College of Humanities

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Demazane Ntombazane! an exploration of hair identity politics through performance and herstory.
(2024) Ndlovu, Ntokozo Nonduduzo.; Hammerschlag, Tamantha Anne.; Phiri, Stephen.
This dissertation explores, through autoethnography, the identity politics of hair through performance. It is a journey of understanding self, using hair as a site of learning, discovering and acknowledging. This research explores the notion of seeing and knowing the black female body as a place in which meaning is constantly made. The dissertation serves as an act of learning and re-learning about the self through ancestry, community, story and reflection. It can be looked at as a refusal to see the self without knowing and acknowledging those before you. The key intention is to locate the self and experiences in the existing literature on black hair, its significance, history and meaning. It looks at the body as a site of endless possibilities and possible tool of exploration through performance. This exploration is done by looking at the history of black hair in South Africa. How has black hair been looked at and perceived, by the world, culture and religion? It also examines, through Post-Apartheid Feminist Black Consciousness, the black female body in performance and looks at how black female artists uses their works to portray the black female bodies as possible sites of knowledge, resilience and empowerment. Using the creation process and performance of Demazane Ntombazane! I locate myself within the existing conversations on hair.
Food security: complexities in the lives of women living with disabilities.
(2022) Lister, Helga Elke.; Pillay, Mershen.
Background Food insecurity is a significant public health challenge affecting vulnerable populations globally. Currently, it is not known how health sciences educators train future professionals on the intervention of persons with disabilities who are food insecure. There is also a lack of understanding of food insecurity and disability, where there is additional disadvantage and marginalisation (such as having HIV or being a woman). This study explored how women living with disability in vulnerable contexts experience food security. Methods Firstly, an exploratory cross-sectional online survey was conducted in the School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Through this, a baseline of the knowledge, attitudes and practices of educators regarding teaching of food security and disability in health care sciences was obtained. Secondly, a qualitative life history methodology was used to conduct open-ended interviews with three participants sourced through purposive sampling. Data collection, analysis and interpretation occurred concurrently over a five-year period. This was followed by a process of narrative configuration to produce the stories of the three women. Following this, the paradigmatic mode of analysis was used to describe the findings of three themes in the first two women’s narratives relevant to the research question. After this, the third narrative was analysed over the researcher’s changing understanding and insights developed within the community oriented primary care (COPC) approach. Results Educators from diverse disciplines completed the questionnaire (n=35). They had a partial understanding of the link between food security and disability. Few educators incorporated disability and food security into their training (12% theoretically and 20% practically). They indicated that more should be taught on this topic. Through the qualitative analysis, the three themes which influenced the food security of women living with HIV and disability were resilience; systemic failures; and questions around food security measures. The factors that emerged relevant to COPC engagement in households were the life history interview method for CHWs; improved training in mental health for CHWs and community-based health practitioners; improved care coordination between services; and improved understanding of interrelated HH complexity. This led to the development of the Household Complexity Model (HHCM). Conclusion The connection between food insecurity and disability, as experienced by women, must be thoroughly understood in health care. Beyond this, complexity should be addressed directly. Doing so will facilitate an improved understanding of the interrelatedness of household members and thus ensure that intervention can be more sustainable in improving overall wellbeing.
Lit up by the dark: immersing artmaking practice in unknowing.
(2023) Birch, Caroline Clare.; Hall, Louise Gillian.
Practice-led research (PLR) is a paradigm which values artmaking as a non-verbal mode of research. When my artistic practice foundered on a crippling sense of not knowing, I turned to artmaking research to find a way through this block. In a previous study (Birch 2018), I discovered unknowing as a source of deep creative potential. In this doctoral study, unknowing deepens my understanding of PLR, materials, and artmaking processes. I develop in-the-dark artmaking methods, partly from artistic experience and partly from theoretical sources. These enable a recognition of the communal intelligence offered by the immediate array of artmaking materials. Crucially I realise that my body of artmaking experience is an aspect, not the sole controlling force, of this communal intelligence. The ensuing indeterminacy of the creative process means artmaking fizzes with the intra-active (Barad 2007: 97-185) pushes and pulls of materials. In-the-dark artmaking methods offer a reliable means of availing the generative potential of the unknown. They constitute an aspect of unknowing as they embody active engagement with the immanence of the unknown. I argue that unknowing is immanent in the world as a force of differencing. This study interrogates the ways in which in-the-dark methods, materiality and artmaking process shape one another. Paradoxically, the reliability of in-the dark methods lies in their mutability which proffers vulnerability to the oscillating dynamic of materiality. Like unknowing, matter is also immanent and active (Bennett 2010b: 3; Coole & Frost 2010: 8,20). Intra-action of matter is differencing (Barad 2014: 175). Differencing is therefore immanent. There is no discernible barrier between the immanence of unknowing and that of matter/difference. Thus, materiality is posited as an oscillation of unbounded difference/extreme specificity. In-the-dark methods are proffered as a means of opening my human-ish self to this dynamic of unknowing/materiality. In-the-dark methods are approximations until they are specified within artmaking engagement. For example, working across a ten-metre long drawing in a confined space means working in increments. Excluding an overview of the creative process in its entirety is the ensuing in-the-dark method which is an approximation as it cannot contain the singularity of the moment-by-moment artmaking process. In-the-dark methods thus side-line my mental thinking processes without losing the specificity of artmaking engagement. This reveals my body of artmaking experience as my artistic materiality, my mind as a practice more than a fixed entity, and PLR as a protean paradigm that allows for the mind’s interrogation by materiality. In-the-dark methods entail wondering/wandering, a non-verbal mode of simultaneous enquiry and discovery. This kind of immersion in artmaking means that I can no longer distinguish whether I am working materials or materials are working me. Materials and in-the-dark methods roughen up my anthropocentric assumptions that I am able to direct the artmaking process because I know how to achieve a precise creative outcome. These methods destabilise my perceived internal/external boundary, or normative barometer, allowing the dynamic of materiality to move through my body of artmaking experience. Seemingly, it is not my presence which is problematic, but my perception of my presence. Materiality’s unlimited potential for extreme specificity is dizzying. The unavoidable averaging out of knowledge practices is found to be necessary and useful. The irreconcilable torque between for example, approximating/specificity is valued as a field of tension. I consider the multidimensionality of PLR is rooted in such fields of tension, and that torsion proffers sturdiness in artmaking research. PLR’s intentional siting together of irresolvable non-verbal and verbal modes gives rise to my research questions and continues to propel the enquiry.
The role of violence in the construction of Black South African masculinities in Zukiswa Wanner’s texts.
(2024) Ndabeni, Nontsikelelo Gabrielis.; Mkhize, Thulani.
Contemporary South Africa has attracted global attention because of the spate of violence perpetrated by men against women and children. Twenty-nine years into democracy, with a constitution that vouches for gender equality, the country still seems to be held captive by the traditional stereotypes which give authority and power to one dominant form of masculinity which has been given legitimacy as the benchmark for measuring successful manhood. This type of masculinity has proven to be unsustainable, given the prevailing shifts in the country’s socio-economic climate. Because of this, failure to attain it usually culminates in violent incidents, and women and children are always victims. Through Wanner’s texts, this work examines different versions of black South African masculinity, how they are constructed, as well as the role of violence in their construction. Since masculinity has proven to be a heterogenous concept, this work seeks to challenge the dominant and violent constructions, and to negotiate alternative forms which embrace gender equality. Not only does this work concern itself with the different types of black South African masculinity and the role of violence in their construction, it also highlights the role of women in their construction, an aspect which is always taken for granted, yet it plays a crucial role in the way in which masculinities are constructed and enacted. This is accomplished by delving deeply into the family unit and examining the conventional gender roles of women, keeping in mind that the South African constitution grants them the freedom to either adhere to these roles or select from a variety of options presented to them. It is suggested that women's contributions to the building of masculinities ought to be acknowledged, since their decisions appear to have a substantial impact on either fostering or impeding the change of masculinities. It is further suggested that boys and young men are socialised into more egalitarian forms of masculinity.
Transposition and modulation in the translation of subtitles between isiZulu and English: a case of Umkhokha.
(2024) Gumede, Thandeka Mbali.; Dlamini , Phindile Dorothy.; Motsamayi, Mathodi Freddie.
This study explored the utilization of transposition and modulation as translation techniques for subtitles between isiZulu and English, focusing on the context of the South African linguistic landscape. The research addressed a notable gap in the existing literature on translation techniques, particularly concerning modulation and transposition, and contributed valuable insights into the comprehension and application of translation practices between English and isiZulu. The study aimed to achieve the following objectives: first, to gain insights into how transposition and modulation are utilized in the translation process as effective translation techniques in rendering isiZulu content into English; second, to investigate the proficient utilization of transposition and modulation in the translation of subtitles between isiZulu and English. Therefore, an interpretive paradigm is employed to develop sensitizing concepts and identify potential ideas that could foster a deeper understanding of the translation process. Furthermore, the data were randomly collected from English subtitles and isiZulu audio of the drama series Umkhokha, accessible on Showmax. The analysis focuses on the transposition and modulation techniques employed in translating Umkhokha episodes. For this purpose, Molina and Albir’s Dynamic approach to translation techniques (2002) and Vinay and Darbelnet’s linguistic model (1995) are utilized to examine and interpret the gathered data. The presentation of the study’s findings is textual, wherein the researcher explores the transposition and modulation translation techniques detected within the collected information. This study sought to provide valuable insights into the complex translation process between isiZulu and English, contributing to the advancement of translation studies in South Africa’s multilingual environment.

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