Browsing by Author "Tomaselli, Keyan Gray."

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The 1990 reforms and the alternative media in South Africa.
(Sonolux., 1991) Louw, Paul Eric.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
The alternative press, which contributed so much to the struggle against apartheid in the 1980s; found itself unprepared for a new role in the freer media environment after the lifting of the State of Emergency in February 1990. P Eric, Louw, and Keyan Tomaselli report on the financial, organisational and political difficulties now threatening the existence of the alternative press in South Africa.
Action research, participatory communication: why governments don't listen.
(Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), 1997) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
No abstract available.
Alter-egos: cultural and media studies.
(Routledge, 2012) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
A periodised case study is offered of a number of engagements undertaken by the Centre for Communication, Media and Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, between 1985 and 2012, in facilitating resistance, policy, development and analysis. How cultural and media studies travelled to South Africa and how the centre negotiated the intersections between the humanities and social sciences, health and the physical sciences, is examined in terms of the epistemological alliances and conflicts that emerged. New paradigms ranging from appropriations of African philosophy and critical indigenous methodologies are discussed in an environment where new nationalisms are emerging. The story of the centre offers the fulcrum around which to discuss specific paradigmatic shifts. A new imaginary for the humanities and social sciences for a rapidly changing South Africa is then briefly proposed.
Alternative cultural practices in drama studies : an exploratory study.
(1992) Hoosain, Mohamed Faruk.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
Traditional drama teaching focuses on the training of students as potential interpretative actors or students-as-technicians. Alternative drama practices emphasise the student-as-social activist. The value and function of using critical theory to get children to shape fundamental social change is discussed. In this scheme, children are taught how to use theatre techniques to experientially explore how the controlling social forces in technological societies undermine national, regional and local democratic processes. The Schools Theatre for Development Projects with their Discussion and Action Teams, which I discuss, serve to enrich school pupils' self confidence at being critical. The problematic of what development entails and whose interests it serves is critiqued. For this reason children are provided with rehearsal in a pre- adult political arena and taught how to construct politics rather than consume a reified notion of politics. If this is to occur, then curriculum development has to be school-based rather than centralised. Teachers are advised to perceive knowledge as anchored in, and extracted from, social reality, especially that of their pupils. Mindful of the process of contextualisation, facilities in raising the child's political literacy and taking reflective social action need to be provided within schools. A case study focusing on an anti- racism project evaluated the potential strengths and challenges that a Theatre for Development in school presents. This program focuses on how the children of Indian House of Delegates administered schools in Durban can confidently mount a programme of social action or collective challenge against apartheid. Ultimately, a syllabus which draws on the case-study is devised which unpacks procedure, evaluation and political practices.
An analysis of racial stereotyping in SABC-TV commercials in the context of reform, 1978-1992.
(1998) Holt, Alexander Robert.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
This thesis uses racial stereotyping as a critical approach to the analysis of television advertising commercials broadcast by the SABC during the period of Reform in South Africa, 1978-1992. Due respect is given to theoretical debates about the ideological role of consumer advertising. In the light of various possible causes, such as an increasing importance of blacks to the consumer market, government co-option in terms of 'Total Strategy', or calls by the business sector for a strong black middle class, particular attention is given to the underlying dynamics of black middle class depiction in advertisements. The Introduction outlines the main arguments of the thesis, key theoretical moves, and discusses research sources. Chapter 1 clarifies the concept of stereotype, the nature of racial stereotyping, and proposes a category framework for the analysis of racial stereotyping in a reformist apartheid context. Chapter 2 marries a racial stereotyping critical approach of consumer advertising in South Africa with theoretically-informed advertising criticism in terms of a conception of consumption as a means of hegemony. Chapter 3 outlines aspects of the post-World War II political economy which have underpinned the ensuing forms of South African racial stereotyping. Chapter 4 examines the basis of the SABC-TV broadcasting dispensation and its influence upon the forms of racial stereotyping in commercials. Chapter 5 examines the use of political and public service advertising during the P.W. Botha era, in consideration of what influence such political dimensions of Reform might have had upon the ideological content of advertising in general. Chapter 6 examines advertising production practices during the period of Reform in order to assess the position of the advertising industry with regard to the changing forms in racial stereotyping. Chapter 7 applies the preceding theorisation and assessments about the relationship between the political economy and changing forms of racial stereotyping in SABC-TV commercials in a case study based on the advertising commercial 'history reel' for Castle Lager. Chapter 8 gives further verification in a case study of the history reel for Rama margarine. The Conclusion sums up the preceding chapters and reassess earlier observations. Appendices in Volume II of the thesis provide 830 shot-by-shot descriptions and 890 stills for 41 commercials that comprise the two case studies.
An analysis of students' responses to ABC & VCT messages at three universities in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.
(2008) Mulwo, Abraham Kiprop.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
The high levels of HIV prevalence amongst young people in several sub-Saharan African countries, in spite of massive HIV prevention interventions, has prompted calls to investigate the contextual factors that drive the epidemic. A crucial component that often has been missed in the literature is an understanding of the mediation processes involved in HIV prevention communication within cultural contexts. The uniqueness of this study is thus premised in its focus on the structures and processes of meaningproduction within social groups, with regard to sex and HIV/AIDS, and how the produced meanings affect the interpretation and impact of HIV prevention texts. Using Hermeneutics, Reception Theory and the Social Constructionism Theory, this study examines how students at University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Zululand and the Durban University of Technology make sense of the cultural meanings offered by HIV prevention messages, such as ‘Abstinence’, ‘Be faithful’, ‘Condomise’ and Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT). A multi-method approach, involving a questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews with sampled students and HIV/AIDS coordinators, and non-participant observations, was used to obtain data for the study. Findings of the study support the conclusion that the categories of students’ responses to HIVprevention messages were often predicated upon their relationships and participation in the various social groups. Their decisions to adopt/not adopt these prevention options were often based, therefore, on how meanings attached to these options articulated with the social significance of sex and sexual practices. In the context of intersubjective meaning-formation, therefore, the relational categories of abstinence, being faithful, condomise and VCT should not be conceptualised as discreet, frozen categories, but should rather be understood as open-ended possibilities existing concurrently, coextensively and dialectically.
Assessing teenagers' knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards teenage pregnancy. The case of a Durban High School.
(2013) Murima, Prestage.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
Teenage childbearing is a global social and health concern. South Africa is not spared from the problems of teenage pregnancy be they related to health or to the social sphere. Researchers have been entreated to investigate teenagers’ sexual behaviour and the determinants to their behaviour especially in light of HIV/AIDS and other sexually related diseases. Various programmes and interventions have been developed and implemented in an effort to manage prevalence rates and address the challenges of teenage pregnancy. Inspite of these concerted efforts, pregnancy rates continue to increase. These efforts have been hampered by the absence of the voice of teenagers in research as interventions implemented do not adequately capture the complexity of teenage pregnancy. Research has also divorced teenagers from the environment within which teenage pregnancy takes place and as a result come up with interventions that are not pro teenagers. The absence of teenagers’ input in these interventions results in little uptake of interventions as teenagers feel no ownership or entitlement to these intervention. This study therefore seeks to bridge the gap by addressing teenage pregnancy from the perspective of teenagers themselves and locates teenage pregnancy within the lived experiences of teenagers. Guided by the Social Ecology Model and The Health Belief Model, this study seeks to analyse teenagers’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards teenage pregnancy. This study is qualitative in nature and is situated within the interpretive paradigm that enables the researcher to explore people’s lived experiences. Using the case study approach, the study employs focus group discussions to elicit information from participants on their knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards teenage pregnancy. The study concludes that knowledge; attitudes and perceptions are influenced and affected by various factors such as peer pressure, lack of adequate information and gender dynamics. To address teenage pregnancy challenges, there is a need for addressing the structural factors that influence teenagers’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions. Knowledge on safe sex and contraception abounds though this knowledge does not to translate to positive health affirming behaviour. This gap is attributed to the structural factors that influence and affect health behaviour. As such these factors, such as entrenched poverty and lack of proper sexual health communication need to be addressed if teenage pregnancy is to be managed.
An assessment of students' perceptions of the ABC prevention strategy : toward students' participation in HIV/AIDS message design at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
(2007) Moodley, Eliza Melissa.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.; Ronning, Helge.
In South Africa there are general studies that aim to understand HIV prevalence and specific surveys for target groups. However there is a gap in research that relates particularly to university students active participation in HIV/AIDS prevention messaging. This study explores the use of the Communication for Social Change (CFSC) theory with students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. The study takes the form of a survey, using researcher administered questions with 400 students at the Westville and Howard College campus to understand their perceptions of the 'Abstinence, Be faithful and Condomise' prevention strategy. Two focus groups were conducted at both campuses to further analyse the survey findings, with a particular reference to the use of dialogue to actively engage students in discussions about HIV/AIDS prevention messages. The study traces the origin of CFSC through a review of the development communication theories (which include modernization theory, dependency theory, development support communication and another development). The survey revealed that students were not supportive of programmes with a top-down flow of communication. Students at both campuses welcomed the role that dialogue could play to encourage student participation in the design of a new HIV/AIDS prevention message. Some of the findings from the survey showed that 91% of students at both campuses motivated in favour of students as active participants in HIV/AIDS communication processes. The findings from the focus group also revealed that students did not find the ABC message effective, and strongly promoted a revision of this message which should include 'accountability' and 'responsibility' as part of the HIV/AIDS prevention strategy.
Between empiricism and intellectualism : Charles Taylor's answer to the 'media wars'.
(2008) Caldwell, Marc Anthony.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
When the Media Wars broke out in Australian universities in the mid-1990s, journalism educator Keith Winschuttle accused cultural studies of teaching theory that contradicted the realist and empirical worldview of journalism practice. He labeled cultural studies as a form of linguistic idealism. His own worldview is decidedly empiricist.The thesis brings to Windschuttle's empiricist-idealist dualism a type of transcendental argument that uses Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor's understanding of modernity as a paradox between the Enlightenment and Romantic traditions. Taylor was an instrumental member of the New Left movement (beginning in 1956) while he was a student at Oxford. Together with Stuart Hall, he edited a journal that became a precursor to New Left Review. While at Oxford, Taylor went to Paris to study with Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Upon his return he brought back a copy of Marx's 1844 Manuscripts, which he translated into English for his colleagues. Taylor was instrumental in introducing Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology there. Hall mentions in recent interviews his debt to Taylor for their discussions on Marx and Hegel. Taylor's approach to post-Marxism and his critique of positivist social science derives significantly from his reading of Merleau-Ponty, whose Phenomenology of Perception (1962) rejects both empiricism and intellectualism (idealism) for their sharing a Cartesian model of subjectivity. British Cultural Studies began (Hall says in 1956) with a rejection of the economism of classical Marxism, and sought a more plausible theory of agency than what Marxism offered at that time. The correspondence between the debates in early cultural studies and Taylor's extensive writing on this matter, together with his overall critique of modernity, appear too close to be coincidental. Furthermore, these debates were driven by an attempt to steer between the Enlightenment and Romantic traditions, thus embracing in their own intellectual practices Marx's (and Hegel's) dialectical method. Drawing upon the correspondences between Taylor's and cultural studies' attempts to resolve the paradoxes of modernity, it becomes clear that Windschuttle's dualism can be absorbed within the problematic of cultural studies. Furthermore, drawing on Taylor's use of the humanist Marx, Hegel and Merleau-Ponty, Windschuttle's empiricist paradigm can be shown to fail to provide a plausible (and therefore ethical) model of agency. A study of TayIor's philosophical anthropology provides the basis by which this failure can be addressed. Taylor's philosophy is equally useful in addressing this lacuna in postmodern cultural studies.
Black and white in ink : discourses of resistance in South African cartooning, 1985-1994.
(2004) Mason, Andrew John.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.; Dalrymple, Lynn I.
In the last decade of apartheid (1985-1994), South African cartoonists demonstrated a range of responses to the political imperatives of the day. While some worked in support of the status quo, the cartoonists who are the subject of this study opposed it. Like practitioners in other areas of cultural activity during this period, oppositional cartoonists were passionately engaged with the political process and participated in the articulation and dissemination of discourses of resistance. This study situates South African cartooning both in the context of South African resistance discourse, and in the historical and discursive context of cartooning as a form of international popular culture. It presents an argument as to how cartooning should be defined and studied - as a cluster of signifying practices that produce a range of forms in a variety of media. In terms of this definition, anti-apartheid cartooning in South Africa is identified as a specific historical category, within which distinct streams of cartooning are identified. The study locates the various activities of South African cartooning within these streams, and examines the ideological and educational functions they performed during the 1985-1994 period. The study positions cartooning within the broad theoretical field of cultural and media studies, and examines some theoretical problems that are specific to the analysis of visual culture. A language of exposition appropriate to the study of cartooning is developed, borrowing terms from the sometimes widely variant traditions of art history, literary criticism and cultural studies. A methodology for the interpretation of symbolic forms is derived from the work of British cultural theorist, John B. Thompson (1990), whereby selected cartooning texts are subjected to a combination of textual interpretation, socio-historical analysis and discursive analysis, reinforced by insights derived from conversations with 15 selected South African cartoonists. Textual analysis of selected cartooning texts from the 1985-1994 period clearly demonstrates that oppositional cartoonists gave visual expression to discourses of resistance that existed in the anti-apartheid movement, and amongst the broader public, at that time. In so doing, they contributed to the disruption of the hegemony of the apartheid state, to the legitimation of the anti-apartheid struggle and to the provision of symbols and icons that ordinary South Africans were able to utilise in 'rethinking' their own lives in relation to the demands of a rapidly transforming society.
Book hunger and the political economy of the South African booktrade : structural and policy constraints on the production and distribution of academic books.
(1994) Young, Dennis.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
While 'book hunger' in Third World societies was regarded by a 'first generation' of theorists, working in the modernization/diffusion of innovation paradigm, as a cause of underdevelopment (and thus requiring the correction of problems relating to the undersupply of books to Third World countries by means of book aid policies, transfer of expertise and technology, and development of modern (western) publishing and distribution procedures and infrastructures), a 'second generation' of theorists working in the dependency/disassociation paradigm responded by insisting that 'book hunger' was an effect of the underdevelopment of peripheral economies, and a symptom of the debilitating cultural effects of the global economic order, with its skewed international distribution of knowledge, resources and capital. In recent approaches to the topic of 'book hunger' (which are wary of the sweeping dichotomies of dependency theory), 'book hunger' serves to describe a chronic shortage of books which results from complex structural inequities and antagonisms, from the distorting effects of global rationalization, as well as from local economic arrangements and policy mechanisms which do not adequately meet the knowledge and information needs of competing local cultural formations. 'Book hunger' is seen to derive from a range of causes, and to produce a range of effects, which correspond to the varying needs, resources, and conditions operative in - and the cultural media and knowledge infrastructures available within specific societies. Obviously, 'book hunger' is rooted to a considerable degree in the specific historical configurations and socioeconomic circumstances of specific countries. An understanding of complex, globally-interlinked socio-cultural, political and economic structures and practices is thus crucial to understanding 'book hunger' in South Africa. A survey of global and local environments within which scholarly books are produced and circulated - including South African distribution systems and knowledge dissemination networks - makes it possible to sketch an approach to South Africa's own 'book hunger:' which is sensitive to the complexity and the specificity of conditions in the local booktrade, and which is able to contribute to the complex debates on local knowledge infrastructures, strategies for book development and new forms of distribution which are now beginning to take place in South Africa.
A brief history of South African journalism, mass communication and media education.
(East African Communication Scholars Association., 2002) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
A historical critique of the genesis of joumalism and mass communication studies, and media studies, in South Africa is offered. An overview of the major South African and African journals and the ideological positioning of different scholarly associations during and after apartheid follows. Some brief remarks on teaching perspectives locate different paradigms. The overall objective is to map the contours of the South African situation.
Can you hear me now? : possibilities of an engaged citizenry by way of Izwi IoMzansi FM community radio and mobile phone convergence.
(2013) Fox, Lauren.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.; Prinsloo, Jeanne.
Radio and mobile phones have existed in developing countries for years, however the diversity and pace with which these innovations have grown has made it difficult for researchers to effectively explore their effects. Community radio came into being after the shift to democracy in 1994 and community radio became a “third voice” between state public radio and commercial radio in South Africa (NCRF 1999; Servaes 1999:260). While community radio is attributed with this potential it is also critiqued for its failure in this regard. In particular, the presumed interactive and expressive ‘community’ of several community radio stations in the greater Durban area has been argued to be more mythic than real (Dalene 2007; Teer-Tomaselli 2001). By the same token, the South African communications landscape has changed and expanded significantly since the onset of mobile phone networks and mobile Internet. The dual ubiquity, versatility and affordability of radio and mobile phones demonstrate the complementary potential of their convergence towards participatory citizenship. This research investigates this understudied link between new and old media, particularly focusing on community radio in terms of its mandate for community participation and citizenship (ICASA 2011). Using a network ethnography and mixed methods approach, this study explores interactivity by means of mobile phone functions (calls, Short Message System [SMS] and Facebook) in Durban’s Izwi loMzansi FM’s knowledge community. Additionally, the study employs du Gay et al.’s (1997) Circuit of Culture model and examines possible hegemonic discourses in the media public sphere (Gitlin 1998; Habermas 1989; Hall 1980; Tomaselli 1987). It is revealed that, in general, availability and accessibility of mobile phones and social media platforms create more possibilities for diverse dialogue and active participation in community radio programming. However, the biggest hindrance for active citizenry lies not in regulation protocol but with the presenter’s comfort and resourcefulness in integrating new media technologies into their programmes.
Close encounters with the first kind : what does development mean in the context of two Bushman communities in Ngwatle and the Northern Cape?
(2004) Dyll, Lauren Eva.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
The aim of this research is to investigate the interaction between the ‘beneficiaries’ of development - the Ngwatle Bushmen in southern Botswana and the Khomani Bushmen in the Northern Cape of South Africa, and the agents of development – local NGOs (Non Government Organisations) and Trusts, whose development programmes are influenced by broader state policy. The development programmes implemented by these organisations affect Bushman rights with regards to public participation in the development process, land, hunting and access to resources and benefits. In discussing these issues this study draws on James Murombedzi’s (2001) proposition that community based natural resource management (CBNRM) programmes that supposedly devolve the management of natural resources to the local population, may be an extension of greater state control over resources. It will investigate the impact of what Steven Robins (2002: 835) calls “double donor vision” on the lives of the Ngwatle and Khomani Bushmen. Donors and NGOs view Bushmen as “both ‘First Peoples’ and modern citizen-in-the-making” (Robins, 2001: 833). He argues that this dual mandate to “promote the ‘cultural survival’ of indigenous people and to socialise them into becoming virtuous modern citizens” (Robins, 2001: 842) contributes to intra-community divisions and conflicts. An overview of the issue of identity as discussed by Anthea Simoes (2001) who tested Stuart Hall’s (1990, 1996, 1997) two models of identity in both communities, is necessary here to frame the discussion of development as being affected by differences in identity construction.This research therefore seeks to discuss perspectives of the process of development communication and implementation in the two Bushman communities. What type of development occurs and how does this interaction shape perceptions of development amongst the Bushmen? Different development communication paradigms adopt communication strategies and implementation programmes that best suit their goals. The modernization and dependency/dissociation development paradigms fail to offer mechanisms to facilitate negotiation, conflict resolution and community or individual empowerment (Servaes, 1999). The development support communication (DSC) paradigm and to a larger degree the ‘another development’ paradigm, in contrast, encourage local people to actively participate in the search for solutions to development problems as perceived and experienced by them (Ansah, 1992). This research aims to illustrate, however, that these different development paradigms exist alongside each other in the field – this adds to the ‘messiness’ of development in practice. The research frames the perceptions of and engagement with development via a comparative analysis of Ngwatle and the Northern Cape Bushman communities.
Commodification of tertiary institutions : a study of the University of Natal's corporate advertising campaign.
(2000) Oyedemi, Tokunbo.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
Following the global 'capitalisation' of public institutions, academic institutions have embarked continuously on a drive towards 'marketisation' and commodification of their services. Tertiary institutions are utilising aggressive marketing strategies and media campaigns to attract students. This study examines the advertising campaign embarked on by the University of Natal in 1998/ 1999. This is a first stage of a two-tier marketing strategy, and it involves brand-building the University. This research assesses the University of Natal's advertising campaign both on radio and in print, it analyses the campaign from creative conceptualisation to media exposure, while giving a brief background to advertising and commodification trends among tertiary institutions in South Africa. Eric Michaels' (1990) proposal of a circular message transmission model called 'hermeneutic circle' (12-28) of a teleported text serves as the theoretical backdrop for the assessment of lhe conceptualisation process to the media exposure of the campaign. A semiotic analysis of the University of Natal's advertising campaign is also given and located within a particular context in the 'henneneutic circle'. Various focus group discussions were conducted : one comprising mainly white students from Pinetown Girls High School in Standard Nine; the second, mainly Indian students in their matric year at Queensburgh High School. The others comprised of black students from Ferndale Secondary School, Phoenix, but who reside in KwaMashu, and also black students from Amangwane High School in Bergeville, near Ladysmith. One on one interviews were also conducted with high school students. Most of these students were in Standard Nine with some completing their matric year. These discussions were conducted separately to avoid any kind of intimidation and domination of the discussions by students from the private schools who are more fluent in the command of the English language. The other group comprised of an alumnus, a parent, four students - two local and two international, and two staff members of the University. Their comments provide information in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the campaign as well as the evaluation of the campaign concepts and contents in correlation with the cultural contexts of the target groups. The group discussions also provide insight into the reception and perception of the campaign.
Commodification, institutional restructuring and corporate communication in higher education : a case study of the media campaign of the University of Natal.
(2002) Tsiu, Asser Tsiu.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
Changes in global political economy are moving towards 'capitalisation' of public institutions through market instruments. These changes create new environments and challenges. In order to meet these challenges, higher education institutions are restructuring to position themselves in their new environment. In this process, the media play an active role. Using corporate communication as a focal point, this research examines how higher education institutions aim to accomplish their mission, on one hand and mitigate challenges of the new political economy, characterised, by globalisation and marketisation, on the other. Using the University of Natal's corporate communication media campaign as a case study, the research looks into how education is commodified through processes of institutional restructuring and how this is reflected or mirrored through corporate communication strategies. This study is done within cultural studies and critical media research tradition. In contrast to 'administrative' studies that focus on how to use mass communications within the given political economic order to influence audiences, sell products or promote institutions, it addresses social and cultural effects of corporate communication in higher education. It offers insight into how corporate communication could be utilised for societal good instead of perpetuating social inequalities. Chapter One provides an overview of corporate communication and how it interacts with higher education by looking into challenges that threaten institutions to accomplish their mission. Chapter Two offers a theoretical framework of the new political economy through which higher education is now operating and how the media plays a role in this framework. Chapter Three provides an analysis of the media campaign of the University of Natal as evaluated against the institution's mission statement, and Chapter Four offers data analysis and lessons learned from the University of Natal media campaign.
Communication and counter hegemony in contemporary South Africa : considerations on a leftist media theory and practice.
(1991) Louw, Paul Eric.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
In South Africa the left-wing is currently in an ascendant mode. Yet it is not an unproblematic ascendancy. For one thing, because Marxism has been interwoven with so much of the South African struggle, the South African Left are now unable to disentangle themselves from the contemporary 'collapse of the Marxist dream'. And this translates into a South African socio-political issue because as the Left accumulates influence and power in South Africa so the problems and limitations of historical materialism acquire a wider social significance. This thesis will argue that a key problem with the historical materialist paradigm has been its limitations when dealing with communication and the media. However, there have been historical materialists (usually those who consciously stepped outside 'mainstream Marxist' discourse) who made considerable advances in attempting to develop historical materialism's capacity for dealing with communication, the media and the subjective. This thesis will examine some of the work which has attempted to 'reconstruct' historical materialism away from a narrow materialism. The aim will be to give some direction to the development of a New Left approach to communication. Such a reconstruction is seen as a precondition if the Left-wing is to find a formula for dealing with Information Age relations of production. A New Left communicology able to deal with the 'superstructuralism' of the Information Age offers a specific perspective on how to construct a development strategy for South Africa. This will be discussed, and the thesis will attempt to tie together the notions of communication, development and democracy. The relationship between communication and democracy will be especially important for the New Left approach that will be favoured in this thesis. So an important theme in the thesis will be the question of developing a left-hegemony based upon a democratic-pluralism. This will entail examining the role that media and an institutionalised social-dialogue can play in building a left-wing democracy. The extent to which the left-wing media in South Africa have contributed to a democratic dialogue is discussed. This will then be extended into a discussion of how media can contribute to the reconstruction, development and democratization of a leftist post-apartheid South Africa.
Communication or propaganda : what's the difference?
(University of KwaZulu-Natal., 1992) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
The deterministic nature of the discipline of communications is revealed through ideological dimensions and the nature of propaganda. The myth of information neutrality is illustrated by examples, in particular two films produced by industry for labour relations purposes. The concept of total strategy, operating as a dominant ideology, has controlled communication in South Africa, although messages have not always been interpreted as intended. Communication needs to be seen in a theological sense, replacing domination by bottom-up dialogue.
Communication to societies that hold multiple belief systems : an experience from KwaZulu-Natal.
(2009) Gumede, Mkhonzeni.; Dalrymple, Lynn I.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
Geertz (1994) asserts that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance represented by culture. Culture, education, Christianity, self concept and context are some of the webs of significance that Geertz (1994) refers to. We are always spinning on these webs and sometimes it is difficult to predict responses to new information as we are continuously suspended on these webs. Presented in a narrative framework, using an autoethnographic approach, this is a story about self in relation to the contextual landscape that I continue to interact with which is mediated by family, culture, Christianity, education (academic discipline) and my experience of working for DramAidE. The aim is to understand DramAidE’s practice and investigate ways of improving communication strategies in public health. This story discusses the complex interaction between belief, identity and context in mediating responses to public health communication. Using Act Alive as a case study, I explore how people receive information about HIV/AIDS and how this information is interpreted and applied.
Community radio : the beat that develops the soul of the people? : a case study of XK fm as a SABC owned community radio station and its role as a facilitator of community based development.
(2011) Hart, Thomas Bongani.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
This study is concerned with the potential of a community radio station under the ownership of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in being a facilitator and social actor of community-based development. XK fm is a radio station run by members of the !Xun and Khwe (two ethnic San communities), but owned and governed by the SABC. It was established to preserve and protect the cultures, languages and histories of the two communities as well acting as a facilitating and promoter of development. The focus of this research is on the examination of the station‘s day-to-day development programmes, the processes involved in operation, production and transmission of these programmes and the outcomes of these processes in the reception of the programmes among the two communities. As a means of critically analyzing the multi-layered aspects of operations within the radio station and the listening habits of its audiences as a whole, this study is situated within a Circuit of Culture (du Gay et al, 1997) framework of theory. It is also based on a case study approach of methodology that utilizes ethnographic methods of data collection from semi-structured and in-depths interviews to passive and participant observations that have been recorded on video. Based on the principles of both forms of development radio broadcasting, this study concludes that XK fm has been successful in utilizing indigenous knowledge and culture to produce radio programming that is sensitive to the development needs of the !Xun and Khwe communities. It has created awareness of development issues through both its cultural programmes and it informational programmes, and through the SABC has been enabled to be productively sustainable, technically advanced and participatory in nature. However, the SABC‘s control over the station does limit the two communities‘ ownership of the station and participation in policy construction, thus constraining the station in more effectively acting as a community radio station. It suggests that XK fm cannot act alone as the sole facilitator of development and needs other mechanisms to enhance participation and effective dialectical information exchange such as radio listening clubs.