Browsing by Author "Alant, Jacob Willem."

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Beyond traditional literature : towards oral theory as aural linguistics.
(1996) Alant, Jacob Willem.; Sienaert, Edgard Richard.
Oral Theory, which is the discipline that studies the oral tradition, has been characterized as a literary anthropology, centered on essentially two notions: tradition on the one hand, literature on the other. Though emphasis has moved from an initial preoccupation with oral textual form (as advocated by Parry and Lord) to concerns with the oral text as social practice, the anthropological / literary orientation has generally remained intact. But through its designation of a traditional 'other' Oral Theory is, at best, a sub-field of anthropology; the literature it purports to study is not literature, but anthropological data. This undermines the existence of the field as discipline. In this study it is suggested that the essence of orality as subject matter of Oral Theory - should be seen not in the origins of its creativity (deemed 'traditional'), nor in its aesthetic process / product itself ('literature'), but in its use of language deriving from a different 'auditory' conception of language (as contrasted with the largely 'visualist' conception of language at least partly associated with writing). In other words, the study of orality should not be about specific oral 'genres', but about verbalization in general. In terms of its auditory conception, language is primarily defined as existing in sound, a definition which places it in a continuum with other symbolical / meaningful sounds, normally conceptualized as 'music'. Linguistics, being fundamentally scriptist (visualist) in orientation, fails to account for the auditory conception of language. To remedy this, Oral Theory needs to set itself up as an 'aural linguistics' - implying close interdisciplinary collaboration with the field of musicology - through which the linguistic sign of orality could be studied in all its particularity and complexity of meaning.
Étude comparative sur le rôle de la langue et du lieu dans les œuvres autofictionnelles de deux auteures postcoloniales, Nina Bouraoui et Marita van der Vyver.
(2018) O’Neill, Charlene.; Alant, Jacob Willem.
This dissertation compares and contrasts Nina Bouraoui and Marita van der Vyver, exploring the role of language and place in their quest for identity and a feeling of belonging. It provides three key theoretical insights into the role of language and place in their inner journeys from past (Africa) to present (France). The first is Edward Saïd’s concept of Orientalism and the claim that the North considers the people of the South to be inferior. The second theoretical insight is Bhabha’s claim that post-colonial authors construct an interstice in which colonizer and colonized co-exist and build hybrid identities. The third is Derrida’s argument that language and culture are imposed on us, producing a permanent state of alienation that cannot be expressed in the language of the Imperial Other, the Metropolis. This research concludes that Bouraoui and Van der Vyver use autofiction to bridge the gap between their past and present Self. Bouraoui is the Eternal Outsider. Her mind and body are the sites of her eternal identity crisis: trapped in the interstice between Algeria and France, between the guidance of her Algerian father and the protection of her French mother, between the language of her childhood and her adulthood, and between her sex, her sexuality and her gender. In contrast, Van der Vyver identifies herself as Afrikaans and does not see her mother tongue as an obstacle to self-exploration and self-expression. Her autofiction depicts her as a Boer in exile. She is critical of gender relations rather than of apartheid. Both writers on the other hand use their bedrooms as an interstice in their inner journeys through space and time. Both of them are alienated from French, the language of the Other. Both love Africa. Neither belongs to the continent.
Motivering by die leer van Afrikaans as tweedetaal (t2) en die bereidwilligheid om Afrikaans te praat : ’n gevallestudie by die skool vir opvoedkunde, Universiteit van KwaZulu-Natal.
(2017) Prinsloo, Loraine.; Alant, Jacob Willem.
Hierdie kwalitatiewe kritiese gevallestudie ondersoek en lewer verslag oor Afrikaans-tweedetaalonderwysstudente, wat ingeskryf het vir die module Afrikaans Kommunikasie 110 by die Skool vir Opvoedkunde aan die Universiteit van KwaZulu-Natal, se motivering om Afrikaans te leer en hulle bereidwilligheid om Afrikaans te praat. Die volgende twee sleutelnavorsingsvrae word behandel, naamlik: (a) Wat is onderwysstudente se persepsies van hulle motivering om Afrikaans te leer? en (b) Wat is onderwysstudente se persepsies van hulle bereidwilligheid om Afrikaans te praat? Die eerste doelwit is om te beskryf wat onderwysstudente se persepsies is van hulle motivering om Afrikaans te leer. Daar word op Dörnyei (1994) se raamwerk vir tweedetaal-motivering gesteun. By die tweede navorsingsvraag word die klem geplaas op die onderwysstudente se persepsies van hulle bereidwilligheid om Afrikaans te praat en word MacIntyre (1994) se bereidwilligheid om te kommunikeer (BOK)-model voorgehou. Die konteks van die leer van Afrikaans in ’n provinsie waar dit statisties as minderheidstaal gesien kan word, word deurgaans in ag geneem. By navorsingsvraag 1 het die data-insamelingsproses eerstens geïdentifiseer wat die onderskeie deelnemers se motiveringsvlakke is om Afrikaans te leer. Deelnemers het aan die begin van die semester ’n vraelys voltooi en een-tot-een opvolgonderhoude is met hulle gevoer. Vir navorsingsvraag 2 is ’n fokusgroep gekies. Opnames is gemaak van die fokusgroep se gesprekke in Afrikaans in verskillende kommunikatiewe situasies. Deelnemers is die geleentheid gegun om tydens die opvolgonderhoude oor hierdie interaksies te besin. Die data wat vir beide navorsingsvrae 1 en 2 ingesamel is, is in beheerbare eenhede opgebreek en gekodeer. ’n Lys van kernpersepsies is dienooreenkomstig opgestel. Met betrekking tot navorsingsvraag 1, het die data-ontleding gefokus op drie aspekte: die deelnemers se persepsies van hulle gevoelens oor Afrikaans, die deelnemers se persepsies van die leer van Afrikaans oor die algemeen, asook hul persepsies van die leer van Afrikaans op universiteit. Die studie het bevind dat deelnemers wat gemotiveerd was om Afrikaans op skool te leer, hoofsaaklik ook gemotiveerd is om Afrikaans op universiteit te leer. Hierdie motivering blyk meer ekstrinsiek te wees. Invloede sluit in persepsies van die kurrikulumvereistes, persepsies van die taal en gevoelens oor die leer van die taal. Die rol van die leerkrag in die klaskamer het in die deelnemers se persepsies van hulle motivering om Afrikaans te leer na vore getree. Vir navorsingsvraag 2 het die data-analise bepaal wat die deelnemers se persepsies is van hulle bereidwilligheid om Afrikaans oor die algemeen te praat en hul bereidwilligheid om Afrikaans in spesifieke kommunikatiewe situasies in die Afrikaans Kommunikasie 110-klas te praat. Die studie het bevind dat dié wat gemotiveerd is om Afrikaans op universiteit te leer, nie noodwendig ook bereidwillig is om Afrikaans in die klaskamer te praat nie. Hulle bereidwilligheid om Afrikaans in die klaskamer te praat, hang af van ’n reeks faktore. Hierdie faktore is veral situasioneel van aard en gaan gepaard met deelnemers se persepsies van hulle eie praatvermoë en die gespreksituasie, waarvan die onderwerp, die aantal gespreksgenote en hul bereidwilligheid om in Afrikaans te kommunikeer, deel vorm. Hierdie proefskrif dra by tot die diskoers oor onderwysstudente wat hulself as potensiële Afrikaansleerkragte sien en dié wat hulself nie in daardie professionele rol sien nie. Belangrike ooreenkomste en verskille tussen hierdie twee groepe se motivering om Afrikaans te leer en hulle bereidwilligheid om in Afrikaans te kommunikeer, het deur die bespreking van die twee navorsingsvrae op die voorgrond getree. Pedagogiese implikasies wat verband hou met studente se motivering om Afrikaans as tweedetaal te leer, en hulle bereidwilligheid om dit te praat in ’n provinsie waar hul blootstelling aan Afrikaans buite die klaskamer beperk is, is ook in ag geneem en bespreek.
Une etude de l'évolution du concept d’ afropolitanisme dans une selection de trois romans d' Alain Mabancko.
(2019) Erasmus, Jennifer Mary.; Alant, Jacob Willem.
This dissertation provides insight into the concept of Afropolitanism by means of a detailed critical analysis of three novels from the pen of the francophone author, Alain Mabanckou, himself an Afropolitan. The three novels are African Psycho (2003), Black Bazaar (2009) and Petit Piment (2015). The date of publication of these novels, at equidistant intervals, is considered relevant, as is the fact that the three trace the geographical passage of Mabanckou’s life. It is primarily a literary analysis of the cited texts which seeks to evaluate the extent to which the construct that is Afropolitanism shows evidence of evolution within the parameters of the time frame encompassed by the novels. The protagonist of African Psycho is consumed with the hatred of the victim mentality of the post-colonial years prior to Afropolitanism, but the links with American Psycho and its lack of insistence on genealogy suggest the stirrings of the first movement of Afropolitanism as defined by Achille Mbembe. The world of Black Bazaar is the sociable, cosmopolitan life of a witty and worldly protagonist attempting to eke out an existence in Paris, whereas Petit Piment returns us to Africa, and the confusion of identity on the part of the narrator. Afropolitanism as a concept will be explored as part of a continuum of African identity perspectives, these being : Negritude, Pan Africanism, Post Colonialism, Migritude and Littérature- Monde. The dissertation relies almost exclusively on the definition of Afropolitanism as formulated by the social philosopher, Achille Mbembe. He identifies two movements of Afropolitanism, the first commencing circa 1970 and the second around the debut of the 21st Century. Throughout the dissertation the consideration of Alain Mabanckou as an Afropolitan has been identified as of vital importance, this coupled with the fact that he, himself, acknowledges the role of auto-fiction in his literary works. The world of the Afropolitan is, thus, considered to be reflected to a greater or lesser degree in his fictional writing. His choice of narrative and manner of narration, as well as depiction of his protagonists, display noteworthy differences across the three novels. This is deemed relevant to the hypothesis that the novels give an indication of an evolution within the framework of what it means to be an Afropolitan.