Doctoral Degrees (Centre for Communication, Media and Society)

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The political economy of broadcasting and telecommunications reform in Namibia, 1990-2005.
(2007) Heuva, William Edward.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
The thesis begins with a literature review on the political economy of communication, paying particular attention to the impact of globalisation on the communications sector. It highlights conflictual relationships between commercialisation and democratisation in transforming broadcasting and telecommunications in an era of globalisation. In doing this the study contends that the process of democratisation and commercialisation are 'mutually incompatible', as one can only be realised at the expense of the other. Namibia gained its independence in 1990 and set out to transform and restructure its communication systems to respond to the demands of a new society. At the same time the country had to address the demands of an emerging global order. While trying to democratise and build a new nation based on the values of equity, social justice and participation, Namibia had to respond to commercial imperatives of global capitalism that were not necessarily compatible with the demands of democratisation and nationbuilding. The thesis argues that these conflicting demands resulted in challenges and contradictions experienced in the entire transformation process of the communications sector, which the State failed to overcome. The thesis examines the policy, legal and regulatory practices adopted by the State to transform the communications sector and assess the internal and external factors that led to the adoption of these practices. It illuminates the roles and responsibilities of this sector in the broader transitional process. In Chapters Six and Seven the thesis examines the restructuring processes of NBC and Telecom Namibia, at a micro level. This analysis pays particular attention to the manner in which these two institutions were streamlined (downsized and rightsized) in order to become effective, efficient and profitable in discharging their new mandate. It argues that the streamlining process prevented these institutions from properly performing some of their core mandates, particularly the provision of non-profitable public services. The thesis also interrogates the penetration of the new Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in Namibian society in Chapter Eight. It argues that while government adopted most of the relevant policies to establish an enabling environment for the transformation of the country into an 'information society', the penetration of the ICTs remained dismal. This elucidates the factors that led to this poor penetration. In conclusion the thesis provides a summary of the major findings and arguments. It contends that the neo-liberal policies of commercialisation and liberalisation adopted to transform the communications sector coupled with the restructuring of the national broadcaster and telecommunications operator along commercial lines tended to diminish rather than advance the goal of universal and affordable communications services to the majority of the people.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 uses of television broadcast-based distance education : a case study of Liberty Learning Channel programme.
(2004) Ivala, Eunice Ndeto.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
Education is considered as an essential tool for the long-term development of most countries. The provision of education to only part of a community or part of the world reinforces relative deprivation. To counteract such an effect, South Africa, a geographically large country, in which the population is scattered, where economic disparities are aligned to race, where qualified teachers and specialists in certain subject areas are scarce, and where there is an illiteracy rate of 29 percent, hope has been expressed that television broadcast based distance education may be a viable alternative to expanding formal education provision extensively and quickly. This study investigates the role of television broadcast-based distance education in South Africa as a possibility for extending the provision of formal education to large numbers of learners and how the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and the country 's Department of Education fulfils the promise of extending education. This objective was addressed by first giving a critique of conventional education systems and why distance education is an alternative option for provision of education. Further, the study traces a general picture of education in Africa and the educational situation in South Africa, highlighting the distance education scenario in South Africa , and investigates why distance education and particularly television broadcast-based distance education is crucial in the provision of education in developing countries in the face of the globalisation of mass communication and new information technologies. The study also investigates the complex issues involved in the production, distribution and consumption of Liberty Learning Channel Programme (a television programme which offers remedial support for matric (grade 12) and grade 10 to 11 students) by examining whether the producers and partners of the programme created a text which connects with the multi-cultural reality of teachers, learners and other viewers in South Africa; the role of the programme in the service of growth, reconstruction and development; why the programme is not popular among the youth; and what can be done to make it effective in enhancing teaching and learning; and the intertextuality, production and distribution of the programme. Information on the above aspects was gathered through the scannmg of relevant literature and by the use of ethnographic research procedures which included focus group interviews, in-depth interviews and participant observation. The study established that conventional systems of education and current educational practices have fallen short ofpreparing citizens with a strong foundation of general education. The study therefore offers distance education not only as an alternative to conventional education delivery at secondary and higher levels of education, but also as a low-cost alternative to expanding education. Constructivism is suggested as an alternative set of values that may significantly influence learning and that can help develop the kind of citizens who can be able to function successfully in real-word contexts. With regard to effectiveness of television broadcast-based distance education in teaching and learning, the study established that television is an effective means of achieving traditional educational goals, and that television broadcast-based distance education remains important especially in the developing countries in light of the need to increase access to education, redress the disparities caused by globalisation of mass communication and by lack of information and communication technologies. With regard to distance education in South Africa, the study found that there is both significant policy commitment and actual use of broadcast-based distance education in solving many of the country's education problems, but that there is an urgent need to improve the quality of that provision, particularly in formal education. On the complex issues involved in the production, distribution and the consumption of Liberty Learning Channel programme, the study found that the programme (aired live since 1993), is a production of Liberty Learning Channel, an independent company based in Johannesburg, in partnership with the Liberty Life Foundation, and that the SABC is not involved in the production but provided the airwaves. Each subject presenter prepares his or her own lessons, and therefore no services of producers, scriptwriters, or editors are employed in the production of the programme. The programme is then distributed through television, newspapers (the Sowetan), videocassettes, the Internet and in future through CD-ROMs. Additionally, the study found that Liberty Learning Channel relies on audience feedback from audience rating and occasional feedback from comments down the streets or letters from viewers thanking the presenters. This study argues that this kind of monitoring is not sufficient as rating only tells advertisers how many viewers were exposed to a specific programme content on a particular television channel in a certain time slot. Regarding the consumption of the programme, the great majority of the focus group participants liked the programme and used it during revision and in dealing with large numbers of students with different abilities and difficulties. A great majority of the students liked the programme because of the way the presenters explained clearly. However, a great majority of the participants watched the programme sparingly partly because the time slot was ' inappropriate ' and due to a lack of awareness about the programme. Several suggestions for the improvement of the programme were put forward, amongst them: to change the time slot; to have multi-racial presenters ; to give detailed timetables to schools in advance, and to advertise the programme more directly to schools. However, a reluctance or unwillingness to consider some of the audiences ' suggestions for the improvement of the programme, was shown by the manager of Liberty Learning Channel, William Smith. The above results are reported and discussed in detail in chapters 2 to 3, and general conclusions and recommendations presented in chapter 4.
The making of an African public sphere : the performance of the Kenyan daily press during the change to multi-party politics.
(2000) Mak'Ochieng, Murej Otieno.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
No abstract available.
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.
'Lodge-ical' thinking and development communication : !Xaus Lodge as a public-private community partnership in tourism.
(2011) Dyll, Lauren Eva.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
This thesis explores the interface between community development via tourism and the field of development communication vis-à-vis a case study of the community-owned and privatelyoperated !Xaus Lodge in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The research is informed by Critical Indigenous Qualitative Research that employs interpretive research practices that aim to be ethical, transformative, participatory and committed to dialogue. The study valorises the voices of all lodge stakeholders analysing their expectations and how they negotiate the processes involved in the establishment and operations of the lodge. As a longitudinal study from 2006 until 2011 it focuses on the processes involved in transforming a failed poverty alleviation-built tourism asset into a commercial product with a range of benefits for the community partners. The processes involved are studied and shaped via participatory action research. This thesis generates a generalised public-private-community lodge partnership development communication model based on the findings of the !Xaus Lodge case study. The analysis of !Xaus Lodge is guided by development communication principles and practice such as the Communication for Participatory Development (CFPD) model, as well as the notion of pro-poor tourism (PPT). The applicability of these policies, approaches and models is problematised highlighting the complexity of development on the ground, particularly with indigenous and local communities. This study sets out the importance of cultural relativity in development projects whereby possible differences in the stakeholders‟ history, epistemology and ontology should be taken into consideration if a project is to negotiate both the demands of commercial viability as well as the symbolic and spiritual needs of the community partners.
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.
Processes and participation in HIV and AIDS communication : using bodymapping to explore the experiences of young people.
(2013) Govender, Eliza Melissa.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.; Durden, Emma.; Dalrymple, Lynn I.
HIV and AIDS is one of the biggest challenges facing South African young people today (Govender, 2010). Young people are at risk, partly through their own behaviour and partly through the attitudes, expectations and limitations of the societies in which they grow up (Panos AIDS Briefing, 1996).The are many HIV prevention programmes developed globally and nationally, specifically for young people but the pandemic still escalates rapidly. The fourth decade now calls for multidimensional approaches when communicating HIV prevention for young people. This thesis explores how young people can contribute to this multidimensional approach through their active participation in the various phases of developing HIV projects. The study does this through a sample of eight youth-focused HIV organisations in KwaZulu-Natal and a sample of students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, to gain more insight into participation of young people in the development of HIV programmes. Bodymapping, a visual and art-based method, was used to explore young people’s understanding of HIV, their perceptions of HIV programmes and the possibilities of their participation in the developing of further HIV projects. The study used a grounded approach and applied principles of participatory action research to collect data in four phases. The first phase used interviews and focus group discussions with eight sample organisations to give insight into the programmes offered to young people and how they engage and make sense of their participation within these programmes. The second phase draws on previous bodymapping workshops that have been conducted with students from UKZN and young people in various communities to explore the application and relevance of bodymapping. In the third phase, data is presented on two bodymapping workshops conducted, to engage with young people about their contribution to the development of HIV programmes. The final phase draws on two focus group discussions, conducted with bodymapping participants, to examine their experiences and interpretation of the bodymapping process. Some of the key findings indicate that a blanket approach to HIV programmes will not always work, as young people’s sexual behaviour needs to be explored within a wider socio-ecological framework that recognises the inter-relational and interconnected system in which they make their sexual choices. The data indicates that youth and organisations strongly support the importance of participation and the inclusion of participants when developing HIV projects. However, discussions about participation indicated that while young people could identify the importance of participation, they still lacked an understanding of how to participate and how they could learn more about their lived experiences through participation. This was evident in the data where there was a distinction in how participation was defined from those in the UKZN group and those from rural KZN. In understanding what constitutes participation, young people are better positioned to aid the process of developing effective HIV related projects that are participant specific. I argue that bodymapping can be used as a process to initiate and aid the participation of young people in the various phases of developing HIV projects. A three level model for applying bodymapping and planning processes has been developed to encourage participation with young people where the first step ensures that young people define what participation means to them. This becomes the foundation for how communication practitioners and academics make sense and theorise participation from a participant informed perspective. Bodymapping was pivotal in this process of engaging young people in self-reflection and introspection which encouraged a process of dialogue towards better understanding and defining participation from a participant perspective. Bodymapping in this way can be identified as a catalyst that encourages dialogue as part of communication for participatory development.
A textual analysis of abstinence, be faithful, condom-use materials for HIV prevention at University Campuses in KwaZulu-Natal, 2006-2009.
(2014) Segopolo, Irene Mmalecha Minkie.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
Prevention campaigns in print – advocating safer sex behaviour through Abstinence, Be faithful and Condom-use advocacy (ABC) based on various theories and models of behaviour change – inadvertently facilitate constructions of representations of HIV and AIDS and position the target readers through discursive strategies. The research contributes to the growing literature that explores how issues of HIV and AIDS prevention that relate to the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban University of Technology (DUT) and University of Zululand (UniZulu) students can be best addressed in order to achieve the desired goals that sexual behaviour campaigns set for themselves. An eclectic framework is applied that combines conceptual frameworks within the poststructuralist paradigm, together with ethnomethodology through focus group discussions and key informant interviews that aim to inform the methodological framework. Poststructural approaches privilege different concepts, for example, ideology and discourse, from which representations of phenomena ensue. Poststructuralist understandings inform Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) augmented by Social Semiotics is employed to investigate and theorise the role discourse plays in the construction and reproduction of HIV and AIDS print prevention messages meant to persuade individuals to engage in safer sex practices. The interrogation of texts requires a framing that looks at representations, how they are made in context and how people engage with them. Hence CDA, together with Social Semiotics, is used to examine underlying themes, constructs and assumptions of messages and meanings embedded in linguistic and visual codes used in the texts. Focus group discussions examine how meanings are negotiated and interpreted by the university students. The eclectic framework has not only enabled a rigorous and schematic analytical tool, but also an ethnographic approach that stimulated dialogue on HIV and AIDS print prevention texts between the researcher and the university students and between university students themselves. The poststructuralist approach offered exploration of representation, language and interpretation by linking notions of text to context and by so doing demonstrates how discourses of power can help understanding of how identities are constructed through positioning of (subjects) students with regard to how they negotiate meanings from texts. The campaigns seem to reflect a lack of awareness of unequal relations of peer pressure, power and knowledge between sex partners. Strategies used in the texts range from apocalyptic, risk ideology woven through covert attacks on deviant sexual behaviours; infused in the language and visual features arises the notion that the body is under scrutiny, relating this to Foucauldian self-surveillance and self-care, responsibility and empowerment urging informed sexual choices. Invariably, this translates to urging ability to control the body’s eroticism, sexual desires and sexuality. Counter discourses, challenging hegemonic masculinity; discourses of power, discourses of change, also prevail in the printbased HIV prevention campaigns. Noting that there can never be a single totalizing meaning and that texts would be subject to multiple meaning/s, there is still a need to design print-based HIV and AIDS prevention campaigns that persuade students to practise safer sex. The thesis concludes by recommending from the findings that there is a need to explore issues of etechnology/ computer-mediated communication through use of interactivity to continue to encourage safer sex practices. Further issues of promoting self-love ([masturbation] that was suggested by students) would be worth exploring. Finally, a fresher approach to the promotion of condoms that specifically targets university students, that is, re-sexualizing the condom rather desexualizing it, would further enhance the motivation for condom-use.
Transcending GIPA : towards an Ubuntu framework for mainstreaming participation of South African people living with HIV (PLHIV) in social change communication for HIV prevention.
(2015) Lubombo, Musara.; Dyll, Lauren Eva.
HIV/AIDS is a significant health, social, political and economic challenge whose devastating impact on development and subsequent threat to the human, national and global security is well documented. Early responses to the HIV epidemic are known to have dislocated people living with HIV (PLHIV) at the margins of society, crystallising them as patients who need treatment, care and support (Osborne, 2006). This thesis focuses on participation of PLHIV in social change communication for HIV prevention, an aspect that has only recently been acknowledged in the HIV response. It explores how South African PLHIV experience and perceive the framework guiding participation of PLHIV - the Greater involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS (GIPA) - which by virtue of it being a product of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has become accepted as universal. The objective of the thesis derives from issues that arise from the dialogue between extant theory and local practice and thoughts about what constitute positive social change communication for HIV prevention and how such change can be achieved. To achieve this objective, thirteen AIDS Activists based in KwaZulu-Natal were interviewed to make sense not only of the ways in which they configure involvement of PLHIV in the HIV response but also to understand the philosophy that informs such configurations. The findings suggest that South African AIDS Activists predicate their involvement in the HIV response on visible participation, placing emphasis on serostatus disclosure as a signal for safer intentions meant to protect other people from HIV infection. They regard confidentiality of one’s serostatus as negating feasible gains that could be realised from the HIV response involving PLHIV. However, this configuration of participation is contrary to GIPA guidelines which, based on individual rights, provide for the involvement of PLHIV without necessarily disclosing their serostatus (UNAIDS, 2007). The study concludes that GIPA’s emphasis on individual rights atomises people and presents challenges for HIV prevention in local communities where cultural beliefs are such that individual health is inseparably bound to other people. It also considers the AIDS Activists’ configuration of participation as bearing hallmarks of Ubuntu, an African worldview which perceives humans as relational beings who have weighty duties towards each other (Mbiti, 1969; Metz, 2007a/b). The study, therefore, proposes an Ubuntu model for future design and implementation of social change communication for HIV prevention with South African PLHIV in a manner that can not only account for their worldview and cultural frames through which they make behavioural choices but can also allow for the creation of a conducive environment for their visible participation in social iv change communication for HIV prevention. That the model has been developed from the perspective of local people demonstrates the importance of regarding local realities and frameworks that members use to make sense of their lives as the basis upon which interventions must be formulated.
A political economy of mobile telecommunications in South Africa.
Sewchurran, Anusharani.; Wade, Jean-Philippe.
The thesis is in part a political economy of telecommunications in South Africa, in part a discourse analysis of the field. While the thesis investigates issues around ownership, control and regulation of the big telecoms companies in South Africa, it also considers some facets that do not really fit comfortably into traditional political economy approaches. The dominant discourse within telecommunications is a neoliberal technological determinism, despite the developing context. However, there are lesser known narratives of consumption, commodification and control, which demand a cultural studies approach. Together these form alternate, ignored yet important facets emerging from the sector. The thesis foregrounds these alternate discourses as they relate to wider systems of control in the modern empire’s hegemony.
Spectrum management in the global age : Zimbabwe's transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.
Chirume, Clever.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
Abstract available in PDF file.
Media independence in Ghana: the case of the Fourth Republic.
(2015) Nyarko, Jacob.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
The media is often referred to as the fourth estate with the objective of making it autonomous of some society players whose activities seem to sway it from its traditional role of advancing the course of public interest. These dominant forces have intertwined internally or remotely into the very environment within which media institutions operates and seem to stifle their functions and independence. The general objective of this study was to explore the relationship between media independence and the legal, economic and political environments within present-day Ghana. Economically, this study investigated the impact of media funding on the independence of both government and private print media outlets in Ghana tagging advertising as it revenue generation source to determine agenda-setting and framing patterns. Furthermore, it explored whether the media has diversified its operations for revenue generation purpose and to what extent ownership tendencies impacts on editorial independence. Legally, it investigated the impact of media laws and the fourth republican Constitutional provisions on media independence and lastly, assessed the independence of the Ghanaian print media from the perspective of standards and professionalism. The study used an exploratory mixed-research method that combined semi-structured interviews and content analysis. Fifteen participants were drawn from the Ghanaian print media landscape composed of experienced newspaper editors, senior journalists, regulatory bodies, media associations, African sub-regional media organisation and media activists from academia. Twenty newspapers were selected equally from two government and private print houses respectively to conduct a manifest and latent content analysis of adverts placed in Ghanaian newspapers. This work was embedded in the theory of political economy. Transcribed data was organised thematically for analysis and presented in a narrative, tabular and graphical formats. Overall, the study indicated that Ghana‟s corporate community together funds media more than that of government. Funding through advertising impinges on editorial independence and influences agenda-setting and framing of news patterns. Furthermore, small sections of the Ghanaian media have diversified into other businesses to raise revenue to mitigate some of the pressures of that comes with reliance on a lone income. Moreover, ownership influences are evident in the landscape. The study also showed that though the Ghanaian constitution has made some positive impacts, some shortfalls were identified such as: The media lack a Right to Information Law; archaic laws still exist in the statute books; and huge court fines which cripples media outlets. Finally, unethical practices were evident in the media landscape and argued that legalities form a minimal part of the independence of the Ghanaian print media but concerns about their freedom is self-inflicted by the very media practitioners through their actions and sometimes questionable reportage.
Mass media, women and public life in Uganda : interrogating representation, interaction and engagement.
(2017) Maractho, Emilly Comfort.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
This study was motivated by the strides Uganda has made towards the growth of the media and women’s participation in public life. The puzzle is that this increased participation of women in public life is hardly captured in the media, particularly public affairs programmes on the broadcast media. This study, therefore, interrogates women’s media participation through representation, interaction and engagement as components of conjunctural factors that are relevant to facilitating women’s participation in public life. The research is informed by critical theory, and in particular feminist thought, cultural studies and public sphere theory. The marginalisation and oppression of women advanced by feminist theorists, the systems of representation through power and knowledge in cultural studies, and the open participation of discursive programmes that demystify gatekeeping practices in traditional programming in public sphere theory, were the frames used to guide this study. I use multi-method and multidisciplinary approaches that entail quantitative content analysis, qualitative case studies and grounded theory to interrogate the influence of the broadcast media on women’s participation in public life. The thesis of my research is that women’s media participation in public affairs programmes through representation conceptualised as voice and visibility, interaction as consultation and conversation and engagement as involvement and influence, would facilitate women’s participation in public life. Limited representation, interaction and engagement, therefore, frustrate or at least do not advance, women’s participation in public life, contrary to the perceived potential and transformative role of the media. I find that participation remains minimal. The problem is not just the media which has in most studies is found responsible for the negative portrayal of women, but a complex interrelationship between women and the state, society and the media. The state opens up space for women and, paradoxically, closes it, culture defines women’s role in society, and the media reproduces cultural narratives that are injurious to women. Women push back, sometimes but often remain loyal to the state, respond to cultural expectations and ignore the media or disengage from it. This, thus thwarts meaningful opportunities for participation that could help change the perceptions about women’s role in society as well as mobilise and motivate women to participate in public life. The implication for policy and current strategies for women’s empowerment, in particular affirmative action pursued in Uganda and elsewhere, is huge. There is need to rethink the existing models of women’s empowerment and the gender equality agenda, cognisant of the current paradigm of neoliberalism, in particular liberalism and globalism, that thrive on competition, communication and competence.
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.

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Centre for Communication, Media and Society) by Date Accessioned