert, semantic and secondary, the present study of Oyono Mbia's translation strategies clearly reveals the process as overt, communicative and primary. Taking Oyono Mbia's strategies as a case in point, this study postulates that since for the most part, the African writer writing in a European language has captured the African content and form in his original creative translation, what the translator simply needs to do is to carry over such content and form to the other European language.Linguistics
D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)
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Oluwasuji, Olutoba Gboyega. "Re-imagining Ogun in selected Nigerian plays: a decolonial reading." Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25490.
Full textAbstract:
Text in EnglishThrough an in-depth analysis of selected texts, this study engages with the ways in which Ogun is reimagined by recent selected Nigerian playwrights. Early writers from this country, influenced by their modernist education, misrepresented Ogun by presenting only his so-called negative attributes. Contemporary writers are reconceptualising him; it is the task of this thesis to demonstrate how they are doing so from a decolonial perspective. These alleged attributes represent Ogun as a wicked, bloodthirsty, arrogant and hot tempered god who only kills and makes no positive contribution to the Yoruba community. The thesis argues that the notion of an African god should be viewed from an Afrocentric perspective, not a Eurocentric one, which might lead to violence or misrepresentation of him. The dialogue in the plays conveys how the playwrights have constructed their main characters as Ogun representatives in their society. For example, Mojagbe and Morontonu present Balogun, the chief warlord of their different community; both characters exhibit Ogun features of defending their community. The chosen plays for this study are selected based on different notions of Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron and war, presented by the playwrights. A closer look at the primary materials this thesis explores suggests Ogun’s strong connection with rituals and cultural festivals. These plays exemplify African ritual theatre. Being a member of the Yoruba ethnic group, I have considerable knowledge of how festivals are performed. The Ogun festival is an annual celebration among the Yoruba, where African idioms of puppetry, masquerading, music, dance, mime, invocation, evocation and several elements of drama are incorporated into the performances. The selected plays critiqued in this thesis are Mojagbe (Ahmed Yerima, 2008), Battles of Pleasure (Peter Omoko, 2009), Hard Choice (Sunnie Ododo, 2011), and Morontonu (Alex Roy-Omoni, 2012). No in-depth exploration has previously been undertaken into the kinds of textual and ideological identities that Ogun adopts, especially in the selected plays. Therefore, using a decolonial epistemic perspective, this study offers a critical examination of how the selected Nigerian playwrights between the years 2008 and 2012 have constructed Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron. Such a perspective assists in delinking interpretations from the modernised notions mentioned above, in which Ogun is sometimes a paradoxical god. Coloniality is responsible for such misinterpretation; the employed theoretical framework is used to interrogate these notions. The research project begins with a general introduction locating Ogun in Yoruba mythology, which forms the background to how the god is being constructed in Yorubaland. Also included iii in this first chapter is a discussion on a decolonial perspective, the principles of coloniality, the aims and objective of the study, and the relevant literature review. Thereafter, chapter two focuses on Battles of Pleasure and argues that the play re-imagines Ogun as a god of peace and harvest as opposed to a god of war and destruction. Chapter three discusses how Ododo’s Hard Choice reconceptualises Ogun as a god of justice, in contrast to him being interpreted as a god who engages in reckless devastation of life. Chapter four explores Ogun’s representation in Yerima’s Mojagbe as a reformer who gives human beings ample time to change from their wayward course to a course that he approves. In chapter five, Ogun’s reconception as a remover of obstacles in Roy-Omoni’s Morontonu is examined. The study concludes with a discussion on how Africans should delink themselves from a modernist Eurocentric perspective and think from an Afrocentric locus of enunciation.
English Studies
D. Litt. et Phil.(English)
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Moodley, Derosha. "Creative Shakespeare : exploring a creative pedagogy for teaching The Merchant of Venice at Grove End Secondary school within their English home language learning area." Thesis, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/9821.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation is an investigation of a creative pedagogical approach
formulated to teach the Shakespearean play in a KwaZulu-Natal public high
school, namely Grove End Secondary in Phoenix, Durban. The study
explores how my formulated creative pedagogy for teaching The Merchant
of Venice (1980) functions as an alternate creative teaching methodology to
the current pedagogical approach, namely the text-based approach, which
appears not to acknowledge the performative element inherent within
Shakespearean plays. This study argues that through creative learning processes such as drama in education, creative drama, experiential learning, group dynamics and playmaking, learners can engage the performative aspect within the plays.
The study also argues that creative learning processes can diminish the
apprehension with which learners currently approach Shakespearean play
study, since creative processes stimulate the learners’ imaginative ideas, as
opposed to the educator-centered text-based approach, which requires little or no input from the learners during the learning process.
Through the implementation of the creative pedagogy with eighteen learners from Grove End Secondary, the research aimed firstly, to evoke a
positive attitude change from learners towards Shakespearean play study
and secondly, to guide the learners towards a better understanding of the
Shakespearean play narrative and Shakespearean language.
The research was conducted through classroom action research. Research
methods included data collection of journals, surveys, and questionnaires
that were analysed throughout the course of the case study. Outcomes of
the continuous data analysis reflected upon during the case study resulted in the adaptation of the creative pedagogy to suit the learners’ needs.
The qualitative nature of this research led to findings which reveal that the
creative pedagogy is an effective methodology for teaching Shakespearean
plays, but is problematic when trying to integrate the educational aims of
the creative pedagogy, with the constraints and structures of the current
curriculum and public school system. The research also produces data
which can benefit future inquiry into the creative teaching of Shakespearean plays in KwaZulu-Natal public high schools.Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.