Stepping into history : biography as approaches to contemporary South African choreography with specific reference to Bessie's Head (2000) and Miss Thandi (2002)
- Authors: Snyman, Johannes Hendrik Bailey
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Head, Bessie, 1937-1986 , Maqoma, Gregory -- Miss Thandi , Derrida, Jacques -- Criticism and interpretation , Biography , Choreography -- South Africa -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2154 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004678
- Description: This mini-thesis is located in historical discursive practices, choreographing history, biography as a source for making dance in South Africa and choreographic transformations in South African choreography since the 1994 democratic elections. Derridian concepts of deconstruction will be referenced in an attempt to focus the argument of this research, which comments on choreographic transformations since 1994, by subverting the influence of the 'violent hierarchies' enforced by the apartheid regime on South African cultural life and choreographic identity. The researcher draws on these considerations in order to explore the hybrid nature of South African choreography that has emerged since 1994. Chapter one examines the fallacious nature of historical discourse through a consideration and application of Derrida's notions of deconstruction and fabrication. Chapter two explores the notion of choreographing history in theatre through a focus on the objective/subjective fallacy and the history of the body as a textual medium. Chapter three focuses the study specifically in biography as a discourse within the idea of theatre. This approach to biography can be encapsulated by the phrase 'telling lives'. This chapter also explores the relationship between the traditional binaries of writing as a purely cerebral act and choreography as a purely visceral experience. Chapter four brings the focus to the specific post-apartheid South African context. This chapter considers the hybrid forms of dance emerging in South Africa as well as the notion of protest in relation to theatre and dance. The final chapter is an investigation and analysis of two choreographic works created by South African choreographers since 1994 in relation to biography and concepts of deconstruction. These works are Gary Gordon's Bessie's Head (2000) and Gregory Maqoma's Miss Thandi (2002). The focus of the analysis also reveals the inherent difficulty in objective interpretation, and considers the problematics of collaboration and autobiography when choreographing within a biographical context.
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- Date Issued: 2003
Research portfolio
- Authors: Muwanga-Zake, Johnnie Wycliffe Frank
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Science -- Study and teaching Research
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1727 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003610
- Description: A survey carried out during 1998 in rural schools of the South East Region (Butterworth) in the Eastern Cape Province revealed that science teachers do not seem to know their problems in teaching science. Teachers related their problems to lack of apparatus and laboratories. However, it appeared that lack of conceptual understanding of science and of practical skills prevented teachers from preparing practical approaches in the classrooms. Lack of conceptual understanding could have also been the cause of the teacher's inability to innovate and manipulate apparatus. The call for laboratories also seemed to be caused by lack of knowledge of what is done in a laboratory. Practical approaches to science seemed to be further undermined by the irrelevance of apparatus and science in a rural setting, where few community members and teachers might have never used apparatus or done practical exercises anywhere. It is recommended that an integrated approach towards improving science education is required. That is, by means of workshops, all role-players in science education such as teacher training institutions such as Rhodes University, NGOs, the Department of Education and pre-service as well as in-service teachers, should discuss the problems in science education. There is a need to supply basic apparatus and to make sure that in-service and pre-service courses emphasise skills in the use of apparatus, innovating apparatus and practical experiences, along with improving the teacher's conceptual understanding of science. A science college of education is highly recommended to enable a special focus on the plight of science education in the Eastern Cape Province. It also felt that rural areas require special attention in terms of designing outcomes and learning experiences that bear relevance to that environment. The assumption that science education as perceived in industrialised areas can be beneficial everywhere is dangerous and gives science a bad name in rural areas. The survey also showed that triangulation of research instruments is necessary to increase validity and reliability of any research programme. The most useful method appeared to be video recording the interviews.
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- Date Issued: 1999
An investigation into the properties of cotton fibres as used in nonwoven fabrics
- Authors: Lutseke, Nothando Sazikazi
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Cotton -- Analysis , Fibers -- Analysis , Nonwoven fabrics -- Analysis , Textile chemistry
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4552 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018241
- Description: The purpose of this investigation was to determine the properties that characterise cotton fibres in the various stages in the CPNF process as well as to determine which fibre characteristics a r e required to entangle the fibres to produce a successful CPNF . The criteria adopted in this work for a successful CPNF include: 1. the tensile strength of the fabrics 2. a well-defined pattern 3. absorbency and wicking The properties selected for investigation were 1. the cotton fibre surface (using SEM and DSC analyses) 2. the degree of degradation of the cotton fibre as a result of the CPNF process (using cellulose fluidity measurements) 3. the non-cellulosic content of the fibre (using IR, DSC, and Chemical analyses) 4. fibre friction 5. absorbency and wicking 6. tensile properties Analysis of the results indicates clearly what the fundamental properties of the cotton fibre must be for a successful cotton CPNF to be manufactured. The conclusions also indicate the necessary properties a man-made fibre must have to produce a successful CPNF.
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- Date Issued: 1989