- Title
- 0 Representation of South African "tribal" culture in soap operas : a content and audience analysis of the series Generations : The Legacy
- Creator
- Onyenankeya, Oluwayemisi Mary
- Subject
- Television criticism Mass media and culture Mass media--Social aspects
- Date
- 2018
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Doctoral
- Type
- Communication
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/15430
- Identifier
- vital:40407
- Description
- Commercial media entertainment offerings in South Africa especially mainstream soap operas, are progressively infusing dominant social values and ideas which are alien to South African tribal societies. In most of the commodified television drama series, people who hold tight to traditional beliefs and values are often characterised as traditionalists, while those who have imbibed the western defined dicta and ideology of modernity are seen as progressives. This study therefore, sought to ascertain how South African tribal language, traditional institutions, values, social norms and ancestral beliefs are portrayed through the television drama, Generations: The Legacy and what the viewers think about those constructions and the implication for cultural identity. The mixed methods approach was employed involving the administration of questionnaire to 350 participants selected through random sampling and a content analysis of 20 episodes of Generations: The Legacy. The findings suggest that Generations: The Legacy tends to portray South African tribal culture negatively (p-value > 0.05). More than half of the respondents (52percent) strongly believe such negative portrayals may erode the cultural identity of black South Africans, 68.6% were of the opinion that Generations: The Legacy gives preference to western culture as against South African tribal culture. The findings further showed that the African values and traditions represented in Generations: The Legacy do not significantly reflect the South African tribal tradition and values (p-value > 0.05). In the few occasions that African traditional values are represented Generations: The Legacy, they tend to be portrayed as old fashioned (p-value > 0.05), and inferior and backward (p-value > 0.05). In addition, the findings indicate that Generations: The Legacy is a vehicle for promoting dominant culture. Nearly, 59percent of the respondents stated that watching Generations: The Legacy affect the way they view South African tribal culture, while 59.1percent indicated that watching Generations: The Legacy has somehow affected their perception of their own cultural identity. In all, participants rated the representation of South African tribal culture as poor. The study concludes that while South African tribal culture is increasingly finding expression on mainstream soap opera, tribal South African values and beliefs are often depicted as old-fashioned, and inimical to modernisation, and individual’s freedom.
- Format
- 274 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | PhD FINAL final CORRECTED for print 2b.pdf | 4 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |