https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/2724 Tue, 12 May 2026 16:48:31 GMT 2026-05-12T16:48:31Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/31686 Exploring muti murder and the supernatural in selected Southern African novels: the case for (magical) realism. Makhedama, Buntu This study explores the appropriateness of Western genre categories and cosmologies to understanding muti murder and other supernatural elements in selected southern African fiction namely Alexandra McCall-Smith’s The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (1998), Christine Mary Elliott’s Sibanda and the Rainbird (2013), Zakes Mda’s Ways of Dying (1995) and Lauren Beukes’ Zoo City (2010). Postcolonial theory is adopted to navigate through the research questions of this study. Each chapter offers a distinct analysis of the novels noting that muti murder affects a text’s classification. Mda employs Intsomi to express muti murder in Ways of Dying, while Beukes in Zoo City employs faith-based magical realism. CM Elliott’s Sibanda and the Rainbird and McCall-Smith’s The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency maintain the conventions of realism despite referencing muti murder which is a concept believed to have supernatural effects.; Olu uphando lukhangela ukufaneleka kwe ndidi zase ntshona ngoku qonda izinto ezifana no muti oza ngoku bulala nezinye izinto eziyimilingo kwi ncwadi ezikhethiweyo zase ntshona Africa, ezifana ne ka Alexandra McCall-Smith’s The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (1998), Christine Mary Elliott’s Sibanda and the Rainbird (2013), Zakes Mda’s Ways of Dying (1995) ne ka Lauren Beukes’ Zoo City (2010). iPostcolonial theory eyona ekhethiweyo yoba ihluze imibuzo eza noluphando. Isahluko nganye siza nophando oluhlukileyo, ngoku qaphelisa uba umuti oza ngoku bulala unako ukuchaphazela indlela esizifunda ngayo ezincwadi. Apha koluphando sifumanisa uba uMda kwi Ways of Dying usebenzisa indlela zokubalisa Intsomi xa eveza lo mba wo muti kwaye uBeukes kwi Zoo City usebenzisa iMagical realism edibanisa izinto ze nkolelo. uCM Elliott kwi Sibanda and the Rainbird no McCall-Smith ku The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency bakwazile ugcina imithetho yeRealism nangona nje beshukuxa into enemiphumela engaphezulu kweyemvelo njengo muti.; Lolu uphando luphica ukufaneleka kwe zigaba zase ntshona ngoku qonda izinto ezifana no muti oza ngoku bulala nezinye izinto eziyimilingo kwi ncwadi ezikhethiweyo zase ntshona Africa, ezifana ne ka Alexandra McCall-Smith’s The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (1998), Christine Mary Elliott’s Sibanda and the Rainbird (2013), Zakes Mda’s Ways of Dying (1995) ne ka Lauren Beukes’ Zoo City (2010). iPostcolonial theory eyona ekhethiweyo yokuthi ihlaziye imibuzo eza naloluphando. Isahluko ngasinye siletha uphando oluhlukileyo, ngoku qaphelisa ukuthi umuti oza ngoku bulala unako ukuchaphazela indlela esi yifunda ngayo lezincwadi. Kulolu uphando sifumanisa ukuthi uMda kwi Ways of Dying usebenzisa indlela zokulandisa ezifana nomlando we nganekwane uma eveza loludaba lo muti, kwaye uBeukes kwi Zoo City usebenzisa iMagical realism ehlanganisa izinto ze nkolelo. uCM Elliott kwi Sibanda and the Rainbird no McCall-Smith ku The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency bakwazile ugcina imithetho yeRealism nangona nje bexoxa ngento enemiphumela engaphezulu kweyemvelo njengo muti. Text in English with summaries in Xhosa and Zulu. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/31686 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/31153 Trance and transfiguration in rock art and literature Northover, Richard Alan What can San rock art research reveal about certain kinds of imaginative literature written in English? What do depictions of altered states of consciousness in literature reveal about human needs? In this lecture I explore depictions of altered states of consciousness in literature using the ideas of Aldous Huxley, based on his own experience of taking psychoactive drugs, the work of the German ethnobotanist Christian Rätsch on psychoactive plants, and the archaeologist David Lewis-Williams, whose work explains some aspects of some prehistoric rock art traditions using cognitive neuropsychology. Huxley was concerned with expanded consciousness and spirituality for much of his life, seeing in religion and art some form of salvation from what he saw as the meaninglessness of mass consumer capitalist culture that he critiques in his dystopian novel Brave New World (1932). Indeed, in this novel and in Island (1962), its follow-up and the final novel he wrote, he promotes the use of psychoactive drugs to achieve individual bliss and social cohesion. In The Doors of Perception (1954) and Heaven and Hell (1956) he documents his own experience of the effects of his consumption of mescalin and his reflections on this experience. Although his primary interest is in prehistoric rock art, Lewis-Williams (2002, 2005) also applies his theories of altered states of consciousness to The Epic of Gilgamesh and Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan,” helping to illuminate the poems in new ways. In this lecture, I compare Huxley and Lewis-Williams’s theories and use them to illuminate aspects of various works of literature in English. The lecture investigates the significance of traces of shamanism and altered states of consciousness in literature, re-reading modernity in the terms of plant studies and indigenous belief systems. Fri, 14 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/31153 2023-04-14T00:00:00Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/31088 The role of narrational strategies in the fiction of Mandla Langa Sibuyi, Dzunisani This study deals with Mandla Langa’s deployment of narrational strategies in his narrative oeuvre. Through a structural narratological analysis of Langa’s discourse, the study reveals the role of the narrational strategies in the generation of meaning in his work. It also shows how the strategies are deployed to generate sympathy for specific characters and events in the fiction. The extent to which this draws attention to the fictional characters and their social positions in the Apartheid and post-Apartheid periods in South Africa, in which time periods the narratives are set, determines the interpretation of the meanings encoded in the texts. The study employs the narrative theory developed by Gérard Genette and Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism and concept of polyphony to investigate, describe and analyse the signifying effects of the strategies used in Langa’s fiction. Fri, 30 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/31088 2020-10-30T00:00:00Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/30653 Meat, sex, and power : an analysis of the world of Beastars Van Huyssteen, Justin This dissertation presents an examination and analysis of the world depicted in the Japanese mangaka/comic artist Itagaki Paru’s Beastars and Beast Complex serialised manga narratives. The analysis is comprised of three primary sections that delve into meat and other animal products, sex and gender, and power relations. These concepts are respectively discussed by focusing on the way in which this fictional world facilitates the use of meat/animal products despite all animals being persons, the way in which sexual and gendered aspects, which are typically attributed to human animals, are attributed to animalised classifications, and the way in which a variety of factors simultaneously operate to enforce power relations between different persons and groups in this fictional world. The analysis makes use of semiotics, ecofeminism, critical discourse analysis, animal studies, and critical theory in general.; Hierdie dissertasie bied ʼn ondersoek na en analise van die wêreld wat in die Japanse mangaka-/strokiesprentkunstenaar Paru Itagaki se Beastars en Beast Complex-mangaverhaalreeks uitgebeeld word. Die analise bestaan uit drie primêre afdelings wat onderskeidelik vleis en ander diereprodukte, seks en gender, en magsverhoudings ondersoek. Hierdie konsepte word bespreek deur te fokus op die manier waarop hierdie fiktiewe wêreld die gebruik van vleis-/dierprodukte fasiliteer, ten spyte daarvan dat alle diere persone is; die manier waarop seksuele en gender-aspekte, wat tipies aan menslike diere toegedig word, aan verdierlikte klassifikasies toegedig word; en die manier waarop ’n verskeidenheid faktore gelyktydig werksaam is om magsverhoudings tussen verskillende persone en groepe in hierdie fiktiewe wêreld af te dwing. Die analise gebruik semiotiek, ekofeminisme, kritiese diskoersanalise, dierestudies, en kritiese teorie oor die algemeen.; Le thisisi ibonisa ukuhlolwa kunye nohlalutyo lwehlabathi elibonakaliswa kuthotho lwamabali eencwadi zokonwabisa iBeastars and Beast Complex zeJapanese mangaka/umzobi weencwadi zokonwabisa uParu Itagaki. Olu hlalutyo lubandakanya amacandelo amathathu aphambili aphonononga iimveliso zenyama kunye nezinye zezilwanyana, ezesondo kunye nesini, kunye nobudlelane ngokwamagunya. Ezi ngcamango zixoxwa ngokulandelelana ngokugxila kwindlela eli hlabathi lamabali aqwetyiweyo eliququzelela ngayo ukusetyenziswa kweemveliso zenyama okanye zezilwanyana nangona zonke izilwanyana zingabantu; indlela apho iinkalo zesini kunye nobuni, ngokuqhelekileyo ezayanyaniswa nabantu, zithi zayanyaniswe khona nohlelo lwezilwanyana; kunye nendlela apho iintlobo ngeentlobo zezinto zisebenza ngaxeshanye ukunyanzelisa ubudlelane ngokwamagunya phakathi kwabantu kunye namaqela ahlukileyo kweli hlabathi lamabali aqwetyiweyo. Olu hlalutyo lusebenzisa ithiyori yokunxulumene nemiqondiso kunye neempawu (semiotics), ithiyori ehlola unxibelelwano phakathi kwabasetyhini nendalo (ecofeminism), ithiyori yohlalutyo lokusetyenziswa kolwimi kumagunya nakwezentlalo (critical discourse analysis), izifundo zezilwanyana, kunye nethiyori yohlalutyo lwezentlalo nenkcubeko ngokubanzi (critical theory). Thu, 19 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/30653 2023-10-19T00:00:00Z