Ruth Tomaselli

Community and Class Struggle: Problems in Methodology

This article was written in collaboration with P. Eric Louw, Ansuya Chetty and students of the CCSU. It reflects many points raised during the popular writing workshop organized by the Centre for Adult and Continuing Education of the University of Western Cape. The workshop was part of the 1986 Association for Sociology in Southern Africa Conference.

Ideology/Culture/Hegemony and Mass Media in South Africa: A Literature Survey

The South African press has been the subject of numerous books and art icles in recent years, couched within a wide range of paradigms (1). In contrast, studies of broadcasting are less p lent i fu l and much more fragmented (2). Journalism has been taught at the University of South Africa and four Afrikaans language universit ies, the f i r s t of which launched a course in 1960, and at only one English language university since 1970. Until recently, l i t t l e progress has been made academically because most commentaries identif ied thei r academic principles with the dominant Nationalist interests of the time. Other than the published work of Elaine Potter (3), Les Switzer (4) and Belinda Bozzoli (5), remaining studies, which form the bulk of the work done, evidence l i t t l e or no understanding of the complexit ies of h is tor ica l , socia l , economic or po l i t i ca l relationships which have given rise to the existing structure of the South African press and broadcasting media.

The Media and Mandela

The authors discuss American media reporting surrounding the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990: “For South Africans and the world, February 1990 marked a momentous occasion: the release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of sixty internal organizations including the African National Congress (ANC). In making sense of these developments, the American media exposed the pitfalls of reporting on processes in other countries: stories are event-rather than process-oriented; issues are simplified almost beyond recognition; and personalities, rather than broader political and social movements, are credited with engineering change.”

Ideologie, kultuur en hegemonie: Toerusting vir media-ontleding

SUMMARY This paper has four aims. The first is to present the major tenets of an emergent paradigm in cultural studies by critically outlining the three main concepts of that paradigm, viz., ideology, culture and hegemony; secondly, to relate this paradigm to concerns in communication and media studies; thirdly, to establish some connections between this paradigm and some recent work done in this area in SA; and finally to indicate some of the new directions this paradigm is taking in current social theorizing.