Transformation at Stellenbosch University: Facebook and the framing of the everyday

Date
2022-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis responds to the ongoing project of transformation in South African higher education. I am specifically interested in the visual representation of institutional transformation, with Stellenbosch University and its Rooiplein serving as the focus for this investigation. In the broader sense, this thesis investigates how the idea of transformation is presented by a historically advantaged white Afrikaans university in the wake of the South African Fallist movements. My own research focuses on the visual and discursive representation of ‘the everyday’ on the Rooiplein, which is a prominent public space at Stellenbosch University. I am interested in the role that photographs and text play in the framing of ‘the everyday’ (of the ‘commonplace’, the ‘standard’, or the ‘ordinary’), and how this is represented on the university’s Facebook page. My engagement with the images and text published by Stellenbosch University on social media (in the years 2014-2018) explores the complex discourses on inclusion/exclusion as well as belonging/alienation on which the university was founded. As this thesis demonstrates, Stellenbosch University communicates an idealistic perspective that, on the face of it, has embraced and enacted a transformative model with some success. This study engages critically with this framing of a transformed university by looking to various realities that escape the university’s visual framing and normative understanding of transformation that is represented on social media.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis reageer op die voortdurende projek van transformasie in Suid-Afrikaanse hoer onderwys. Ek stel spesifiek belang in die visuele voorstelling van institusionele transformasie, met Stellenbosch Universiteit en die Rooiplein wat as die fokus van my ondersoek dien. In die breer sin ondersoek hierdie tesis hoe die idee van transformasie deur 'n histories bevoordeelde wit Afrikaanse universiteit in die nasleep van die Suid-Afrikaanse Fallistiese (of Fallist) bewegings aangebied word. My eie navorsing fokus op die visuele en diskursiewe voorstelling van 'die alledaagse' op die Rooiplein, wat 'n prominente openbare ruimte aan Stellenbosch Universiteit. Ek stel belang in die rol wat foto's en teks speel in die raamwerk van 'die alledaagse' (van die 'gewone', die 'standaard' of die 'gewone'), en hoe dit op die universiteit se Facebook-blad voorgestel word. Deur die ontleding van die beelde en teks wat Stellenbosch Universiteit op sosiale media (in die jare 2014 – 2018) gepubliseer het, hoop ek om die komplekse diskoerse oor insluiting/uitsluiting asook behoort/vervreemding waarop die universiteit gestig is, bloot te le. Soos hierdie tesis demonstreer, kommunikeer Stellenbosch Universiteit 'n idealistiese perspektief wat op die oog af 'n model van transformasie met sukses aangegryp en ingestel het. Hierdie studie het egter ten doel om krities om te gaan met hierdie raamwerk van 'n getransformeerde universiteit deur te kyk na verskeie realiteite wat die universiteit se visuele raamwerk en normatiewe begrip van transformasie ontsnap.
Description
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2022.
Keywords
Education, Higher -- South Africa, Educational change -- South Africa, Universities and colleges -- South Africa, Social media in education, South African Fallist Movements, Stellenbosch University. Rooiplein, Pictures, Pictorial representations, UCTD
Citation