Doctoral Degrees (Centre for Communication, Media and Society)

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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.
Biodiversity messaging to generation Y students at the Durban University of Technology, KwaZulu-Natal.
(2016) Foley, Jonathan Bernard.; McCracken, Donal Patrick.; Baijnath, Himansu.
This study deals with the intersection of three global influences that are rapidly changing our world; the first a looming environmental crisis or loss of biodiversity, the second the growing influence of a new generation of students (Generation Y) who possess the ability and power to reshape the socio political, economic and cultural landscape and finally the phenomenal power and penetration of multimedia communication platforms. Mindful of these global themes and context this particular research focuses on a relatively new area of study not yet covered in the literature, that of South African university students perceptions of nature. The study involved establishing the extent of the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of South African students (Generation Y) toward Nature, discovering how they connect with local biodiversity and determining the best communication modes for reaching this audience. The work posited that Generation Y students may be unfamiliar with the exact meaning and significance of the term biodiversity but could respond positively when exposed to nature based experiences at accessible botanic gardens, and protected urban green spaces. Student opinions (n= 428) at the Durban University of Technology were sampled statistically using an appropriate survey instrument. The resultant quantitative data revealed significant student levels of concern for biodiversity loss and a strong cultural bias in terms of personal linkages with medicinal plants. Visitor frequency to nature reserves was low however the use of botanic gardens proved more popular. Visual modes of communication such as television were preferred over text modalities and while the influence of multimedia electronic platforms was acknowledged the possible use of nature apps received a limited response. Qualitative data gathered from four focus groups involved guided discussion on the relevance of biodiversity, and local field visits to Pigeon Valley Nature Reserve and the Durban Botanic Gardens. Students produced response posters which revealed high levels of personal empathy and connection to nature, emphasizing existing cultural connections with local plants. A biodiversity communication model for South African university students was presented building on these findings.
Bleaching Durban: forced removals of formal Black urban settlements in central Durban (1963-1985)
(2019) Rosenberg, Leonard Glenn.; McCracken, Donal Patrick.
The living, cultural, political and commercial urban space, occupied by the collective of African, Indian and Coloured people, referred to as a Black presence in this study, was distinct yet “invisible” as possible to the privileged racial group, during the colonial and apartheid periods. This invisibility is reflected in Durban’s urban history narrative, particularly its spatial development and built environment. The urban space and built environment perceived to be for Whites, has been documented, visually illustrated, its heroes celebrated and architecture preserved, whilst the “invisible” Black presence was first marginalised, then finally “bleached” from central Durban by the process of forced removals. This omission and marginalisation creates the general impression that Blacks did not occupy urban space and were not part of the evolution of this port city, apart from the Grey Street “Indian quarter”. The “bleaching” or forced removals in central Durban, conceived as urban space for Whites, started in earnest in the 1960s and continued until the mid-1980s, yet this socio-spatial re-organisation of the city has been neglected and thus largely undocumented. Although some studies have since examined Durban’s multicultural character and composition during the colonial and apartheid periods, these studies have focused on either the African or Indian urban experience, with a paucity of information on Coloureds and the subject of forced removals. In addition, these studies focused on specific aspects such as residential, traders or workers’ issues, resulting in a racially fragmented and incomplete picture of what a collective Black urban presence consisted of, before and after forced removals. Built environments are shaped by a past which celebrated some of its “monuments and markings”, whilst omitting some of that past (Knowles 2003: 97). “Race making is a spatial practice, and space contains important information about racial grammar as forms of social practice to which race gives rise” (Knowles, 2003: 80). This study examines the spatial evolution of Durban and demonstrates the connection between space and race. The spatial practice of ‘race making’ is demonstrated by an examination of White attitudes and legislation introduced that enabled the spatial clustering of Blacks into undesirable spaces, during the development of Durban from the 1870s to the 1980s. Various legislative measures are identified over different periods in the city’s development, which enabled the spatial practice of separating Blacks from White settlers, socially and spatially, before finally being removed from the central city from the 1960s. Different legislative measures were used to control the entry and occupation of urban space by Africans and Indians, and similarly, their removal was also achieved by the use of different legislation. The contribution that this thesis makes to Durban’s urban history is to identify the previously “invisible” living, educational, commercial, religion, sports and political space, occupied by Blacks. The Black presence is made visible by identifying, describing and illustrating what this space consisted of, where, when and how it was created and removed from the White city. Also, of importance to the urban history narrative of Durban, is the use of maps, diagrams and photographic material, which not only depict the character and architectural qualities of the urban Black presence, but also integrates it within the spatial development of the city until the mid-1980s.
The Bold and the Beautiful and Generations : a comparative ethnographic audience study of Zulu-speaking students living in residences on the University of Natal's Durban campus.
(2002) Tager, Michele.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
This thesis is an ethnographic study of the soap opera viewing patterns and interpretations of Zulu-speaking students living in residences on the Natal University's Durban campus who watch The Bold and the Beautiful (an American soap opera) and Generations (a South African soap opera). It presents an analysis of how the viewing practices of the students compare with the findings of soap opera audience studies conducted abroad. The students' motivations and reasons for watching both soap operas are investigated. The reason for choosing black students as subjects is that I wanted to determine how a soap opera (Generations) which is comprised largely of black cast members and designed with a young black audience in mind, is interpreted and impacts on the lives of said audience, when compared with an American soap opera (The Bold and the Beautiful) which has an almost exclusively white American cast, and is popular with young black viewers in spite of the fact that it appears on the surface to be unrelated to their everyday lives. Individual one-on-one interviews were conducted with 40 students, 20 male and 20 female. The interviews were analysed to gauge how the viewing behaviour of the students differs from, or is similar to, soap opera studies conducted elsewhere in the world. It emerged that the students watch in groups and not alone, and that watching Generations and The Bold and the Beautiful is a social activity, not motivated from loneliness or isolation. The ways in which the students relate to the characters and situations of both soap operas is also examined, in an attempt to establish the role that these two shows play in the creation of the students' identities. The students displayed a tendency to be more critical of Generations than of The Bold and the Beautiful in the sense that they compared it (unfavourably) in terms of quality of production, to its American counterpart, as well as in the sense that they analysed storylines in terms of their own lived experiences and were quick to criticise Generations when they felt that it did not conform to their notions of the reality of being a black South African. They accepted situations and characters on The Bold and the Beautiful far less critically, although they did voice objections to certain characters and situations which they felt were morally questionable in terms of their understanding of right and wrong. It also became apparent that there was a greater emotional involvement with the characters on The Bold and the Beautiful than with those on Generations. The students interpretations of (and level of involvement with) situations, characters and storylines are examined, as well as the ways in which they derive pleasure from both soaps and incorporate them into their own lives. In summary, this thesis examines the consumption of an American and a South African soap opera by a black South African audience .
Botswana television (BTV) negotiating control and cultural production in a globalising context : a political economy of media state ownership in Africa.
(2007) Mosime, Sethunya Tshepho.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
Botswana is considered an exemplary democracy in Africa. It is imperative to assess how an enviable democracy could flourish when the most widely available mass media was not independent. The fact is, despite the fact that media has been at the heart of development in Botswana, it has often been ignored in local academic and popular discussions about democracy and governance. A 1994 seminar on the media in a democracy organized by the Mmegi Publishing Trust (Leepile, 1994), was one of the very few forums where the role of the media in Botswana was given any attention. Even then, most the presentations were not substantive, mainly providing basic information about media institutions in Botswana and laws that protect and threaten freedom of the media. Botswana's contemporary state - media nexus can only be understood within the context of a long history of media dependence and domination by neighbouring South Africa (Zaffiro, 1991) assisted by British colonisation. To appreciate the challenges of cultural production at Botswana Television (BTV) required a study of the problematic encounter between the quest for creative and professional freedom within BTV on the one hand,·and the authoritarian gaze of state power on the other hand. BTV operated under an ill-defined broadcasting model, of a state bureaucratic arm, attempting to fulfil the ethos of public service broadcasting. Through the lens of the Newsroom, in-house productions, commissioning and procurement of foreign and local content, the study shows the subtle ways in which state ownership of the media compromises freedom of expression and freedom of information in Botswana. Yet, Botswana continued to enjoy that status of Africa's exemplar of democracy. Good governance indicators consistently gave media in Botswana cursory attention, thereby reinforcing state authoritarianism in Botswana. With a media dominated by state power, Botswana still emerged as exemplary. This complicated the quest for the ideal communication environment towards democratization in the Third World, particularly in a globalizing context. In situations such as that of Botswana, where the institutions that should protect the media from government control are either absent or weak, universal ideals on media freedom are often not enough. Media practitioners are more likely to find support in the local discourses, repertoires and cultures that call upon all, regardless of status, to tolerate opposition. A local tradition of the kgotla in particular, often heralded as Botswana's indigenous form of democracy, is placed in this chapter, at the heart of much of the freedom, limited as it may be, that BTV enjoyed.
Cinematic fact and the film services industry: production contexts and contexts of production in Zimbabwe (1980-2016)
(2016) Ureke, Oswelled.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
The thesis is an exploration of the film services industry in Zimbabwe. It attempts to explore the nature of skills, infrastructure and organisational networks exploited in the production of film and video in Zimbabwe. The study is situated within film services (Goldsmith and O’Regan, 2005; Goldsmith et al, 2010) and political economy frameworks which acknowledge and critique the roles of multiple players and services in the film production value chain. The study proposes and applies a holistic cinematic-fact analysis of the film industry’s components rather than the content or the filmic fact (Stam et al, 1992). Four purposively selected films, King Solomon’s Mines, Everyone’s Child, Tanyaradzwa and Sinners? are analysed to establish the composition of film services employed in their production. The different socio-economic contexts in which the films were created supposedly had an influence on the film services and ultimately, on the aesthetic norms and themes of the narratives. The study is also informed by political and shadow economy theories, attempting to link socio-economic and political circumstances to the content of the films. Data for the study was collected using mainly the interview method as well as collection of archival materials. Filmmakers purposively sampled for their roles in the four productions were interviewed about their experiences on the film sets. Policy-makers with a bearing on the functioning of the film industry were also selected, either purposively or through snowball sampling, and interviewed to provide qualitative data about the nature of the film services industry in Zimbabwe. Thematic analysis and hermeneutics of interpretation were used to analyse the data. The study found out that film production in Zimbabwe, has transformed from an era of being modelled as a formal enterprise with clear, specialised roles to one that is constituted as a shadow economy (Lobato, 2012) which has no clear structures and does not depend on specialised film services. The ‘industry’ now uses a ‘guesswork’ approach to making film. This has had a net effect of creating a new genre of film whose building blocks are not traditionally associated with the classical film medium. This genre, dubbed the drasofi (dramma, soapie, film) is a genre of convenience borne out of the difficult circumstances that filmmakers and other enterprises operate under in Zimbabwe. Though the typical film produced in this set-up may be of poor aesthetic quality, it is one borne out of a truly indigenous and artistic endeavour; a trashy but auterist narrative.
Communicating AIDS : the coverage of HIV/AIDS discourse in two Ugandan newspapers, 1992-2011.
(2017) Napakol, Angella.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
Abstract available in PDF file.
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.
A community media narrowcasting in Uganda : an assessment of community audio towers.
(2016) Semujju, Robert Brian.; Dyll, Lauren Eva.
This thesis is about Community Audio Towers (CATs). CATs are small media platforms that use horn speakers hoisted on a long dry pole, an amplifier and a microphone to communicate daily village events. This study shows that individuals depend more on CATs than other available mainstream channels. The thesis interrogates the level of individual (i.e. villager) dependency on CATs in Ugandan rural and semi-urban communities alongside the other three available platforms in Uganda: radio, television and newspapers. There is a gap in existing literature to explain dependencies in small (alternative) media like CATs. Therefore, the study uses the Media System Dependency (MSD) theory (Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur, 1976), a relevant media theory that explains dependencies on a communication platform similar to this case study. However, since CATs are a community media, they are also theorised in this study within the framework of development communication, which helps the study to argue that CATs are small media platforms that provide local information. However, due to the need to investigate dependencies in CATs, the study‘s main research questions are raised using the MSD theory. The study employs both quantitative and qualitative methods. To investigate the level of individual dependency on CATs, a survey was done among 100 respondents from two districts in Uganda (50 respondents from each district). Data was collected in the rural Masaka district and in the semi-urban Mukono district. Additionally, to understand how CATs are sustained, how they attract the community members, and their position in the national communication infrastructure, ten key informant interviews were conducted with various CATs stakeholders like: the State Minister for ICT, technical experts at Uganda Communications Commission, District information and Development officers, local council chairmen and CATs announcers. The study found that the level of individual dependency on CATs is higher than the individual dependency on any other mass communication platform accessed by the sample communities. CATs appear to attract the audience through localising the processes of information gathering, processing and dissemination. These processes are affordable and done by the locals themselves, something that increases attention whenever the community requires a channel to communicate an issue. The challenges include noise, lack of a licence or regulation, and weather variations that disturb sound waves. The thesis concludes by introducing Small Media System Dependency (SMSD) relations to explain dependency relations in small/alternative media platforms.
Crime and punishment on the box : a contextual/discursive/semiotic analysis of SABC documentaries in the global era.
(2005) Burelli, Elaine.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
The SABC has embraced a mandate that advocates the promotion of cultural diversity within the broader ambit of national identity. Although SABC3 consitutes the commercial wing of the station, it too is required to produce programmes in accordance with the spirit of this mandate. With tight budgets, pressure for audience ratings and an assortment of individual producers with individual production agendas, it may be naIve to presume that the SABC could consistently give priority to this mandate. Nonetheless, this is what it has undertaken. Considering this unifying and optimistic mandate, how then are frightening, troubling or disillusioning social phenomena depicted? The representation of one such phenomenon, crime, has been selected here for examination as it appears in Special Assignment and Expressions programmes. The way in which the SABC tackles essentially negative material and puts it in documentary form for national consumption sends out a message to South African viewers. The nature of this message - and its relation to the broadcaster's mandate - forms the basis for this dissertation. Each of nine selected documentaries is analysed using a mixture of semiotic, discursive and contextual principles. The programmes are examined in terms of four sections. The first is global trends and theories. Criminological, documentary and other theories that are global in scope have been adapted to powerfully, but subtly, underscore all of the documentaries, with implications for the representation of national identity. Secondly, a sociological examination of the way in which the local has been depicted (and whether it is given much attention at all) has implications for the fulfilment of the part of the mandate relating to cultural diversity. Thirdly and fourthly, the overall portrait of national identity in the documentaries is largely dependent on the combined representation of national culture - including values, symbols, rituals and beliefs - and the nation-state. Both of these should be construed in an optimistic light, taking into account, nonetheless, the critical watchdog function of the media. The evaluation remains strictly textual and preferred meaning is determined through theoretically supported analysis rather than via audience research. Issues such as global neoliberalism and its impact on the SABC and newsroom values are touched on and acknowledged, but ultimately, their effect on the fulfilment of the mandate is not examined in this dissertation. The central thrust of the dissertation in thus, strictly, the way in which the levels of the global, national and local, as they are represented in the documentaries, constitute interlocking factors, which impinge on the manner in which the SABC complies with its mandate. The findings of the dissertation were unsurprising in many respects. Overall, there appeared to be no consistent pattern to which documentaries were produced. The immediacies of production pressures and deadlines appear to outdo the broadcaster's mandate in terms of priority. Having said this, however, certain features do recur, such as the prevalence of sensationalism or, on the positive side, the humanising of criminals in a way that offers hope. Consequently, the study isolates approaches that foster national identity and those that do not, noting the frequency with which they occur and thereby implicitly offering a roadmap for future productions.
Discontinuity without change? the place and discourse of colonial memory in Zimbabwe’s post- Mugabe Zanu-PF politics.
(2024) Kupeta, Noah.; Lubombo, Musara.; Dyll, Lauren Eva.
Zimbabwean politics are notably complex and difficult to understand, even by scholars with a strong interest in African affairs with a long institutional memory of the historical determinants of the independence and post-independence struggles within Zimbabwe. Through the lens of political culture and functional theory campaign communication, this qualitative inquiry titled “Discontinuity without change? The place and discourse of colonial memory in Zimbabwe’s post-Mugabe ZANU-PF politics” scrutinizes the colonial narratives in the political discourses in Zimbabwe’s ruling party ZANU (PF) following the Robert Mugabe era intending to understand how colonial memory shapes the party’s the ideological foundations and policy directions. The study draws on eight speeches delivered by former president Robert Mugabe during the 2002 elections, as well as speeches by his successor and current president Emmerson Munangagwa during the 2018 election campaign. It also incorporates insights from key informants within ZANU (PF), Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), Zimpapers, and Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) to explore the role of media in influencing the nuanced interplay between historical legacies, political discourse, and contemporary governance. By examining the ebbs and tides of electoral politics in Zimbabwe spanning nearly decades through the prism of post-colonial memory, the study concludes that while Mnangagwa’s ascendance as President hinted at a departure from his predecessor’s politics, there is a notable continuity in the streams of colonial memory that informed ZANU-PF electoral strategies. This underscores how political discourses and power dynamics during elections are deeply entrenched within the broader context of Zimbabwean politics and pan-African pursuit of of self-determination (Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo), identity and independence. Despite certain shifts in Mnangagwa’s ‘New Dispensation’ that deviate from Mugabeism, the persistence of colonial memory underscores its pivotal role in shaping the principles and practices of representative democracy within Zimbabwe. The media’s influence in (re)shaping post-Mugabe discourse sheds light on the implications of memory appropriation in contemporary Zimbabwean political communication.
Ethnography of production practices in Kenyan television entertainment programmes: imagining audiences.
(2010) Kingara, George Ngugi.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
How television entertainment programmes producers in Kenya conceptualise audiences is the primary objective of this study. It begins with a brief examination of how the operations of broadcast media institutions in Kenya have been historically linked to government and commerce. Throughout the history of television in Kenya, producers have conceptualised audiences in line with the political, economic and socio-cultural factors that were paramount in the instituting of broadcasting in this society. This historical background continues to shape the character of television entertainment programmes, and therefore how producers conceptualise audiences for these programmes. During their production practices, producers are also influenced by particular communication dynamics within which television programmes are produced and viewed. The dynamics of 'being the audience of television' include that the 'active audience' is autonomous in its various relationships with programmes content, yet the subjectivity of viewers to the institutional systems within which broadcasting happens constrains the audience‘s freedom in how it relates to entertainment programmes. Programme content hails and guides the audience into 'attending' to given shows in specific ways. This study reveals that the audience multi-facetedly relates with entertainment programmes, but the degree to which the audience can exercise its 'will' over the television text is limited. This is because television programmes are constructed meanings, framed and constricted by the elements that constitute them. Also, structures of culture constrain the plurality of the resources audiences have at their disposal as tools for 'reading‘ the programmes. The research-participant producers conceptualised the audience from a 'value-based‘ socio-cultural perspective. Therefore, they attached a kind of magnanimity to television as an institution for influencing in specific ways the segments of society they imagined watched it. Hence, producers of the particular entertainment programmes considered in this case study intended them to represent quality socio-cultural values for the social development of Kenyan society. In agreement with the producers, the audience respondents cited in this study appeared to consider entertainment programmes as important narratives capable of helping them better understand the social world they live in. They saw entertainment programmes as stories that authenticate their world by reflecting that world back to them. Overall, the findings of this case study established that Kenyan producers of television entertainment programmes technically operated within the political economic conventions of television production. However, a strong philosophical, moral-value code appeared to guide the producers‘ sense of purpose and duty to their audience. Apparently, the producers‘ resolve to embed in programmes meanings that propagated particular socio-cultural ideals was as prominent as the institutional political economic objectives for which they were hired to fulfil. This 'extra‘ sense of purpose catalysed the producers‘ unique regard for entertainment programmes as functional narratives, whose primary objective it should be to elevate society‘s moral fabric. Conclusively, the research-participant producers employed an old-fashioned approach to conceptualizing the audience. They saw the audience as congregated in masses of social categories cemented together by a tangible cultural-national identity.
An exploration of community radio, culture and health communication among rural and semi-urban dwellers in the central region of Ghana: a case study of Covid-19 and Radio Peace.
(2022) Essel, Emmanuel.; Govender, Eliza Melissa.
The mainstream global COVID-19 communication for development and social change approaches, instituted by the neoliberal forces, hinge on information dissemination targeting individual behavioural change to halt the spread of the virus (Dutta et al., 2020). Ghana’s public health communication about COVID-19 has primarily employed persuasive approaches using mainstream channels to share the WHO-approved non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs): personal hygiene, mass masking, social distancing and pharmaceutical measures. However, the adequacy of mainstream approaches to meet the COVID-19 communication needs among marginalised communities is unclear. This study focuses on pandemic responses and explores community participation through counter-discursive platforms like community radio. This thesis explores how local cultures influence the ability, modality and extent of community members’ participation in the workings of community radio in promoting COVID-19 relevant health communication. This study uses qualitative data from three semi-urban and rural community radio host districts in Ghana collected between July and December 2021. Radio Peace, a community radio station in Winneba, Ghana’s Central Region, serves as a single case study. Purposive sampling was employed to select participants from the Effutu Municipal, Awutu Senya West, and Gomoa West Districts, Ghana’s Central Region. By using the culture-centred approach and participatory communication, eight (8) focus group discussions (FGDs) and eleven (11) in-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted to understand how community radio attends to the communicative needs of marginalised people living within the selected communities. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings suggest that community radio enhances the agency of marginalised people by providing an accessible public sphere for community-level dialogue concerning COVID-19 prevention using indigenous language. However, the involvement of marginalised people in Radio Peace’s COVID-19 communication intervention was limited by structural factors. These include indecorous language during on-air discourses, economic challenges of batteries to power radio sets, irregular community visits by the station’s staff, transmission challenges, and difficulty in calling into programmes due to jammed telephone lines. The study concludes that social, economic and cultural contexts significantly influence active listeners’ ability to participate in community radio interventions that pertain to COVID-19 communication. It also considers that community radio effectively communicates COVID-19 prevention messages that offer active listeners opportunities to be involved meaningfully in the interventions. Thus, the study proposes the socio-cultural model for the future conception, design and implementation of COVID-19 communication interventions for community radio in a manner that allows for marginalised people’s meaningful participation in such responses. Access, social capital and community participation are critical for effectively implementing the socio-cultural model for COVID-19 communication using community radio. The success of the socio-cultural model for COVID-19 communication hinges on a nuanced understanding of the beneficiary communities’ local needs, values, structural factors and economic capabilities.
An exploration of the social-cultural factors that influence oral pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake and integration into sexual and reproductive healthcare services for young women in KwaZulu-Natal.
(2019) Nota, Phiwe Babalo.; Govender, Eliza Melissa.
In the past, HIV prevention efforts have disappointingly focused on reducing individual risk, with insufficient attention to socio-cultural, economic, structural, and other contextual factors that increase vulnerability to HIV. However, public health efforts towards HIV prevention now focus on combination strategies. This strategy recognizes that the integration of biomedical, social and structural interventions in mitigating the HIV and AIDS epidemic will translate to population-level impact. In Southern Africa, young women are disproportionately vulnerable to HIV infection, with women between the ages of 15 to 24 twice more likely to be infected than men. However, the licensure of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and the South African National Department of Health policy on the integration of oral PrEP in sexual reproductive health (SRH) services creates renewed hope for young women who are often unable to negotiate safe sex practices. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of biomedical technologies is influenced by socio-cultural, structural and economic factors. This underscores the need to understand; (a) Populations that will consider using oral PrEP, (b) The likely socio-cultural challenges or opportunities that will influence acceptance, uptake and adherence of oral PrEP, and (c) How to integrate oral PrEP in already existing SRH services in a manner that ensures optimal adherence to oral PrEP to key population groups. This study sought to find effective ways in which oral PrEP can be integrated into SRH services in South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). To attain an in-depth understanding of this topic, participatory visual methodologies in the form of journey mapping workshops and one-on-one interviews with 15 young women taking oral PrEP were facilitated. The participatory approach to this inquiry created an enabling space for young women to engage in dialogue about oral PrEP. Young women need to be placed at the centre of the response to HIV and AIDS in a meaningful way that will facilitate sustainable interventions in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Two nurses from both research sites were also interviewed to yield healthcare providers perspectives into the study inquiry. The study has the potential to inform policymakers on how existing SRH services can be improved to multi-dimensional systems that support oral PrEP uptake and adherence by young women at high risk of HIV. Findings of this study support the conclusion that oral PrEP needs to be integrated into already existing SRH services in ways that are context-specific and culturally relevant for communities. The young women in this study explicitly shared the various social and cultural factors that will influence them accessing oral PrEP in SRH services within their local clinics. Issues related to the structure, services offered and healthcare provider’s attitudes will affect acceptance, uptake and adherence of oral PrEP by young women in rural and urban KZN communities.
Explorations in ethnicity and social change among Zulu-speaking San descendents of the Drakensberg Mountains, KwaZulu-Natal.
(2007) Francis, Michael Douglas.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
This thesis is an ethnographic exploration of the people of the Drakensberg Mountains of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa that trace Zulu and San or Bushmen ancestry. I found that as these people attempt to reclaim rights lost through colonization, assimilation and Apartheid they are creating new rituals and attaching new significance to rock art sites. I also found that the contemporary ethnography of the Drakensberg peoples in general can aid interpretations of the rock art and also challenges established hegemonies of interpretation. The research also challenges the ethnic/cultural distinctions that are assumed to be salient between different peoples of South Africa and adds to the 'Kalahari debate' by questioning notions of an either or situation of assimilation or subordination. The ethno-historical record indicates a much more complex web of relations existed historically than is related in the dominant academic discourses. The extent that these people will be recognised as aboriginal remains to be seen, and currently they are creating social and political links with San organizations with the hopes of future gains and political recognition of their rights and identity.
Exploring the role of adolescent youth-friendly services (AYFS) in primary health care clinics that offer HIV and sexual reproductive health (SRH) services for adolescent girls and young women in Vulindlela, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
(2020) Vukapi, Yonela.; Govender, Eliza Melissa.
In sub-Sahara Africa, adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) bear a disproportionate burden of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) risks, where HIV infection and adolescent fertility are a major concern. Specifically, in South Africa, it is estimated that nearly 2 000 AGYW between the ages of 15 to 24 years are infected with HIV every week. Furthermore, it is estimated that by 2019, 15,6% of females between the ages of 15 and 19 years in South Africa had begun childbearing. Consequently, systemizing and expanding the reach of quality AGYW health service provision is part of the South African National Adolescent and Youth Health Policy. To promote accessibility, efficiency, quality, and sustainability of adolescent youth-friendly health services (AYFS) in primary health care clinics, national response to the HIV and SRH needs of AGYW need to be prioritized. It is for this reason that AGYW is a key focus in this study. This study was conducted in Vulindlela, in the uMgungundlovu district in KwaZulu-Natal. This area reports high levels of HIV infection, with notable high fertility rates among AGYW. The study was conducted in 3 primary health care clinics that have initiated the AYFS programme, providing HIV and SRH care to AGYW. This study has three aims: (1) to investigate whether primary health care clinics offer youth-friendly HIV and SRH services to AGYW (2) to assess the current strategies employed in primary health care clinics to make HIV and SRH services adolescent youth-friendly and (3) to explore the potential of adolescent youth-friendly services in influencing HIV and SRH care among AGYW. This study is framed by the culture-centered approach (CCA) in understanding AGYW’s experiences when accessing HIV and SRH services in primary health care clinics. CCA is founded on the principles of listening to the voices of the margins that have hitherto been unheard in policy and programming circles. Purnell’s cultural competency model (CC) of health care nurses is also crucial for AYFS to effective among AGYW. This model encourages health care nurses to understand the heritage and culture in which their patients come from in order to provide acceptable and suitable HIV and SRH services. A participatory action research design was adopted, where data collection was threefold: a PhotoVoice workshop, focus group discussion and individual interviews. Key findings from this study highlighted that lack of congruent care, administration, time management, shortage of infrastructure and health care nurses negative attitudes were identified as the main deficits to AGYW SRH care clinic. However, AYFS in primary health care clinics could encourage HIV and SRH care among AGYW. Having younger health care nurses at the clinic was one strategy that AGYW alluded to in this study. AGYW also mentioned that having a separate building for AYFS would improve their adherence to HIV and SRH services like HIV testing, family planning and antenatal care. This study highlighted the need for greater understanding of the socio-cultural perceptions of health care workers’ perceptions of adolescent sexual and reproductive health, and the provision of HIV and SRH services. This study found that HIV and SRH services are currently not youth-friendly for AGYW across all three clinics in which the study was conducted. AGYW described that the clinic structure does not have enough space to, and therefore hinders their privacy at the clinic. Health care nurses attitudes and the lack of communication between AGYW and nurses at the clinic were some of the key findings in this study. On the contrary, health care nurses find it challenging to focus one patient at the clinic because of shortage of clinical staff and administrative staff.
Facebook usage in political communication in Ghana: the case of two political parties.
(2019) Boateng, Akwasi Bosompem.; McCracken, Donal Patrick.
The emergence and spread of social media are changing activities in many walks of life. These technologies have ushered in a digital era that has transformed communication, engagements and relationships. Social media have revolutionised how political communication and politics, particularly electoral processes are also done. This study is centred in Ghana and investigated how Facebook is used in intra-party elections by New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress. Since the New Patriotic Party took over the reign of political power in 2017, there has been a considerable rise in political vigilantism in Ghana, which some have attributed to lack of direct access to parties and officials due to limited time given to stakeholders during “phone-in” segments on political programmes in traditional media. There are also debates as to whether social media have improved political communication and participation in Africa. More so, studies conducted on political use of social media in Ghana have not explored their appropriation in intra-party elections. The purpose of this study is to shed new light on the debate regarding social media usage in political communication in Africa, examining how Facebook is appropriated by political parties in Ghana. The study employed qualitative and quantitative techniques (mixed methods approach) in sequential triangulation of interviews and content analysis. Underpinned by interpretative and pragmatic paradigms, this study conducted interviews with communication officials of New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress. Contents of Facebook posts of the parties were analysed to corroborate or dispute data collected from interviews. Observations were also made from visits and activities of parties during data collection. The transcribed data was thematically organised for the study to analyse and present in narrative forms. Data from content analysis of Facebook was also coded and put into figures, numbers and tabular formats. This study anchored on the theories of technology appropriation, relationship management, and agenda setting. Generally, this study indicated that political parties in Ghana particularly New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress use social media especially Facebook in political communication and intra-party elections. However, the parties were particularly using Facebook for public information purposes instead of establishing mutually beneficial relationships through interactive engagements and two-way symmetrical communication on the social networking site, or perhaps not making good use of Facebook especially in internal elections. Parties considered and delivered social media communication on ad-hoc value without concerted efforts and political public relations strategies to maximise potentials. Inasmuch as political parties in Ghana demonstrated the desire to establish relationships by creating pages on vii Facebook to get closer to stakeholders and the public, they could not achieve this. They have focused their attention on passive traditional communication without reconsidering their activities to improve social media use especially “Facebooking” for interactions and mutually beneficial engagements and relationships. This study suggests that political parties improve interactions and conversations with stakeholders. Parties need to create political public relations units of communication professionals with expertise and skills to advice and manage social media engagements as specialised activities to extend mutually beneficial relationships. Communication officials of parties have to be trained in political public relations and social media for more knowledge and understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with these new forms of communication technologies to harness their utility.
Ideology, hegemony and HIV/AIDS : the appropriation of indigenous and global spheres.
(2004) Parker, Warren.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
Ideology is a fundamental aspect of society, and ideological analysis has been applied to the development of explanatory frameworks for understanding structural dominance within social formations. Structural and post-structural conceptions of ideology have focused on macro-ideological phenomena and processes, offering explanation of relations between economic base and super-structure as they interrelate with ideological dominance. Ideologies serve the interests of particular social formations or classes over others, and at the macro-level this has to do with organised thought as it relates to power. This thesis explores the concept of ideology and related concepts of dominance, power and hegemony, through relocating macrolevel understandings and analysis of ideology within analysis of superstructural entities - notably organisations, groups and elites. HIV/AIDS is an ecological phenomenon that is accompanied by processes of sense-making that incorporate ideological dimensions in the public sphere, particularly in relation to social policy and strategy. Ideological discourses about HIV/AIDS have drawn on specific epistemological foundations and world-views, incorporating intersections with parallel ideologies, and in many instances being directed towards achieving expansion and dominance of particular ideas. This ideological strategy incorporates the construction of common sense. Ideological claims are reiterative, but are also related to processes of legitimation that combine structural relations with communicative power. A South African HIV/AIDS programme, LoveLife, is utilised as a case study to demonstrate ideological trajectories over time. The inter-relation between claims about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, claims about impact of the LoveLife programme, and the utility of alliances and structural partnerships in legitimating such claims is explored. These claims-making processes are found to also occur at global level through the active resourcing and facilitation by LoveLife programme's founding funder, the Kaiser Family Foundation. These activities intersect in the development of an ideological bloc that is directed towards expansion and dominance through appropriation of indigenous and global discourse spheres.
An interpretive study of the representations of South African Zulu masculinities in the soap operas, Uzalo, Imbewu and Isibaya.
(2021) Nzimande, Melba Belinda Melissa.; Dyll, Lauren Eva.
Since their origins in the 1930s, soap operas have been known as a feminine genre. Contributing to soap opera scholarship, this study explores the interpretations of masculinities that are presented in three South African soap operas by Zulu male audiences living in KwaZulu-Natal - Uzalo, Imbewu and Isibaya. A constructivist approach guides the study in understanding that masculinities are fluid and influenced by social and cultural factors. It articulates the complexity and ambiguity of contemporary South African masculinities, thus working against stereotypical representations of black South African men. An indigenised cultural studies approach includes how the study’s focus group participants read the soap opera preferred messages of Zulu masculinities and reasons for their dominant, negotiated or oppositional readings of these. This is enabled through a comparison of data collected through in-depth interviews with producers from each of the soap operas, with responses from 30 focus group participants in rural and urban areas of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Data is analysed through the development of deductive and inductive thematisation where the relationship between the theme and international and local theoretical positions are explained. Typically, soap opera scholarship argues that the genre subverts discourses of hegemonic masculinity. This study found that contemporary South African soap opera representations of masculinities both uphold and subvert dominant discourses of Zulu masculinities. The significance of this is twofold. Firstly, soap opera producers are creating narratives that no longer conform only to traditional soap opera codes and conventions. They encode messages through narratives that draw in male viewers and use the power of cultural proximity in representations, meaning that there is a move to the indigenisation of settings, storylines and languages to attract audiences. Secondly, male audiences decode the messages through parasocial relationships and cultural proximity. The study adds to understanding the specificities of viewing within the African context, and the importance of creatives to be aware of the ways in which these habits shape the meanings of the programmes they produce. In sum, the study contributes to African masculinity studies, but particularly masculinity studies in soap operas in terms of representation and audience engagement in a “post” era, from the perspective of the global South.
Investigating students' sexual risk behaviour, risk and protective factors and their responses to the Scrutinise Campus Campaign at universities in KwaZulu-Natal.
(2012) Mutinta, Given Chigaya.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
The high levels of HIV prevalence amongst young people in sub-Saharan African countries, have led to the clarion call for researchers to investigate the determinants to young people's sexual risk-taking behaviour while others are exploring the usage of entertainment education (EE) so that effective prevention and interventions may be developed. One critical aspect is that research efforts so far have been hampered by the adoption of models and perspectives that are narrow and do not adequately capture the complexity associated with young people's sexual experiences. The distinctiveness of this study is therefore grounded in the focus on the risky sexual practices students engage in and their underlying risk and protective multisystemic factors and their response to the EE interventions, in particular the Scrutinise Campus Campaign. Thus, using the Problem Behaviour Theory, Reception Theory and the Social Cognitive Learning Theory, this study investigates the phenomena of students' sexual risk behaviour and their response to the Scrutinise Campus campaign. The study is situated within the interpretative paradigm. It used a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology underpinned by in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation and field notes to draw data for this study. The study sample included students and the Scrutinise Campus Campaign officers. Findings of this study sustain the conclusion that students' sexual risk behaviour is influenced by interrelated, interactional and transactional factors from the multisysternic factors: biological, environmental/social, behavioural and personality domains that either instigate or buffer against students' sexual risk behaviour. However, Scrutinise Campus campaign's messages do not fully address students' sexual risk practices and their underlying factors as experienced by students. It is critical to employ a comprehensive and continuum of EE interventions that are broad in scope arid target factors from multiple systems of influence including the multisystemic factors. Most significantly, sources of protective influence should not be ignored when designing and implementing EE prevention programmes and, to the extent possible, both risk arid protective factors should be addressed in the interventions. This may help to effectively address students' sexual-risk taking behaviour in universities.

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