Doctoral Degrees (Drama)

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https://scholar2.stb.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/599

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Applying indigenous knowledge resources in children’s play-crafting in Southern Nigeria : practice-led research using Ibibio folk narratives
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-03) Inyang, Idaresit Ofonime; Pretorius, Mareli Hattingh; Kruger, Marie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of the study is to investigate the possibility to use play-crafting as a form of educational drama to renew the interest of Ibibio children in their Indigenous Knowledge Resources. The educational and moral function of these materials were eroded by colonialism and is further weakened by globalisation. The primary activity in this practice-led research is therefore an educational project carried out with a group of approximately 50 Ibibio children, aged between 9 and 12 who are pupils of selected primary schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Chapter two analyses the available indigenous knowledge resources, namely proverbs, folktales, storytelling, myths, folksongs, traditional games, riddles, and legends and the oral tradition in which these resources are embedded. Chapter three analyses constructivism, participatory learning and play as important components in this practice-led study, which employs play-crafting as a learning method. Constructivism with Dewey as important figure perceives learning as interactive and engaging as learners can be coconstructors in the process of knowledge making. Constructivism emphasizes collaboration, problem solving and the experiences of the learners. This school of thought challenges the formal or traditional educational philosophy that emphasizes the transfer of fixed body of knowledge from educators to learners in a highly formalized context involving a top-down release of knowledge by an educator to the educated. The cognitive constructivism theory of Bruner and Piaget, Vygotsky’s social constructivism and Von Glaserfeld’s radical constructivism theories are also relevant to this study. Participatory learning as voluntary and active involvement in learning as seen in the philosophy of Freire rests on the same principal. Play is important to this study as many Scholars advocate play as an important means of learning as it serves as an interactive space and a form of social enculturation, cultural practices and knowledge transmitter. Play is not only an enjoyable and spontaneous activity of young children, but it also contributes significantly to children’s learning and development. Play therefore forms the bases for play-crafting as an educational drama activity which combines constructivism and its related participatory learning. Chapter four looks at the three different approaches to education drama: Creative Drama and Playmaking, Drama-in-Education and the integrated approach, which combines these approaches. The objective of Creative Drama and Playmaking is to give each child an avenue of self-expression, guide the creative imagination and to provide a controlled emotional outlet. Drama-in-Education uses drama as a teaching and learning medium. The practice-led fieldwork as described in chapter five followed the combined approach by incorporating storytelling, improvisation and role-playing as creative tools in play-crafting. The findings in chapter six points to the effectiveness of adapting Ibibio indigenous knowledge resources by means of play-crafting in teaching traditional values and social skills to young children in selected schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Through various levels of investigation, a field experiment and extensive analysis, this study is able to establish that the application of indigenous resource could transform the learning experience for children with optimal benefit to the child and society.
Indigenous performance and modernity : investigating the vitality of play and work songs of the Dagaaba community in North Western Ghana as verbal art performance
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-03) Ismaila, Margaret; Pretorius, Mareli Hattingh; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study looks at play and work songs of the Dagaaba in north western Ghana as verbal art performance and how modernity has influenced the vitality of these indigenous performances. Performance studies remain a contested subject as it cuts across disciplines. However, the overarching theme in scholarship on performance defines it as a paradigm-driven concept which needs to be discussed in context. Aligning with this position, play and work songs of the Dagaaba is studied as performance in the context of an activity in motion as theorised by Richard Schechner. By investigating the vitality of play and work songs of the Dagaaba, I set out to draw attention to the declining nature of indigenous performance. I argue that social change, an inevitable phenomenon which has swept through the Dagaaba land, has halted the motion of play and work songs performances – hence its vitality – and call for alternative platforms to revitalise performances to ensure continuity. Using the qualitative approach, this study focuses on play and work songs as indigenous art forms among the Dagaaba. The main objective of this study is to unearth the influence of modernity on indigenous Dagaaba performances. Specifically, the study seeks to investigate the role of play and work songs as traditional verbal art performances in the Dagaaba community. The study also aims at exploring the manifestations of modernity in the Dagaaba community as well as analyses the perceived impacts of modernity on play and work song performances of the Dagaaba. In addition, the study investigates alternative platforms for indigenous performances. The study finds farming, domestic chores, recreation, environmental rituals, ancestor veneration, and rites of passage as some platforms that sanction the performance of indigenous art forms. The study however finds that modernity has influenced these performances and identifies formal education, Christianity, technology, industrialisation, and urbanisation among others as causes of this change. The study discovers meeting places of identifiable groups and competitions of indigenous performances as alternative platforms for continuity and vitality of play and work songs performances. The study reveals, based on songs collected, that play and work songs satisfy Bauman’s analysis of verbal art as performance. Analysis of songs collected responds to what Baumann identified as the frames of communication, communication devices and keying in performance which provides the audience a structure within which to interpret and appreciate the text. The study contributes to scholarship on performance studies by propounding play and work songs as accessorial performance. It concludes that though play and work songs are vital in the social organisation of the Dagaaba, they are gradually losing their places due to the influence of modernity.
Representation of albinism and persons with albinism in narratives from East and Southern Africa
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-03) Spemba, Spemba Elias; Slabbert, Mathilda; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines representations of albinism and characters or subjects with albinism in a selection of literary and cultural texts set in, and from, East and Southern Africa. The analysis brings together contemporary fictional, auto/biographical, and short documentary film representations produced between 2009 and 2020, a period marked by an increased production of texts dealing with albinism in the African context. The study considers how characters or actual people with albinism (PWA) and historical, socio-cultural, and medical perceptions or discourses of albinism are narrated, portrayed, and framed to focus on the manner in which issues of agency emerge in the representations. Given the variety of issues that intersect with albinism in the texts studied, my study is a multi-disciplinary and cross-cultural reading of the representations of albinism and individuals with albinism. My research converses with theories and germane criticism from a scope of disciplines and fields such as disability studies, gender studies, (African) philosophy, narrative theory, and life narrative studies. My research establishes that literary and cultural texts are a site where public and private agency of subjects and characters with albinism is (re)configured and where various perceptions describing albinism and persons with albinism are (de)constructed and (re)conceptualized.
Investigating process drama as methodology to address sensitive curriculum content in secondary schools in Lesotho
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Malibo, Rethabile Khantse; Pretorius, Mareli Hattingh; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) was introduced in Lesotho in 2005 by the Lesotho government through the Ministry of Education and Training. The introduction of the subject was a response to the prevailing socio-cultural climate in Lesotho of early sexual debut for both boys and girls, high and increasing rates of HIV/AIDS, early and unintended pregnancies and marriages, illegal abortion, as well as drug and alcohol abuse amongst the adolescent population. The aim of this study is to investigate a process drama inspired pedagogy that teachers can use in teaching sensitive curriculum content, specifically comprehensive sexuality education. By extension, the study also intends to promote and encourage the employment of arts, specifically process drama, in formal education spaces. The study employs a qualitative research design consisting of two parts: a literature review, based primarily on secondary data collection, and primary data collection in the form of a participatory practical exploration within an action research approach. The literature study looks at the context of sexuality education and contestations surrounding it, the principles and characteristic of the subject and the implementation of the subject in Lesotho. It also includes the theoretical and conceptual framework of the study. Theories discussed focus on two entities: the teacher and the teaching model as the primary subjects, and the learners as a secondary entity. These theories include, constructivism (both cognitive and social), the Conceptual Change Model (CCM), positioning theory, the Health Belief Model, and psychosocial theory. Lastly the literature review addresses process drama as a form of applied drama. The primary data collection for this study was carried out in Lesotho and the population consisted of secondary school teachers from all ten districts, who teach comprehensive sexuality education. A total of fifty-two teachers were initially involved in the study, but as the study progressed the numbers decreased. Questionnaires, interviews, and process drama workshops were employed to produce primary data. The findings indicate that teachers do not understand CSE and have developed a negative attitude towards it. Teaching the subject negatively impacts their social standing not only in the school, but also in the community. They are of the view that teaching the subject might corrupt the sexual innocence of the learners or create learners eager to experiment with their newfound knowledge. Consequently, teachers design CSE content using their own biographies and employ a dictatorial methodology in class. The findings further suggest that teachers are appreciative of the role process drama can play in teaching sensitive curriculum content, but as it was a new pedagogy, they struggled to acquaint themselves with some of the conventions involved in the process. Despite observed challenges, the potential for process drama as an effective teaching method for sensitive curriculum content was confirmed. This study therefore highlights the significant role that the arts – and specifically process drama – can play within formal education spaces.
'n Ondersoek na kinderteater as 'n moontlike tersiere toneelspelonderrigmeganisme
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Van der Merwe, Schalk Willem; Du Preez, Petrus; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the current actor-training approach for students in South Africa and how this training is presented at tertiary level. The starting point for the study is the Drama Department, Stellenbosch University. Various approaches to actor-training elements are initially compared to international trends. The term integration was further investigated to create a working definition for the study. Subsequently, the successful level of integration of various actor-training elements is investigated. As an approach to this investigation, the Stanislavski system is examined in the light of the exaggerated acting style and conventions of children's theatre. Following this, various research activities were executed. Art-based research is used as a paradigm for these research activities and the relationship between Research Led Practice and Practice Led Research is applied. Self-reflective data was collected and artistically presented as exegesis in the thesis. Research activity 1 has delineated the term children's theatre, including the conventions and style of the theatrical form, so that it can be explored in practice. The Stanislavski system in Research Activity 2 was researched and tested through the theoretical framework applied within practice. Various components of the system as an approach to actor-training are emphasized. From Research Activity 2, two actor-training models are created (in Research Activities 3 and 4, respectively) to test an approach to the successful integration of actor-training elements within an exaggerated acting style. The research and methodological approach has led to the application of the theories being highlighted, in that it identifies, addresses and improves the successful level of integration during acting. Although the Stanislavski system has been used as an approach, other approaches can also be used. Children's theatre as an exaggerated acting style can also be replaced with other exaggerated acting styles, such as the farce.

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