NEMA - Preserving cultural heritage through cross-dialogue between traditional and digital ways of making.

‘NEMA’ explores how various digital techniques and ways of thinking can intersect with traditional methods of making culturally inspired art and design. In this study, the traditional methods being focused on are the use of clay and paint on surfaces to create cultural designs that hold the significance of traditional heritage, beliefs, power, and ancestral knowledge within them. The digital techniques and methods being researched and studied are the use of digitally fabricated approaches like 3D modeling, scanning, and digital printing. “The goal of this research-creation work is to combine both digital and traditional methods to create an immersive experience that Africans in the diaspora can identify with, while also encouraging a wider audience to engage with African cultural heritage.” This research seeks to find ways to effectively preserve cultural and traditional practices through ways of thinking through making. As Dr. John Henry Clark says, “Take the best of what you are good at and use it to help your people.'' Through this work, I use my art to address certain negative notions about my Nigerian culture, opening discourse to bring about enlightening people and showcasing the richness of my cultural heritage, while also preserving it by creating an archival set of culturally inspired works through these methods

Investigating the online teaching experiences of educators during the Covid-19 lockdown

Thesis MA (VA)--Stellenbosch University, 2022.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic served as a catalyst for educational transformation as schools and universities had no choice but to implement online learning during government mandated lockdowns worldwide. The shift to a digital pedagogy required educators to rapidly adapt and create an online curriculum while presenting classes in a virtual format. South African students were sent home to study remotely and faced a series of challenges from their home environments, such as unreliable access to the internet and lack of self-direction and motivation to work independently. Some of these challenges originate from a history of segregation and inequality where the infrastructure of poorer communities has not been developed sufficiently to sustain online activities or provide optimal learning conditions. Contemporary theories of learning advocate the need for the social dimension of peer discussion and collaboration to facilitate a holistic learning process and foster student engagement, ultimately resulting in attention and retention. Working in isolation, some students fell behind in their studies while others remained unstimulated during teacher-led virtual lessons. With little time to explore online learning theory and curriculum design, and understand the digital medium, many of the experiences recorded in the study were negative. Despite this, there were positive experiences relayed such as enhanced creativity and innovation, with students finding problems to solutions and improving their digital skills and capabilities. Although online learning was implemented as an emergency measure at the time, there are many advantages of adopting online learning for the future. These include wider access for more students, affordability, convenience and diverse engagement activities. These advantages, among others, warrant consideration of the potential long-term implementation of online learning in the South African education system. To better understand how to design and facilitate a digital curriculum, this research study set out to investigate the experiences of seven educators working at different tertiary institutions that offer courses in art, design and entrepreneurship. The study was interpretive in nature and sampled participants purposively in a case study design focused on collecting responses about the transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample size was kept small in line with the limitations and boundaries of a mini-thesis. The data presented was collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews and reveals details about the personal experiences of these educators and the students they taught. From their responses, two main themes were identified: the challenges of online education as well as effective curriculum design and student engagement. A third theme on the future of online education is explored in the final chapter of this research paper. Future studies on this topic could provide more responses from a larger case study group of educators and students to gain a comprehensive picture of the transition to online learning during COVID-19. As the impact of COVID-19 on education is a relatively new phenomenon, this study may contribute to the developing field of knowledge around the impact of the pandemic and the lockdowns in the field of education.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die COVID-19-pandemie het gedien as 'n katalisator vir opvoedkundige transformasie, deurdat skole en universiteite geen ander keuse gehad het as om aanlynleer tydens die wereldwye regerings- inperkings te implementeer nie. Die verskuiwing na 'n digitale pedagogie het vereis dat opvoeders vinnig aanpas om 'n aanlynkurrikulum te skep en klasse in 'n virtuele formaat aan te bied. Suid-Afrikaanse studente was huistoe gestuur vir afstandstudies en moes aanlynonderrig ontvang. Daar was 'n reeks uitdagings; soos tuisomgewings wat nie optimaal gerig is tot studeer nie, onbetroubare toegang tot die internet, sowel as 'n gebrek aan selfdissipline en motivering om onafhanklik by die huis te werk. Die oorsprong van sommige van hierdie uitdagings kom uit 'n geskiedenis van segregasie en ongelyke ontwikkeling waar die infrastruktuur van armer gemeenskappe nie voldoende ontwikkel het om aanlynaktiwiteite te onderhou of optimale leeromstandighede te volhou nie. Kontemporere leerteoriee bepleit die behoefte aan die sosiale dimensie van portuurbespreking en samewerking, om 'n holistiese leerproses te fasiliteer en studentebetrokkenheid te bevorder, wat uiteindelik aandag en retensie tot gevolg het. Deur in isolasie te werk, het sommige studente ‘n agterstand ontwikkel in hulle studies, terwyl ander ongestimuleer gebly het in virtuele lesse wat deur opvoeders gelei was. Met min tyd om aanlynleerteorie en kurrikulumontwerp te verken en die medium te verstaan, is dit logies dat baie van die ervarings negatief was. Daar was egter ook positiewe ervarings; soos verbeterde kreatiwiteit en innovasie onder studente wat probleme vir oplossings gevind het , asook verbetering in digitale vaardighede en vermoens. Alhoewel aanlynleer destyds as 'n noodmaatreel geimplementeer is, is daar baie voordele verbonde aan die aanvaarding van aanlynleer op die langtermyn. Dit sluit in wyer toegang vir meer studente, bekostigbaarheid, gerief en diverse betrokkenheidsaktiwiteite wat oorweging van die potensiele langtermyn-implementering van aanlynleer in die Suid-Afrikaanse onderwysstelsel regverdig. Om beter te verstaan hoe om 'n digitale kurrikulum te ontwerp en te fasiliteer, het hierdie navorsingstudie ondersoek ingestel na die ervarings van sewe opvoeders by verskillende tersiere instellings wat kursusse in kuns, ontwerp en entrepreneurskap aanbied. Die studie was interpreterend van aard met doelbewuste steekproefneming in ‘n gevalle-studie ontwerp wat daarop gefokus was om studente en opvoeders se belewing van die oorgang na aanlynleer, tydens die COVID-19 pandemie te bepaal. Die steekproefgrootte is klein gehou in lyn met die beperkings en grense van hierdie mini-tesis. Die data wat aangebied is, is deur kwalitatiewe semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude ingesamel en verskaf besonderhede van die persoonlike ervarings van hierdie opvoeders en die studente wat hulle onderrig het. Uit hul response is twee hooftemas geidentifiseer: die uitdagings van aanlynonderwys en studentebetrokkenheid en effektiewe kurrikulumontwerp. ‘n Derde tema wat die vooruitsigte van digitale leer bespreek, word in die laaste hoofstuk uitgele. Toekomstige navorsing behoort te fokus op ‘n groter aantal deelnemers van opvoeders en studente ten einde meer gedetailleerde inligting te kry van deelnemers se belewing van die oorgang na aanlynleer tydens COVID-19. Aangesien die impak van COVID-19 op onderwys ‘n relatief nuwe verskynsel is, kan hierdie studie bydra tot die ontwikkelende veld van kennis.Master

From Memory to Marble

The book is a rare case study of the dynamics, processes and shifts around the creation and reading of one of the world’s major monuments, through all the processes of its design and making. The frieze which represents the Great Trek and Voortrekker occupation of South Africa (1835-52) is one of the largest of its kind. The key question is how, a century later, were eighteen years of Voortrekker memory transformed into a 92-metre marble frieze

Aspects of the visual arts in advertising with particular reference to South Africa.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal,1998.This investigation accepts that art is a term of western culture and that advertising is a creation of an historical and social process firmly linked to the economies of western industrialised nations. A cultural niche theory of the visual arts is employed to define the various visual art forms and it is in this context that the development of the notion of fine art, which had its origins during the Renaissance, is investigated with a view to how this led to the commodification of art. The phenomenon of art as a commodity accelerated throughout the nineteenth century and was moulded by the same political, cultural, social, economic and technological forces that gave rise to advertising when, during the second half of the century, the capitalist system of production became geared towards mass production of products for consumption. This was also the period of significant European colonial expansion in southern Afiica and consequently the development of both art and advertising in the region was cast in a colonial, European mould, the effects of which are investigated throughout this research project. This body of research also seeks to explain how the meaning and the value of the art object and its reproduced image, changed and became exchangeable as technology developed. Significantly this occurred at a time when the needs of advertising shifted from a simple system of proclamation and announcement on the periphery of the national economy during the nineteenth century to become a sophisticated system of communication which acts as an influential social institution at the end of this millennium. That this appears to have occurred at a time when the influence of fine art began to decline as a cultural force is significant as it is in this context that advertising has become a primary carrier of meaning in society. This research project works within this paradigm to investigate the history and motives of business support for the arts, particularly the visual arts, in the form of sponsorship with particular reference to a culturally diverse and politically dynamic South Africa. In addition, specific rhetorical devices that advertising employs, as a strategic tool of marketing, to appropriate and (ex)change meaning from the value laden visual art object is investigated with reference to contemporary advertising in South Africa

Promoting creative economies in Nigeria and South Africa through communal and collaborative intellectual property rights strategies

The contention against and for extending intellectual property rights (IPRs) to traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) is strong on both sides: on one hand IPRs remain largely incompatible with TCEs and inadequate for safeguarding them. On the other hand, TCEs need protection in the interest of both the knowledge and their owners. The main challenges for Nigeria and South Africa as developing African countries in harnessing the benefits of their creative economy by exploiting the potential of their TCEs, particularly tradition-based arts and crafts, are tied to these contentions. IPRs remain the dominant framework for reaping the benefits of the creative economy; yet there are conceptual and practical challenges in applying IPRs to fully exploit the economic values of TCEs. Adopting a desktop and library-based research approach, this thesis seeks to resolve this dilemma by relying instead on alternative interpretations of narratives that underpin the dilemma, to justify the protection of tradition-based resources via IPRs. It also relies on the utilitarian outcomes from exploiting TCEs as valid rationales for the use of IPRs by the two study countries to fully exploit the economic benefits of their tradition-based arts and crafts. It examines how communal IPRs constitute a strong point of convergence between IPR and TCEs in ways that make them compatible and suitable measures to help derive greater benefits from TCEs in the market environment. It highlights the connections between the sector and the creative economy, and the socio-economic benefits of this nexus as justification for promoting, protecting and preserving tradition-based arts and crafts; and the suitability of communal IPRs in achieving these tripartite objectives. It concludes that the extant laws of the two countries do not adequately support the effective use of communal IPRs to achieve the objectives as such, and makes recommendations for addressing the gaps

Bantu pottery of Southern Africa

Includes bibliographical references.The Bantu people of Southern Africa entered this region from the North in successive migratory waves and advanced to the regions which they, now inhabit. The first of the immigrants crossed the Zambezi at about the beginning of the Christian era. Pottery of a type belonging to the earliest Iron Age traditions, and found north of the Zambezi (Clark 1959), has been found at Zimbabwe where it has, been dated 330 A.D. by radio carbon tests (Robinson 1961b). Contact with different people and new environments resulted in changes in the way of life and material culture of the migrants. These changes became more pronounced and permanent with the settlement of the European in South Africa and are very evident in regard to pottery. We know from the observations of early travellers and anthropologists that pottery used to be made in large quantities throughout Southern Africa

Aesthetics and resistance: aspects of Mongane Wally Serote's poetry.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the criteria for the c[egree of Master of ArtsThe literature produced by writers who align themselves with national liberation and resistance movements presents a serious challenge to dominant standards of literary . aesthetics. Resistance writing aims to break down the assumed division between art and politics. and in this view literature becomes an arena of conflict and struggle. This dissertation examines certain aspects of the poetry of Mongane Wally Serote in order to explore the relationship between aesthetics and resistance in his writing. Over the last two decades, Serote has made a significant contribution to the development of South African literature, and his work has important implications for literary criticism in South Africa. Chapter 1 looks at some of these implications by discussing the concept of resistance literature and the main issues arising from the debates and polemics surrounding the work of Serote and other black political writers. Perhaps the most important here is the need to construct a critical approach to South African resistance literature that can come to terms with both its aesthetic qualities and political effects. This kind of approach would in some way attempt to integrate the seemingly incompatible critical practices of idealism and materialism. Accordingly, Chapter 2 is a materialist approach to aspects of Serote's early poetry. The critical model used is a simplified version of the interpretive schema set out by Fredric Jameson in The Political Unconscious. This model enables a discussion of the poetry in relation to ideology, and also suggests ways of examining the discursive strategies and symbolic processes in this particular phase of Serote's development. Serote's later work is 'characterised by the attempt to create a unifying mythology of resistance. Chapter 3 thus looks at Serote's long poems from an idealist perspective that is based on the principles of myth-criticism, As this is a complex area, this chapter merely sketches the main features of Serote' s use of myth as a form of resistance, and then suggests further avenues of exploration along these lines. The dissertation concludes by pointing towards some of the implications of recent political developments in South Africa for Serote and other resistance writers.Andrew Chakane 201

Oral history: heritage and identity

A financial contribution by the Department of Arts and Culture made this publication possible.South Africa. Department of Arts and CultureResearch Institute for Theology and Religio

METROPOLITAN ENCHANTMENT AND DISENCHANTMENT. METROPOLITAN ANTHROPOLOGY FOR THE CONTEMPORARY LIVING MAP CONSTRUCTION

We can no longer interpret the contemporary metropolis as we did in the last century. The thought of civil economy regarding the contemporary Metropolis conflicts more or less radically with the merely acquisitive dimension of the behaviour of its citizens. What is needed is therefore a new capacity for imagining the economic-productive future of the city: hybrid social enterprises, economically sustainable, structured and capable of using technologies, could be a solution for producing value and distributing it fairly and inclusively. Metropolitan Urbanity is another issue to establish. Metropolis needs new spaces where inclusion can occur, and where a repository of the imagery can be recreated. What is the ontology behind the technique of metropolitan planning and management, its vision and its symbols? Competitiveness, speed, and meritocracy are political words, not technical ones. Metropolitan Urbanity is the characteristic of a polis that expresses itself in its public places. Today, however, public places are private ones that are destined for public use. The Common Good has always had a space of representation in the city, which was the public space. Today, the Green-Grey Infrastructure is the metropolitan city's monument that communicates a value for future generations and must therefore be recognised and imagined; it is the production of the metropolitan symbolic imagery, the new magic of the city