Research Articles (Centre for Communication, Media and Society)

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Popularising semiotics.
(Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture., 1991) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.; Shepperson, Arnold.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.; Baker, Russell.; Ballot, Jane Jennifer.; Holt, Alexander Robert.; Mahaye, Zithulele.; Nursoo, Lara.
Semiotics, deconstructionism, structuralism and postmodernism are words which lurk on boundaries of the consciousness of most of us. But they remain shadowy presences except on the rare occasions when we need to wrestle out of them an explanation of just what they are all about. In this issue of Trends we grapple with one of them, semiotics. C. S. Peirce, the American, pragmatist philosopher who coined the term, saw semiotics as a 'method of methods', useful in many disciplines to clarify their own theory and practice. Everyone uses signs and symbols. Everyone thinks they know the meanings of the signs and symbols they use. But why do they have meanings? Where do the meanings come from? Why are the signs and symbols used by one person or group so frequently misinterpreted by others? Semiotics may seem esoteric, but its interests are central to all communication. Consequently all communicators should be concerned with at least some of the problems dealt with semioticians. To guide us on our exploration of semiotics the publishers of Trends, the Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture, have enlisted the aid of Professor Keyan Tomaselli and his colleagues at the Centre for Cultural and Media Studies of the University of Natal, who for some years have been studying the cultural side of semiotics. So eager has their response been that we have devoted two issues of Trends to their reports. The contents of these two issues manifest the views of the authors more than is usual for Trends, and they are not necessarily those of the editors; but the CSCC feels that the perspective of the CCMS deserves both expression and discussion.
Semiotics in an African context : ''science" vs "priest-craft" - "semiology" vs "semiotics".
(IMATRA : International Semiotics Institute., 1992) Shepperson, Arnold.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
No abstract available.
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.
South-North perspectives: contesting cultural and media studies.
(2012) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.; Mboti, Nyasha.
This intervention examines conceptual trajectories arising out of a 22 year North-South research collaboration. It traces the genesis of that trajectory of (Southern) African cultural and media studies that emerged from a context of struggle and liberation via an interdisciplinary network involving departments in universities in Zimbabwe, South Africa (and Kenya) linked to University of Oslo, 1980-2012. The study concludes by elaborating a new imaginary within cultural and media studies (CMS) that incorporates: i) social justice; ii) social action and popular participation; and iii) a reassessment of some assumptions of the European Enlightenment in multicultural African societies.
Cultural studies and Africa: excavating the subject-matter.
(East African Communication Scholars Association., 2002) Shepperson, Arnold.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
This article examines some of the issues arising from the proliferation of cultural studies as a form of national-identity research. Looking at the case of the recent rise of culture studies in South Africa, we examine how certain items of received wisdom about cultural studies have obscured some of the academic dynamics that have actually driven the growth of cultural studies. In contrast with some of these aspects we consider cultural studies as a form of inquiry, driven by the reality of its subject-matter, and review some of the normative concepts that govern the communication of research findings. Based on C.S. Peirce's pragmatic conception of the logic of scientific communication, and on pragmatic trends arising among African writers like D.A. Masolo and Kwasi Wiredu, we consider just what has become the subject-matter of cultural studies. We offer an alternate formulation based in communication practice and provide an example of how this was presented in conference on the African Renaissance. We conclude with suggestions about how cultural studies might recover Its original radical democratic impetus in a world where socialism has lost much of its intellectual integrity.
The rise of grassroot communication.
(Sonolux., 1988) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
The first presentations at the Lusaka Symposium were devoted to South Africa. By challenging apartheid and repression at a local level. grassroot communication is an effective way to oppose Government policy in South Africa. Keyan Tomaselli, director of the Contemporary Cultural Studies Unit at the University of Natal in Durban, looked at the rise of grassroot organisations and how they are preparing an alternative structure for a democratic South Africa.
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.
Intercultural sensitivity in the integrating suburb of Westville. Durban, South Africa.
(1997) Peters, Noel B.; Pertchick, Kevin.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
To investigate intercultural sensitivity, the Davis Russell-Peters Intercultural Sensitivity Instrument (1994) was administered to 203 participants situated within residences in the formerly white suburb of Westville Durban, South Africa. The subjective experience of the participants was evaluated by comparing demographic variables with a suggested continuum of six stages between ethnocentrism and ethnorelativism. Respondents appeared to traverse the polarities related to their perceptions of reality and its subjective meaning. The preference for ethnocentric attitudes appeared to be a construct employed as a result of categorization and separation caused by former restrictive legislation of Apartheid. and strong cultural and religious anchors. It appears that groups gravitate towards their own cultural group because of the security it offers in times of political unrest and fear. Also, groups appeared to maintain healthy self-concepts and a preference for ethnorelativism, creating a world that values difference and is open to integration with the larger society.
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.
Towards a procedural revolution.
(Contemporary Cultural Studies Unit, University of Natal., 1986) Amato, Robert.
This is an attempt at a procedural solution to the present political and economic logjam in South Africa. The aim is to find ways to alleviate some of the difficulties faced by the major parties to the conflict and to facilitate their reaching agreement on rules under which they can compete, not negotiate, as political forces.
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.
S. African Politics: mapping the constituency.
(Program on Communication and Development Studies, Northwestern University., 1991) Louw, Paul Eric.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
Reeling under the sanctions imposed by the community of nations and heightened internal struggles, the South African white government has begun the historic process of dismantling apartheid. The various democratic forces within the country and their aspirations to build a non-racial society still seem distant. Professors Eric Louw and Keyan Tomaselli from the Centre for Cultural and Media Studies at the University of NataI in Durban describe the turbulent situation in South Africa in vivid detail.
Cybernetics, semiotics and meaning in the cinema.
(School of Communication. University of Johannesburg., 1985) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
This paper builds on Gene Youngblood's use of cybernetic theory in film analysis. It combines the cybernetic method with Peircian-derived semiotics in an attempt to derive a meta-theory of social process and film textual structure. An attempt is made to resolve the more deterministic elements of Youngblood's theory, developing a more probabilistic approach. The paper ends with some conjecture on how the cyber-semiotic theory developed can be combined with Lacanian psychoanalysis and Marxist approaches developed by the scholars contributing to the British journal Screen.

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