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Designing social identities : a case study of a primary school theatrical performance by Zulu children in an English ex-model C school

This multimodal case study investigates the discourses that emerge in a theatrical performance, constructed and performed by a group of grade seven, Zulu speaking students as a representation of themselves. The performance was set in an ex-model C primary school in Kwa-Zulu Natal and reflects the te...

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Main Author: Alborough, Clare Louise
Other Authors: Thesen, Lucia
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Centre for Applied Language and Literacy Studies and Services in Africa 2014
Subjects:
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access_status_str Open Access
author Alborough, Clare Louise
author2 Thesen, Lucia
author_browse Alborough, Clare Louise
Thesen, Lucia
author_facet Thesen, Lucia
Alborough, Clare Louise
author_sort Alborough, Clare Louise
collection Thesis
description This multimodal case study investigates the discourses that emerge in a theatrical performance, constructed and performed by a group of grade seven, Zulu speaking students as a representation of themselves. The performance was set in an ex-model C primary school in Kwa-Zulu Natal and reflects the tensions between the students' identities that are located in the different fields of home, school, traditional settings and urban settings. The study is qualitative in nature, with the performance text being a participatory, creative, multi modal, joint-construction involving the participants and the researcher. The performance was structured so that each scene represents one of the participants' social fields. The analysis of the performance follows this structure and explores the way discourses and identities emerge from the Traditional, Home, School and Urban scenes of the performance. The study draws on the New London Group's Multiliteracies theory, using the concepts of discourse, identity, interest and design, as well as drawing on Bourdieu's notions of field and capital. The study makes use of social semiotic analysis, drawing particularly from Kress and van Leeuwen's visual grammar, to explore the multi modal nature of the performance, analysing the linguistic mode alongside those of the visual, the gestural and the spatial. The study attempts to be consistent with the multimodal nature of the performance and so presents the data through photographs, sketches and video clips integrated with the written text. The study alms to amplify the participants' voice through the richness of their representation. It attempts to contest the notion that marginalised people are powerless in the face of hegemonic discourses, asserting rather that there is always agency.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:26.116Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Centre for Applied Language and Literacy Studies and Services in Africa
publisherStr Centre for Applied Language and Literacy Studies and Services in Africa
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6718 Designing social identities : a case study of a primary school theatrical performance by Zulu children in an English ex-model C school Alborough, Clare Louise Thesen, Lucia Applied Language Studies This multimodal case study investigates the discourses that emerge in a theatrical performance, constructed and performed by a group of grade seven, Zulu speaking students as a representation of themselves. The performance was set in an ex-model C primary school in Kwa-Zulu Natal and reflects the tensions between the students' identities that are located in the different fields of home, school, traditional settings and urban settings. The study is qualitative in nature, with the performance text being a participatory, creative, multi modal, joint-construction involving the participants and the researcher. The performance was structured so that each scene represents one of the participants' social fields. The analysis of the performance follows this structure and explores the way discourses and identities emerge from the Traditional, Home, School and Urban scenes of the performance. The study draws on the New London Group's Multiliteracies theory, using the concepts of discourse, identity, interest and design, as well as drawing on Bourdieu's notions of field and capital. The study makes use of social semiotic analysis, drawing particularly from Kress and van Leeuwen's visual grammar, to explore the multi modal nature of the performance, analysing the linguistic mode alongside those of the visual, the gestural and the spatial. The study attempts to be consistent with the multimodal nature of the performance and so presents the data through photographs, sketches and video clips integrated with the written text. The study alms to amplify the participants' voice through the richness of their representation. It attempts to contest the notion that marginalised people are powerless in the face of hegemonic discourses, asserting rather that there is always agency. 2014-08-28T14:16:45Z 2014-08-28T14:16:45Z 2004 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6718 eng application/pdf Centre for Applied Language and Literacy Studies and Services in Africa Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Applied Language Studies
Alborough, Clare Louise
Designing social identities : a case study of a primary school theatrical performance by Zulu children in an English ex-model C school
title Designing social identities : a case study of a primary school theatrical performance by Zulu children in an English ex-model C school
title_full Designing social identities : a case study of a primary school theatrical performance by Zulu children in an English ex-model C school
title_fullStr Designing social identities : a case study of a primary school theatrical performance by Zulu children in an English ex-model C school
title_full_unstemmed Designing social identities : a case study of a primary school theatrical performance by Zulu children in an English ex-model C school
title_short Designing social identities : a case study of a primary school theatrical performance by Zulu children in an English ex-model C school
title_sort designing social identities a case study of a primary school theatrical performance by zulu children in an english ex model c school
topic Applied Language Studies
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6718
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