Centre for Communication, Media and Society

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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.
Advertising as culture : a study of how television advertisements represent work in South Africa.
(2004) Kankuzi, Sydney Friendly.; Caldwell, Marc Anthony.
The present study investigates how television advertising represents work in South Africa. It uses the 1998 Employment Equity Act as an index of analysis. Using the contructionist approach to media representations and a re-examination of George Gerbner's cultivation hypothesis as its point of departure the study examines fifty-four television advertisements that were randomly selected over a four week period SABC 1, 2 and 3, and e.tv. Overall the study points out that images of work that are portrayed by television adverting in South Africa tend to marginalise certain demographic groups in certain types of occupational categories and work roles. However, it hesitates to apply ideals of the 1998 Employment Equity Act on this observation to conclude that advertising representations discriminate against the respective demographic groups in the occupational categories and work roles. The study justifies this hesitation in two ways. Firstly, it raises theoretical problems that would arise if one applied ideals of the 1996 Employment Equity Act wholesale on advertising representations of work. Secondly, it points out important weaknesses of quantitative content analysis which incapacitates it from grasping subtle tendencies which may help give a more comprehensive picture of advertising representations.
African foreign students’ behavioral practices towards the University of KwaZulu-Natal HIV and AIDS support programme at Howard College Campus.
(2018) Smith, Isaiah Philip.; Dyll, Lauren Eva.
This study investigates African foreign students’ behavioural practices towards the University of KwaZulu-Natal HIV and AIDS support programme. The participants of the study consisted both male and female between the ages of 26- 30 students from college of humanities, college of Agricultural engineering and science and the college of Health science of the Howard College Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. The Health Belief Model was adopted in this study to explore the factors that influence African foreign students’ behavioural practices in response to HIV prevention at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The study is both quantitative and qualitative. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used in data collection. The study revealed that foreign students’ behavioural practices towards UKZN HIV and AIDS Support Programme is limited to HIV and AIDS testing, with very few students knowing about other activities of the programme. This implies that the programme needs to create more awareness regarding its activities and active participation of all students, especially international students who mostly feel disengaged within the school. The study also found out that the major barriers that hinder African foreign students from joining the HIV and AIDS support programme include: lack of adequate publicity about the programme, foreign students home country’s perception of HIV and AIDS and fear of hidden costs related to programme activities. When these things are taken into consideration, it will increase general awareness of UKZN African foreign students’ participation in the programme. It is indeed a fact that the way South African students see HIV and AIDS is quite different from how students from other countries view HIV and AIDS scourge. This study therefore aims to provide knowledge of the factors that influence African foreign students' behavioural practices towards HIV and AIDS support programme, so as to improve the implementation process of the program for better efficiency.
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.
An examination of how Sowetan Live and Daily Sun reported on Operation Dudula and foreign nationals: January to June 2022.
(2023) Xulu, Luyanda Randy.; Dyll, Lauren Eva.
Abstract available in PDF.
Analysing audience reception on health reporting : an analysis of the eNCA news' coverage of the Ebola outbreak.
Moyo, Sibongile Hannah.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
BBC News reports, an estimation of 28 607 recorded cases and 11 314 deaths caused by the Ebola virus. The deaths swept across six countries including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria and the United States of America between the 23rd of March and the 1st of November 2015. This research sought to understand the encoding and decoding process of an audience watching the eNCA news. Specific news bulletins on the Ebola outbreak were selected by the researcher to give an effective investigation on how the eNCA covered the Ebola outbreak. Health experts were interviewed in regards to the media coverage of the Ebola outbreak. The reception theory was the main tool used for this research, complimented by the theory of representation and identity. The researcher also gives a hermeneutic understanding of the eNCA bulletins on Ebola, semiotically analysing images from the bulletins. By so doing, the researcher interrogates the use of the visual and verbal composition of the text in efforts to understand the reading deduced by the focus group participants involved in this study. The researcher also provides a contextual background of Ebola and the countries directly affected by it in an effort to paint a picture of the disastrous effects of the disease. The influence of social and cultural background in decoding media messages was evident when some of the audience obtained a negotiated and or oppositional reading from the messages the eNCA projected. This research illustrated how numerous factors influence how an audience internalises information and how African media should break from stereotypical images and employ the use of positive images when reporting on African issues.
Are we there yet : investigating the perceived causes of maternal mortalities in KwaNyuswa, Ezinqoleni Municipality.
(2016) Vilakazi, Mbali S.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
Are We There Yet: Investigating the perceived causes of maternal mortalities in KwaNyuswa, Ezinqoleni Municipality. Studies conducted within Southern African countries link causes to the absence of the provision of maternal healthcare through accessible healthcare structures. Other factors which perpetuate mortalities are infections deriving from HIV/AIDS, particularly in South Africa and more specifically, within the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Maternal mortalities are, by definition, the death of pregnant women at childbirth or during pregnancy due to various complications. With an annual record showing almost half a million pregnant women dying from causes, some known and others not, it is imperative to conduct this study, which is aimed at investigating causes of maternal mortality from perspectives of communication and culture, particularly within the rural community of KwaNyuswa. In conclusion, pertinent findings gathered through this study reveal that maternal health knowledge is lacking amongst pregnant women and women prior to falling pregnant. This included knowledge on prenatal and antenatal care. Additionally, the fear of HIV-testing acts as a barrier for mothers who seek maternal healthcare. The pregnant women fear testing positive, which then affects their agency meaning programmes such as the prevention from mother to child transfer (PMTCT), which are fully operational in KwaNyuswa. Additionally, traditional birth attendants (TBA) do not exist in this rural community; therefore they cannot be listed as contributing to maternal mortalities in this community. This study indicates that community caregivers act as a source of information and accountability for pregnant women, as they ensure attendance at necessary antenatal care appointments. This investigation revealed more than one child mortality case in the area and that a lack of transportation to healthcare facilities contributes to maternal mortalities. Lastly, inadequate service further disempowers pregnant women’s ability to secure maternal healthcare services. It is recommended that community perceptions around the PMTCT programme and the causes of child mortalities be considered for further investigation. Further, suggestions include a quantitative study which should be conducted in the KwaNyuswa rural area to determine the maternal mortality rate (MMR)
"As we are, so shall they..." : a re-articulation of the North-South vertical global green communications discourse.
Evans, Henri-Count.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
The emergence of a new global discourse on climate change, a discourse that has become both political and ideological, and the realisation that the global media are the dominant providers of global climate change information motivated this study to examine the manner in which climate change issues of the developing countries (global south) are dealt with in selected newspapers in developed countries (global north). The study sought to investigate the manner in which a sample of quality mainstream newspapers from the global north report on, and represent, issues concerning climate change in the global south. The study also explored, through the structural theory of imperialism, how the media, while covering global climate change, consciously or subconsciously can either reinforce or subvert structural inequalities between the global north and the global south, and investigated the flow of information around issues of climate change as they traverse the global north information economy. In order to achieve the above objectives, the study used four newspapers located in the Northern hemisphere, two from the East Coast of the United States (The Washington Post and The New York Times); and two from London in the United Kingdom (The Telegraph and The Guardian). The study took a qualitative methodological approach rooted in the interpretative research philosophy. The news stories for analysis were downloaded from the newspaper websites‘ archives using purposive sampling strategies. Twenty stories focussing on climate change issues in the global south (Southern hemisphere) were chosen for analysis with five stories from each newspaper. The newspaper articles analysed were collected from the newspaper websites through keyword searches. The study used news articles published between March 2014 and March 2015. The study found that the global south is represented in the global north mainstream newspapers as poor countries in need of climate change aid, as barriers to global climate change deals and agreements and also as selfish and insensitive to environmental concerns. The sourcing patterns across all the stories reveal bias towards global north political, scientific and business elites. The stories also sought to advance neo-capitalist interests in dealing with climate change portraying climate change as an opportunity for businesses to harness and not as a threat to humanity.
Assessing knowledge, attitudes and practices of KwaZulNatal health professionals towards men who have sex with men (MSM) : exploring access to mainstream public healthcare services.
Greehy, Precious S.; Dyll, Lauren Eva.
Background: Healthcare institutions tend to ignore the role healthcare workers (HCWs) play in shaping perceptions of and responses to service uptake. Lack of appropriate HCW skills and their perceived attitudes towards men who have sex with men (MSM) patients has been connected to “misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, and delayed treatment, leading to poor health prognosis and higher risk of transmitting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections to partners” (Smith, 2015). Research Aim: This study explores key factors at individual, group and societal levels which influence perceived HCWs attitudes towards MSM; and how this limits access to HIV prevention, treatment, and support and care services for the MSM population. A Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) study is conducted to evaluate the KAPs of HCWs and the ways in which these may affect service provision to MSM patients. The study aims to provide evidence-informed solutions required to equip HCWs with necessary skills to provide HIV/AIDS and quality healthcare services that are sensitive to the needs of MSM. Methods: The study employs qualitative methods and data will be collected through face-to-face interviews. The social ecology model informs this study. Prospective participants include various health professionals, such as the head of the provincial health department, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and technicians or medical students from two public healthcare facilities in Durban – King Edward VIII hospital and Imbalenhle clinic, in Pietermaritzburg. Methods used were structured interviews in the form of focus group discussions and self-administered questionnaires. These were conducted with various categories of HCWs in both healthcare facilities. Conclusions: HCWs play a huge role in influencing responses to HIV and AIDS interventions among key population groups, including the perpetuation of stereotyping and stigma. There is a need for a multi-faceted intervention that addresses perceived HCW attitudes towards MSM. Lessons learned from other studies about barriers to HIV prevention and management may have application in other populations.
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.
Audience interpretation of the representation of violence and gangsterism in South African television: a case study of Uzalo.
(2018) Mpanza, Khethelihle Musa Brian.; Dyll, Lauren Eva.
Uzalo: Blood is Forever was launched in 2015 and by the end of September 2018 Uzalo became the most popular South African television production with 10.2 million viewers each night. Uzalo’s narrative is largely driven by gangsterism and as such relies on violence and crime to achieve its objective. A unique achievement of Uzalo is its portrayal of a gangster in a township setting on prime-time television, this study explores how this is not mutually exclusive from its dominance of television viewer ratings. This study was, therefore, conducted to ascertain why violent stories are popular with audiences and how the portrayal of violence, through Uzalo’s characters, resonates with its viewers in the township of KwaMashu and central Durban. Furthermore, the study investigates the audience’s interpretation of how accurate Uzalo is in its depiction of the township setting. Uzalo is considered to belong to the telenovela genre. This study outlined the construct of that genre but also drew on comparisons from outside the genre, both locally and internationally. A qualitative research methodology was adopted and data was collected through four focus groups, two in KwaMashu and two in central Durban. Thematic analysis organises the data which is then interpreted through the lens of narrative theory and the concepts related to ‘the active audience’. The study found that Uzalo is premised on binary oppositions which are expressed through the inner conflict of its characters who constantly grapple with the moral boundaries of good and bad. These individual accounts play out under the broader disequilibrium of two babies being swapped at birth and nurtured in obverse circumstances to their nature. Furthermore, this study considered whether the audience perceives the depicted violence as realistic or unrealistic and also highlighted similarities and differences of the audiences’ perception of violence in a township setting. These interpretations were varied and found to be informed by the audience’s location (township and/or CBD) and experience (cultural beliefs, age and past experiences).
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.
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.
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.
Blending deaf and hearing cultures.
(2015) Ebrahim, Sana.; McCracken, Donal Patrick.
Sign language practice is gaining prominence as inclusive eco-art interventions assist with integrating the Deaf into wider society in the City of Durban. Urban-nature adventures that attract both Deaf and hearing participants include Deaf Theatre, Silent Cinema, Skywriting Poetry and Board Gaming at pavement cafés and Deaf-friendly spaces in Durban. Skywriting is a term originated by the Green Heart Movement to illustrate the ‘mirroring of sign language to writing in the sky or Air’. The idea introduces an imaginative and accessible terminology to describe the term ‘sign language’ and encourages the hearing to become familiar with Deaf culture and its visual language. Eco-arts offer entry points into social solidarity and inclusiveness. The activations hone poetry skills and encourage interaction through sensitised socialisation. The self-generative poetry sessions assist multi-cultural groups from across the age spectrum to form a dynamic community of practice. Active citizenship showcases participants performing poetry in eco-cultural spaces across the City. The theoretical framework is informed by the Syntactic Theory of Visual Communication (Lester, 2006), Intergroup Contact Theory (Pettigrew, 1998) and Communities of Practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991). Central to the study are visual culture and two disparate social groupings. The research design incorporated ‘arts-based critical auto-ethnography’ (Taylor, 2014) as a focusing lens to achieve a holistic understanding of the complexity and convergences of Deaf and Hearing Worlds. Through action inquiry the researcher explored ways of facilitating interaction between Deaf and hearing participants. The study sample comprised eight Deaf and eight hearing respondents who participated in arts and ecology interventions that featured sign language. Data production tools included conversation notebooks that provide a record of written dialogue between Deaf and hearing participants, focus groups, interviews, participant observation, and a video titled ‘The Durban Deaf Room’. Narrative inquiry was employed to reflect on the data and represent the outcomes of the study. There is minimal literature associated with the South African experience of mixed media practice and its potential for value-added engagements that combine Deaf and hearing cultures. The study contributes to the literature by providing a lived ethnographic account of ways that Deaf culture and eco-arts act as progressive enablers in advancing mutually-beneficial social programmes for Deaf and hearing communities.
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 .
The bold and the beautiful.
(2009) Akal, Genevieve.; Wade, Jean-Philippe.
No abstract available.

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