Centre for Communication, Media and Society

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Cybernetics, semiotics and meaning in the cinema.
(School of Communication. University of Johannesburg., 1985) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
This paper builds on Gene Youngblood's use of cybernetic theory in film analysis. It combines the cybernetic method with Peircian-derived semiotics in an attempt to derive a meta-theory of social process and film textual structure. An attempt is made to resolve the more deterministic elements of Youngblood's theory, developing a more probabilistic approach. The paper ends with some conjecture on how the cyber-semiotic theory developed can be combined with Lacanian psychoanalysis and Marxist approaches developed by the scholars contributing to the British journal Screen.
Towards a procedural revolution.
(Contemporary Cultural Studies Unit, University of Natal., 1986) Amato, Robert.
This is an attempt at a procedural solution to the present political and economic logjam in South Africa. The aim is to find ways to alleviate some of the difficulties faced by the major parties to the conflict and to facilitate their reaching agreement on rules under which they can compete, not negotiate, as political forces.
The rise of grassroot communication.
(Sonolux., 1988) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
The first presentations at the Lusaka Symposium were devoted to South Africa. By challenging apartheid and repression at a local level. grassroot communication is an effective way to oppose Government policy in South Africa. Keyan Tomaselli, director of the Contemporary Cultural Studies Unit at the University of Natal in Durban, looked at the rise of grassroot organisations and how they are preparing an alternative structure for a democratic South Africa.
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.
Popularising semiotics.
(Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture., 1991) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.; Shepperson, Arnold.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.; Baker, Russell.; Ballot, Jane Jennifer.; Holt, Alexander Robert.; Mahaye, Zithulele.; Nursoo, Lara.
Semiotics, deconstructionism, structuralism and postmodernism are words which lurk on boundaries of the consciousness of most of us. But they remain shadowy presences except on the rare occasions when we need to wrestle out of them an explanation of just what they are all about. In this issue of Trends we grapple with one of them, semiotics. C. S. Peirce, the American, pragmatist philosopher who coined the term, saw semiotics as a 'method of methods', useful in many disciplines to clarify their own theory and practice. Everyone uses signs and symbols. Everyone thinks they know the meanings of the signs and symbols they use. But why do they have meanings? Where do the meanings come from? Why are the signs and symbols used by one person or group so frequently misinterpreted by others? Semiotics may seem esoteric, but its interests are central to all communication. Consequently all communicators should be concerned with at least some of the problems dealt with semioticians. To guide us on our exploration of semiotics the publishers of Trends, the Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture, have enlisted the aid of Professor Keyan Tomaselli and his colleagues at the Centre for Cultural and Media Studies of the University of Natal, who for some years have been studying the cultural side of semiotics. So eager has their response been that we have devoted two issues of Trends to their reports. The contents of these two issues manifest the views of the authors more than is usual for Trends, and they are not necessarily those of the editors; but the CSCC feels that the perspective of the CCMS deserves both expression and discussion.
The 1990 reforms and the alternative media in South Africa.
(Sonolux., 1991) Louw, Paul Eric.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
The alternative press, which contributed so much to the struggle against apartheid in the 1980s; found itself unprepared for a new role in the freer media environment after the lifting of the State of Emergency in February 1990. P Eric, Louw, and Keyan Tomaselli report on the financial, organisational and political difficulties now threatening the existence of the alternative press in South Africa.
S. African Politics: mapping the constituency.
(Program on Communication and Development Studies, Northwestern University., 1991) Louw, Paul Eric.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
Reeling under the sanctions imposed by the community of nations and heightened internal struggles, the South African white government has begun the historic process of dismantling apartheid. The various democratic forces within the country and their aspirations to build a non-racial society still seem distant. Professors Eric Louw and Keyan Tomaselli from the Centre for Cultural and Media Studies at the University of NataI in Durban describe the turbulent situation in South Africa in vivid detail.
The politics of discourse and the discourse of politics : images of violence and reform on the South African Broadcasting Corporation's television news bulletins, July 1985-November 1986.
(1992) Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.; Wade, Jean-Philippe.
The thesis begins with an examination of the literature on television news, taking particular note of the arguments for and against the 'dominant ideology thesis'. It is the contention of the work that the notion of 'professionalization' is a two sided one: while creating patterns and strategies of repetition and formulaic responses, during the emergency it was conversely used protect the integrity of a cadre of working journalists. In South Africa a State of Emergency was declared on 17 July, 1985, and successively renewed until 2 February 1990. An important element of the Emergency legislation were the stringent media restrictions placed on print and televisual journalists. This thesis examines the content and application of these restrictions, as well as the part played by the Bureau for Information in providing a bureaucratic base for the policy of media containment. The thesis argues that the restrictions, as well as the State of Emergency as a whole, was predicated on the South African Government's understanding that the country was facing a 'Total Onslaught', which could only be countered by a 'Total Strategy'. The empirical section of the thesis examines the manner in which the processes of political violence and reform were imaged on the televisual news broadcasts of South African Broadcasting Corporation, in the period July 1985 to November 1986. Under the discussion of 'Reform' particular attention is paid to P.W. Botha's opening speech to the Federal Congress of the National Party in Durban, 17 August, 1985; as well his opening address to Parliament the following year; followed by an examination of the communication of reforms concerning influx control and urbanisation. In defining political violence a distinction is made between the government's use of the word 'unrest' and 'terrorism', which is contrasted with the critical concepts of 'mass action' and 'insurgency'. The narration of the declaration of the State of Emergency, and some of the main thematic motifs which accompanied reporting in this period, specifically the insistence that the security forces, and through them, the government, was in constant control; and the concept of 'black-on-black' violence as a driving force in the political upheavals, are dissected. This is followed by an analysis of the television coverage of political violence in Durban (August 1985); Crossroads (June 1986) and the contracted 'Unrest Reports' which were regularly broadcast throughout the State of Emergency. In the final chapter, the portrayal of the ANC as a terrorist organisation is examined, together with the attitudes of those who were believed to support them. The thesis concludes with a re-examination of the dominant ideology thesis, specifically as it can be said to have applied to the television news broadcasts discussed in this project.
Communication or propaganda : what's the difference?
(University of KwaZulu-Natal., 1992) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
The deterministic nature of the discipline of communications is revealed through ideological dimensions and the nature of propaganda. The myth of information neutrality is illustrated by examples, in particular two films produced by industry for labour relations purposes. The concept of total strategy, operating as a dominant ideology, has controlled communication in South Africa, although messages have not always been interpreted as intended. Communication needs to be seen in a theological sense, replacing domination by bottom-up dialogue.
Semiotics in an African context : ''science" vs "priest-craft" - "semiology" vs "semiotics".
(IMATRA : International Semiotics Institute., 1992) Shepperson, Arnold.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
No abstract available.
Book hunger and the political economy of the South African booktrade : structural and policy constraints on the production and distribution of academic books.
(1994) Young, Dennis.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
While 'book hunger' in Third World societies was regarded by a 'first generation' of theorists, working in the modernization/diffusion of innovation paradigm, as a cause of underdevelopment (and thus requiring the correction of problems relating to the undersupply of books to Third World countries by means of book aid policies, transfer of expertise and technology, and development of modern (western) publishing and distribution procedures and infrastructures), a 'second generation' of theorists working in the dependency/disassociation paradigm responded by insisting that 'book hunger' was an effect of the underdevelopment of peripheral economies, and a symptom of the debilitating cultural effects of the global economic order, with its skewed international distribution of knowledge, resources and capital. In recent approaches to the topic of 'book hunger' (which are wary of the sweeping dichotomies of dependency theory), 'book hunger' serves to describe a chronic shortage of books which results from complex structural inequities and antagonisms, from the distorting effects of global rationalization, as well as from local economic arrangements and policy mechanisms which do not adequately meet the knowledge and information needs of competing local cultural formations. 'Book hunger' is seen to derive from a range of causes, and to produce a range of effects, which correspond to the varying needs, resources, and conditions operative in - and the cultural media and knowledge infrastructures available within specific societies. Obviously, 'book hunger' is rooted to a considerable degree in the specific historical configurations and socioeconomic circumstances of specific countries. An understanding of complex, globally-interlinked socio-cultural, political and economic structures and practices is thus crucial to understanding 'book hunger' in South Africa. A survey of global and local environments within which scholarly books are produced and circulated - including South African distribution systems and knowledge dissemination networks - makes it possible to sketch an approach to South Africa's own 'book hunger:' which is sensitive to the complexity and the specificity of conditions in the local booktrade, and which is able to contribute to the complex debates on local knowledge infrastructures, strategies for book development and new forms of distribution which are now beginning to take place in South Africa.
The future of public religious broadcasting in South Africa.
(1994) Nkosi, Daniel Joseph Johannes Nhlanhla.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
The thesis tries to search for a methodology with which to critique the role of the SABC's religious broadcasts in reflecting the South African crisis and negotiations during the apartheid and transition periods (1972-1992). It suggests the future restructuring of religious broadcasting in the light of this analysis. This thesis presents philosophical, theological, scientific, political, economic, social and cultural processes that marked the paradigmatic shift from the arcane Middle Ages to the Modern Age. These are tended as contours to both critique and restructure the South African Broadcasting Corporation's (SABC) religious broadcasting beyond Public Service Broadcasting into Community Religious Broadcasting pertinent to the meta-modern epoch. This thesis asserts that science, along with political, economic, and cultural processes, have been separated from their theological and cognitive roots. There is a gap between these processes and the human subject's thinking and faith activities. It asserts that scientific methodology alone is inadequate to analyse the SABC as a scientific phenomenon. It claims that using scientific methodologies of both mainstream and critical-Marxist paradigms alone may lead to methodological reductionism. It proposes that both mainstream (rational) and critical-Marxist (praxis) methodologies must be linked to cognitive (metaphysical) methodology. The inadequacy of science has brought this thesis to a methodological crisis. This crisis is demonstrated as a micro-crisis of the meso-crisis, which in turn is part of a macro-crisis. On the method micro-level the crisis is symptomatic of the micro-crisis caused by the separation of science from philosophy, which prejudices intuition in favour of rationality on the paradigmatic level. On the agenda level, which is the meso-level, the crisis manifests itself in the separation of philosophy from theology, which prejudiced theology in favour of philosophy. Finally on the macro-level the crisis shows itself as dualistic separation of subject-object uni-formity from subject-object uni-diversity, which prejudiced objectivity against subjectivity on the discourse level. Below I illustrate the theory-praxis crisis: From the theory-macro-uni-diversity level, a normalivistic stance, namely orthodoxical plane, the meso-crisis can be conceived as either heterodoxical or homodoxical. Heterodoxical crisis leads to heresiodoxical praxis and homodoxical leads to orthopraxis. From the praxis-micro-uniformity level, a normalivistic stance, namely orthopraxis plane, the meso-crisis can be conceived as either heteropraxical or homopraxical. Heteropraxis leads to heresiodoxy and homopraxis leads to orthodoxy. The thesis holds both ends of the object-subject dialectics, i.e. action follows being and being follows action. The emphasis on the former leads to idealism and the emphasis on the latter, to rationalism. The dialectic reaction to rationalism leads to scientific-materialism. The thesis further argues that both rationalism and materialism must be relinked to idealism in order to emancipate the human subject from either arcane or modern subordination. This emancipation, the thesis asserts, will lead to meta-modern community-based democracy and broadcasting. To tackle the question of whether theory informs praxis or praxis informs theory, the thesis bases itself on the perichosis-tri-tension of traditional view-stance, personal view-stance and praxis-stance. It navigates between the streams of hetero-consciousness and homo-consciousness, between liberal and critical paradigms, and between critical and hermeneutic theory\praxis. That navigation and the rethinking of both African and Occidental public spheres, afforded this thesis a cognitive-interpreting-praxis. That cognitive-interpreting-praxis is employed to critique the SABC in general and its religious broadcasting in particular. The critique amplified the root-cause, among others, of the crisis between SABC as a signifying practice and the reality of South African society between 1972 and 1992, as the bias of the SABC in favour of the then ruling White Hegemony. That White Hegemony is precisely, this thesis argues, the result of the separation of Africans from their traditional African polity and subsequent alienation from their land and stock, reminiscent of the separation of the Occidental subjects from these selfsame factors as a result of the arcane Middle Ages authority and land tenure. This separation, along with industrialization, brought about the massification of South African society, which was represented by the SABC (acting as a 'PSB') as a consensual but separate community of minorities. Finally, the thesis tries to map a way for the future in religious broadcasting in South Africa beyond the SABC as PSB, by proposing a community based religious broadcasting model.
The development of community-based media for AIDS education and prevention in South Africa: towards an action-based participatory research model.
(1994) Parker, Warren.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
This research explores the development of community-based media for HIV/AIDS education and prevention. The theoretical framework for the research was based in semiotic, cultural studies and participatory action research perspectives and is critical of conventional approaches to communication and media production. Conceptual ideas for the media products emerged through interaction with small groups of participants utilising participatory action research and focus group methodology. A series of posters were produced and distributed within the communities studied. The research demonstrates a practicable and replicable methodology for deriving community perspectives around a range of issues and articulating these via small media products. The methodology is relevant to health education, but may also be applicable to a range of community-based initiatives that seek to facilitate social change.
Reform, resistance, reconstruction : an exploration of the Apollonian-Dionysian duality as a means for interpreting the politics of culture in South Africa (1976-1994).
(1994) Vergunst, Nicolaas.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.; King, Terence Howard.
No abstract available.
Unlit clay lamps, unsung bhajans: a cultural studies perspective on the experience of South African Catholics of Indian descent.
(1995) Lazarus, Alison.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
This study is an exploratory study of the identity formation of South African Catholics of Indian Descent (SACIDs). It seeks to describe the construction of their identity and experience of otherness and difference. It asks two main questions: Firstly how relevant are the categories of culture, ethnicity, ideology ,race and religion in the construction of identity and the self understanding of members of this community? This study is concerned with discovering whether these categories are operative and relevant to the experiences of the youth in this community. Therefore the first objective of the study is to discover how do the youth amongst SACID identify themselves? This forms the one focus of the study. Secondly it examines the role of organic intellectuals of this community with specific reference to what they perceive as the identity of SACIDs. The study examines what they are saying and doing regarding the categories of culture, ethnicity, ideology and race vis a vis the transformation of the Catholic Church in South Africa. It is important to examine what is being done by such intellectuals as they are in a position to influence the way SACIDs identify and construct themselves. This constitutes the second focus of the study. Both foci are related to the research objective which is to explore the self identity and identity construction of SACIDs. It attempts to analyse the feelings of otherness in the experience of SACIDs. The objective is to understand how SAC IDs "see and feel themselves" in a context of change within country and church. A Cultural Studies perspective is employed in the interpretation and analysis of identity formation. Central to this perspective are the key categories of culture, ethnicity, ideology, race and religion. The literature in this field provide the theoretical framework for interpretation. The study utilizes a qualitative methodological approach, specifically the participatory action research approach. The study finds that SACIDs define themselves as a racial and religious minority. They perceive their identity as multi-layered. However, race is still a dominant and determining factor in their self-understanding and construction of identity. They collapse the categories of religion and culture resulting in confusion and a hesitancy to embrace ethnic references in their identity formation and religious practice. It is this hesitancy and confusion regarding their cultural identity that the title Unlit Clay Lamps, Unsung Bhajans refers.
The re-presentation of an Indian identity by South African print media : a case study of The Leader 1 April - 25 April 1994.
(1995) Bramdaw, N. R.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
In the Kwa-Zulu Natal context, a lot of attention has been paid to the construction of Zulu ethnicity in the potential and discursive spheres. Less attention has been paid however to the construction of Indian ethnicity in this region. This project will explore the exclusivist construction of an Indian ethnic identity by an Indian-owned print medium in this geographical context during the time of the 1994 South African elections, when various political parties fought for what has been called the "Indian vote". It will attempt to point out that the notion of ethnic identity offered by this medium to its readers does not actually challenge those offered to the community by the old South Africa state. In grounding the analysis of the editions under discussion in a framework developed by Norman Fairclough, this study draws heavily on a theoretical continuum developed by Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser. It is in such a theoretical context that Fairclouch has developed the methodology of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). By bringing such a methodology to bear on the texts under analysis, the study hopes to develop an understanding of Indian ethnicity in this region which suggests that it is an extremely problematic construct.
In search of appropriate media (mass media) for the informal sector in a post apartheid South Africa : the city of Durban's street vendors.
(1995) Cebekhulu, Nhlanhla Michael.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
The investigation to the appropriate mass media for the micro-enterprises (informal sector) is in line with the principle of economic development for post-apartheid South Africa envisaged by the Reconstruction and Development Programme. In many countries, such as Latin America, Japan, United States of America, small business sector is the backbone of the economy, providing jobs and means for large companies to out-source tasks. This also applies to South Africa, the micro-enterprise in this country ''fulfils a social and economic function which neither state owned corporations nor the foreign transnational corporations, can perform. Due to their knowledge of the clientele they are able to determine more precisely the real and basic needs of the society and thereby render people-oriented, as against a purely commercial service" (Mersham and Skinner 1992 :33). However, lack of access to appropriate, relevant and understandable information and advice is one of the most critical aspect which hinders development of small enterprises, particularly, micro-enterprises and survivalist and small start-up enterprises. Due to the past discrimination and lack of opportunities this problem is most serve among black entrepreneurs who are participating in this sector. In addition, the central problem that has an impact in the process of reaching the micro-enterprises is the fact that the nature of communication systems and their relevance for the micro-enterprise activities, seem to have more over-emphasis on the print media. Subsequently, over-emphasis on the print media concentrate efforts on more easily and receptive individuals and communities, ignoring the micro-enterprises that require the service, since the majority of the micro-enterprises are comprised of people who have been disadvantaged by an incomplete education. It becomes therefore, essential to investigate how micro-enterprises consume mass media and the central role it plays so that an appropriate mass medium to reach this sector could be identified. Since my perception is that there is no assurance that the formulated policies and strategies by the Department of Trade and Industry become known to the intended beneficiaries . Most importantly, the approach taken in this study, is the one which tries to understand the role of the mass media in national development but which is more specific to the micro-enterprises. The media are seen as educators or teachers of the micro-enterprises. The ideal is that mass media can be used to teach people skills of different kinds and, under some conditions, to influence the attitudes and behaviour of the micro-enterprises.
Intercultural sensitivity in the integrating suburb of Westville. Durban, South Africa.
(1997) Peters, Noel B.; Pertchick, Kevin.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.; Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth Elizabeth.
To investigate intercultural sensitivity, the Davis Russell-Peters Intercultural Sensitivity Instrument (1994) was administered to 203 participants situated within residences in the formerly white suburb of Westville Durban, South Africa. The subjective experience of the participants was evaluated by comparing demographic variables with a suggested continuum of six stages between ethnocentrism and ethnorelativism. Respondents appeared to traverse the polarities related to their perceptions of reality and its subjective meaning. The preference for ethnocentric attitudes appeared to be a construct employed as a result of categorization and separation caused by former restrictive legislation of Apartheid. and strong cultural and religious anchors. It appears that groups gravitate towards their own cultural group because of the security it offers in times of political unrest and fear. Also, groups appeared to maintain healthy self-concepts and a preference for ethnorelativism, creating a world that values difference and is open to integration with the larger society.
Action research, participatory communication: why governments don't listen.
(Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), 1997) Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.
No abstract available.
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.

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