Browsing by Author "Young-Jahangeer, Miranda."

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Developing a methodology for creative interpretation of traditional dramatic texts in post-apartheid theatre: a case study of Shakespearean interpretation at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
(2021) Ngcongo-James, Nellie Nicola.; Pratt, Deirdre.; Young-Jahangeer, Miranda.
While student demographics in higher education have changed to reflect South Africa’s multicultural society, many universities are still offering traditional Drama curricula with colonial-based content. This thesis focuses on developing a methodology for the creative interpretation of traditional Shakespearean texts in the post-apartheid theatre and educational space. Shakespeare is still the most read and most often produced playwright in the world, but the thesis argues that if his texts are to be taught, this cannot be in an ahistorical or political vacuum, and the focus should be on performance. From within a constructivist approach, a case study methodology was used to explore combining Text Study with workshop theatre to facilitate the interpretation of traditional texts, as well as integrating discrete syllabus items into a holistic teaching and learning process. Digital technology was used as an innovative part of the proposed teaching and learning methodology, as the current student body are now the ‘virtual generation’. Constructivist pedagogy, together with postcolonial and decolonial theories, provided the theoretical framework for the study. The empirical work was in the form of a case study, comprising teaching the Text Study module and developing a production as part of the process, and was carried out as an extra-curricular research project with students of the Drama Education Department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The socio-political-economic context was post-apartheid South Africa, with the student group being predominantly African, and the majority, isiZulu-speaking, who were for the most part, economically - and educationally - disadvantaged. At the time the empirical work was carried out, the Drama Education Department curriculum at UKZN was heavily loaded with the study of classical texts, in particular, Shakespearean plays. The results suggested that the methodology developed not only resulted in an enthusiastic response from student participants, but also led to a more scholarly approach to the actual texts. It also gave the participants, who were student teachers, insights into ways in which Drama Education could be dealt with in their own teaching practice. The product of the research was a model of teaching methodology for creative interpretation of Western traditional dramatic texts in Africa contexts. This pedagogical approach has the potential to form the core of an agential curriculum transformation process in Drama Education, as well as ultimately contributing to the decolonising of not only Shakespeare, but university disciplines emerging out of the Liberal Arts.
Gender dynamics and the role of participatory/development theatre in a post-apartheid South Africa: the example of DramAidE.
(1997) Young-Jahangeer, Miranda.; Loots, Lliane Jennifer.
Participatory education (Friere 1972) and by extension participatory drama/theatre (Boal 1979, Mda 1993) has been regarded as particularly appropriate for oppressed communities, since participatory theatre for development - which involves the active participation of both spectator and actor - encourages disempowered communities and individuals to view change as possible (Mda 1993). However, taking DramAidE (Drama in AIDS Education) as a case study this dissertation argues that in a post- apartheid South Africa the tendency with development/ participatory theatre has been to marginalise questions of gender in the focus on race without an awareness that it is the interconnections between race/ class and gender oppressions which characterise a society (Davis 1984). This coupled with the fact that theatre for development has a tendency, if not effectively facilitated, to allow for the reinforcement of dominant [patriarchal] values (Kerr 1995) makes an awareness of gender dynamics in participatory theatre projects particularly relevant.
Into Ulwembu: exploring collaborative methodologies in a research-based theatre production on street-level drug use in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
(2019) Coppen, Neil.; Young-Jahangeer, Miranda.; Erwin, Kira.
Over a yearlong creative process starting in 2014, The Big Brotherhood, Mpume Mthombeni, Dr Dylan McGarry and myself, Neil Coppen, came together to devise a collaborative theatrical intervention in response to the ‘whoonga crisis’—a proliferation of heroin-based street-level drug abuse—in Durban, South Africa. The transdisciplinary, action-led, research process we adopted for Ulwembu would emerge as, and be refined into, an applied, syncretic theatre-making methodology—a methodology that we would come to call ‘Empatheatre’. Over this thesis, I provide a detailed narrative around the research, devising and dissemination of our production, unravelling the context and conditions from which Ulwembu arose, as well as unpack the process of testing and shaping our new methodology, arriving at an iterative definition of the Empatheatre methodology. By focusing on a variety of practices and methodological approaches employed across research-based theatre forms, I explore some of the complexities that arise when one attempts to bring research to life on the stage, including how empathy in applied theatre approaches may be considered either a ‘cathartic cop-out’ or ‘epiphany inducing catalyst’. In acknowledging the integral role empathy was to play—both in shaping our creative journey and our critical responses as practitioners, as well as impacting the reception of the production—I attempt to measure the pedagogical impacts of our project on both the Empatheatre practitioners and audience members. I do this primarily—but not exclusively—through the lens of the pedagogical empathetic impacts that the devising and dissemination of Ulwembu was to enable. I ask, firstly, how the experience of co-creating Ulwembu—and our deep immersion in the research process—transformed our understanding of street-level drug addiction and the way we subsequently devised Ulwembu. These transformations also shaped the way we intend to approach social justice theatre projects of this kind in the future. In exploring this process, I take a critical look at my own role and function within the Ulwembu theatre-making processes as cofacilitator, playwright and director. Secondly, I ask if, how, and to what extent, our Empatheatre methodology and production was able to shift perceptions around drug use and the whoonga ‘problem’ in Durban and inspire greater reflexivity in local city institutions and organisations, to ultimately move them collectively towards less judgmental and more compassionate outcomes.
The living dead girl : a performance art exploration of poor/working class women of colour as sites of violence in contemporary South Africa.
(2015) Peschke, Marcia.; Young-Jahangeer, Miranda.
This practice-led study (Barrett, 2007; Candy, 2006; Little, 2011) seeks to investigate the status of poor/working class women of colour as sites of violence in contemporary South Africa. My research objectives are explored through practice and the methodological processes I use engage elements of performance theory and reflexive practice (Shaw, 2010). Using the medium of performance art, I critically engage with the sexist and racist gender politics which create conditions of abuse and violence for women of colour. This study also investigates how feminist performance practices in the works of South African women theatre and performance artists, signals an attempt to confront and deconstruct oppressive structures, which render women as invisible. The performed theory explores the processes which socialise women of colour into objects of sexual, physical, emotional and economic violence. The methodological processes in this study are drawn from feminist performance art (Forte, 1988, 1992) and performative autoethnography (Jones, 2005; Spry, 2011). These creative methods offer strategies which add a reflexive and autobiographical element to the written component of the study. The creative practice plays a significant role in examining the interaction of race, class and sex as factors contributing to violence against women of colour in contemporary South Africa. The creative output was further used to establish spaces which diversify representations of women of colour and create opportunities for women to resist racist and sexist constructions of identity and the body by establishing more complex and self-authored formations of self.
The paradox of nation-building and commercially driven broadcasting : the case of Lesotho television.
(2001) Tau, Molikuoa.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.; Young-Jahangeer, Miranda.
Nation-building has always been considered the responsibility of a public service broadcaster while, on the other hand, commercial broadcasters are associated with profitmaking. This study was designed to investigate whether a commercially driven broadcasting venture could be used for the purposes of nation-building; The case of Lesotho Television. Established by the Lesotho Government in partnership with M-net, Lesotho Television informs, educates and entertains, thus attempting to follow the tenets of public service broadcasting. Upon its establishment in 1988, Lesotho Television was mandated to contribute in the nation-building initiatives of the Lesotho leaders. The station, which is embedded within the South African based pay-channel M-Net, was expected to positively contribute in the Lesotho Government's endeavours to re-build the nation divided along political lines. In the discussion I highlight the fact that Lesotho Television encounters some problems due to the paradoxical relationship between it and M-Net (The former aspiring to serve as a public service broadcaster while the latter is a commercial television service). Nevertheless, considering its programming and activities, Lesotho Television contributes in nation-building. Therefore, I conclude that the potential for Lesotho Television to inform, educate and entertain would seem to outweigh the limitations.
(Per)forming answers : using applied theatre techniques as a tool for qualitative research.
(2011) Mangenda, Hannah.; Young-Jahangeer, Miranda.
From the 1970s onwards Applied Theatre (AT) has become an ever more popular tool for communication in fields as varied as education, development, therapy, social action, business and others (see for example Blatner (ed.), 2007; Prentki & Preston (eds.), 2009). Over the same time period there has been a continuous questioning amongst academics not only of the most effective research methods but increasingly also of the philosophy underlying research efforts (Narayan & Srinivasan, 1994; Parks et al, 2005; Wilkins, 2000). There are therefore more and more researchers who, in their attempts to 'democratise‘ the research process, are beginning to use arts-based inquiry methods (Sanders, 2006). These generally allow a more inclusive, creative and in-depth approach to research, allowing the participants (the researched‘) more control over the process and the issues discussed and often benefiting them by imparting skills through the process (Belliveau, 2006; Peseta, 2007). Applied Theatre based research is part of this relatively new development (Conrad, 2004; Nelson, 2009) and it is at this junction of academic inquiry and AT where this research is situated. The major objective of this dissertation is to investigate the possible usage and value of Applied Theatre techniques as a tool for qualitative research, specifically when working with participants not familiar with drama and theatre exercises over a short period of time (a few hours). In partnership with the student society Students Against Rape And Hate (S.A.R.A.H.), a once-off Applied Theatre workshop was conducted in a UKZN residence in September 2009. The aim of this workshop was to establish some answers to the questions provided by S.A.R.A.H. about students‘ views of relationships in general and in residences specifically and the society‘s possible work there. To be able to compare the outcome of the workshop with the outcome of a more common research tool, a questionnaire asking the same questions was given out among other students in the same residence. Research subjects from both groups as well as S.A.R.A.H. members were later interviewed about their experiences and impressions. Comparing the data obtained through the different research methods described above, this dissertation not only evaluates whether the data collected with AT was useful and whether the process was practical for the researchers, but it also looks at the benefits the process itself had for all stakeholders involved. Indeed, it is this comparison of the 'product outcomes‘ and the 'process outcomes‘ that forms the backbone of the conclusions drawn.
Screw You! This Flag Is Theirs Too: Reconstructing Narratives And Challenging Perceptions with Zimbabwean Sex Workers.
(2021) Sibanda, Alice Princess.; Young-Jahangeer, Miranda.
This is a story about Zimbabwean sex workers’ stories. What their experiences are, and how they make sense of them within the heteronormative hegemony that is Zimbabwe. A space in which to be a sex worker is to be an undisciplined body, an abominable and evil practice that defiles the nations’ socio-cultural and moral fabric. This is the single story that dominates public discourse and other experiences of being a sex worker remain untold. If and when they are told, HIV is the focus. In particular, how sex workers are a(t) risk of contracting and transmitting HIV. I hanker, therefore in this study to centre the voice of sex workers themselves in exploring the multiple experiences of being a sex worker through a popular participatory theatre approach. The investigation hinges on Decoloniality and Postcolonial feminist theories. Through a marriage of academic research, activism and art, the study makes humble but significant contributions, mainly to the subject and form of inquiry. That is sex work research and Applied theatre, respectively. To an extent it is also an important addition to African feminist theorization. Sex work has been named, understood and mostly theorised from a western perspective. I challenge the notion of the universal sex worker or stereotypical ‘African prostitute’ by investigating the experiences of a varied sample of Zimbabwean sex workers. Although sex work scholarship is growing on the continent, there is still a relative scarcity of localized sex worker stories especially in Zimbabwe, apart from biomedical oriented research. Moreover, it brings to fore the voices of transgender women sex workers who often fall through the cracks of the already limited sex work research. As an Applied theatre practitioner, I also contribute to practice and knowledge in the discipline through this study. Sex work is an issue that most practitioners evade in an otherwise vibrant Applied theatre movement in Zimbabwe. The study dares the morally anxious Zimbabwean context to explore the political potency of AT, specifically Popular Participatory Theatre in exploring sex work, an issue that most practitioners evade and avoid in Zimbabwe. Particularly how the pedagogy can be used to facilitate space for telling alternative narratives as well as transforming sex workers living conditions and challenging their denial from laying claim to a Zimbabwean identity. iii | P a g e Further, I add an Afro-feminist voice to an issue that Africa largely denies as western. One that is also avoided by most African feminists mostly because of fear. This fear is a familiar experience of mine as a young feminist interested in seeing gender, sex and sexuality issues through an African lens. But of what need is a liberatory pedagogy that is predicated on the culture of silence and fear? Extricating myself from the abyss of fear to theorise about sex work as a Christian, Zimbabwean is in part a contribution to the larger feminist objective. Especially as I challenge the decorporealisation of cis and trans women sex worker’s bodies in conservative Zimbabwe. Major insights from the study are to the effect that sex work in Zimbabwe is queer. It is much more complex and nuanced, than is projected. The study contradicts numerous prevailing assumptions, myths, and stereotypes about sex work(ers) in Zimbabwe. Even the individuals that sell sex in Zimbabwe are not just poor, uneducated, uncultured women, nor are all clients/customers men. Empirically, the demography cuts across social status, gender, sexual orientation among other variants. Here, we are also redirected to alternative, humane portrayals of sex workers. Moreover, what their lived experiences are from their own perspective.
Theatre for social capital : a case study at Mangaliso child and youth care centre.
(2015) Naguran, Lerisa Ansuya.; Young-Jahangeer, Miranda.
This study was conducted at Mangaliso2 Child and Youth Care (CYCC) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in response to concerns expressed by child residents of the high prevalence of aggressive behaviour in the CYCC. This study, through an applied theatre programme that adopts a combination of sociodrama and psychodrama techniques, attempts to address the prevalence of aggression at Mangaliso CYCC by generating social capital (Putnam, 1995). Weakened family social capital has been shown to give rise to aggressive behaviour (Imtiaz et al., 2010:103). Given that the participants of this study have been removed from their families due to physical and/or sexual abuse, the central premise of this study is that the high prevalence of aggression displayed by the residents of Mangaliso is resultant of weakened family social capital. Through weakened family social capital and the exposure to abuse in the home, the “culture of violence” (Galtung, 1990:291) that was deeply entrenched by the apartheid regime is transmitted intergenerationally. This study, however, recognises that strong peer social capital has the potential to compensate for weakened family social capital, thereby minimising the negative effects of it (Gatti & Tremblay, 2007). The applied theatre programme that forms the basis of this research therefore attempts to reduce the prevalence of aggression at Mangaliso CYCC by increasing peer social capital. This applied theatre programme is specifically designed for the generation of social capital. The programme makes use of theatre of the oppressed (Boal, 1979), theatre of the oppressor (O’Toole 1998; Weinblatt & Harrison, 2011 and Chinyowa, 2014) and Geese Theatre Company (Baim, Brookes & Mountford, 2002; Watson, 2009) techniques with the intention of increasing peer social capital at Mangaliso by specifically engaging the four essential elements of social capital as defined by Robert Putnam (1993): trust, reciprocity, social norms and social networks. The findings of this study show that, although the programme was certainly effective in the generation of peer social capital, the effectiveness of the programme was greatly influenced by the challenges that the institutional environment posed. These challenges include insufficient adult supervision due to short staffing, and the negotiation of hierarchical peer structures created to give some child residents power over others. This study finds that the institutional environment was often at odds with the participants’ personal choices to employ less aggressive strategies for conflict resolution. Even so, the findings of this study show that the increase in peer social capital that was generated through participation in the theatre programme resulted in less frequent incidents of aggression. An increase in peer social capital at Mangaliso CYCC created an environment that offered more safety, social support and fewer circumstantial reasons to behave aggressively.
Unlocking the past: encountering history through museum theatre, as explored in the KwaMuhle Museum, Durban.
(2021) Jenkins, Stephanie.; Young-Jahangeer, Miranda.
This thesis explores the use of museum theatre as a means to teach, learn about and interrogate past narratives through the use of performance in places of historical significance. The research is situated within the discipline of drama and performance studies, and focuses specifically on performing history in museums. The study adopts a case study approach, using a self-written and directed museum theatre production Beer Halls, Pass Laws and Just Cause in the KwaMuhle Museum (the former Native Administration Department) in Durban, South Africa. Through the creation and staging of the museum theatre production specifically aimed at Grade 11 learners who are taking the subject of History, the performance adopts an experiential learning approach that engages the senses, minds, bodies and emotions of the attendants. The play feeds into and out of the Term 4 Grade 11 Curriculum and Policy Statement (CAPS) History syllabus, mainly through re-enacted verbatim accounts, in which the learners are encouraged to participate. The performance and study aim to move beyond book learning, through adopting critical pedagogical theorical frameworks, that encourage critical thinking and active engagement (a combination of mental, physical and emotional learning) of the learners with the actorguides, the performed narratives, the museum site and their fellow attendants. In addition, arts-based methods, including the use of objects, poetry and drawing, are employed as one form of data analysis, in addition to focus groups and interviews, to reflect, express and share what was experienced by the learners, teachers and members of the public in the performance. Through the inclusion of performance in historical spaces, the past can be brought into the present to encourage dialogic learning where different narratives are brought into contact with one another through site-specific work.
Using popular participatory theatre as a research method to expose the relationship between HIV/AIDS and silence in Malealea Valley, Lesotho.
(2008) Malibo, Rethabile Khantse.; Young-Jahangeer, Miranda.; Dalrymple, Lynn I.
his study discusses the benefits of Popular Participatory Theatre (PPT) as a research method with which to investigate the culture of silence around HIV/AIDS issues in Malealea Valley, Lesotho. Popular Participatory Theatre provided the means by which the community named, reflected on and initiated action with regard to their problems. This research will contribute to the growing body of research which aims to uncover effective modes of communication which could lead to behaviour change. This study employed the qualitative research methodology. This was in recognition that qualitative research involves in-depth understanding of human behaviours and the reasons that govern that behaviour, and looks at the reasons behind various aspects of behaviour, perceptions, beliefs and attitudes. Qualitative research seeks meaning rather than generality and contributes to theory development (Miller et al, 2003:192-3). In-depth interviews and focus groups were also used as instruments for data collection. The findings of the study indicate that socio-economic issues such as language, cultural practices, the way that Basotho are brought up and power dynamics around patriarchy contribute to the culture of silence. The Malealea Theatre Project helped the Malealea community to re-examine some of their beliefs and cultural practices. The findings also indicate that popular participatory theatre is an effective research method that can be used to collect data while also leading to community action.
Women in the news frame : an investigation into the representation of women in television news : an analysis of SABC2, SABC3 and e-tv news.
(2002) Moorosi, Nthati.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.; Young-Jahangeer, Miranda.
The aim of this research is to investigate the representation of women in South African television news by closely comparing the three stations; e-tv, SABC 2 and SABC 3. The news bulletins that were recorded over a week (seven consecutive days), for each station were measured and compared to find out the presence of men and women as workers for news production; as news reporters and news readers as well as news subjects. Theories of news and feminist media are strong points from which the study is informed. The feminist media theories highlight the sexist ideology of media content and addresses issues of how television news positions the female news subjects. Theories of news on the other hand emphasize the question of what is news and aids the understanding of why women are represented the way they are in news as they stress the nature of news as a human construction that is shaped by the world. Together these theories used in this research highlight the background of the ideologies underlying the coverage and representation of both men and women as news sources. The findings of this research confirm the assumption that news is designed for male audience by having more men than women as newsreaders and reporters and also by having a remarkable dominance of men as news subjects over women. All the three stations; e-tv, SABC 2 and SABC3 are dominated by men in the newsroom. With affirmative action policy in South Africa, which was designed to uplift the image of the previously marginalised, especially women, the number of women as window dressing has increased. However, when looking for news sources, women are still not considered reliable and embodying reason, trustworthiness and knowledgability. Male experts occupy all fields of knowledge from politics, terrorism, and economics to science and medicine, from literature to technology, law, sports and environment. Of all the social actors who were covered in news, the presence of men outnumber that of women with the majority of 80.9% compared to 19.1% of women.