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MMORPG: Towards a Sustainable Livelihood Model for Africa and Beyond

- Mostert, André M, Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Mostert, André M , Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 2011
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , book
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/175212 , vital:42553 , ISBN ViNOrg 2011 , https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-31800-9_4
  • Description: The burgeoning worlds of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) coupled with increasing access to the internet is opening a new paradigmatic window for a number of disciplines. Many of these have been slow to take up the challenges associated with this emergent framework, due, in no small measure, to the perception that work and play are mutually exclusive. The dominance of this dichotomy contributed to the slow uptake of the potential for these virtual worlds to be harnessed in the fields of education and employment. This reticence was due in no small measure to the technophobia that tends to characterise the adoption of new technologies within fields that have customarily eschewed an embrace.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Gaming culture: what lessons for pedagogy in South Africa?

- Kaschula, Russell H, Mostert, André M

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Mostert, André M
  • Date: 2010
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/175189 , vital:42551 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC30895
  • Description: Gaming culture is becoming increasingly ubiquitous. Whereas before it was the reserve of those who were prepared to invest in the latest gaming hardware, increasingly powerful entry level machines coupled with more powerful mobile technologies are impacting on how young learners and students assimilate information. This evolving characteristic exhibited by the learners across South Africa must generate a serious reflection of education and training methodologies. Historically, education structures have been slow to embrace the changes that are imperative if the products of the process are to be adequately prepared for the future that faces them. One of the most telling realities of the modern era, or the planetary phase as it is now being tagged, is rapid change. The question that all educators need to ask is 'how is my pedagogic approach evolving'?.
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  • Date Issued: 2010

Towards enhancing indigenous language acquisition skills through MMORPGs

- Kaschula, Russell H, Mostert, André M

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Mostert, André M
  • Date: 2010
  • Subjects: Indigenous peoples -- Languages -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Language and languags -- Computer-assisted instruction , Language and languags -- Study and teaching -- Technological innovation , Language acquisition , Computer games
  • Language: English
  • Type: article , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59343 , vital:27559 , http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/Files/docs/17.1/08 Kas FIN.pdf
  • Description: The growing interest and access to massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) has opened up significant new scope for educational methodologies, from standard language teaching options through to formalising the skills that a ‘player’ develops through their quests and other activities. This scope is extensive and has created numerous opportunities for innovation both within education and the world of work. This is evidenced by the increasing presence of educational establishments in the virtual world, with Second Life being the most popular for conventional educational purposes. In Second Life and many other realms participants are earning some income and in some cases enjoying a reasonable living from online activities, while developing their skills base. These MMORPGs may open opportunities for promoting language acquisition provided this is located within a suitably attractive realm; ‘players’ would then engage in activities that would contribute to their abilities to use the indigenous languages in everyday life. This article explores how such a system could be developed and the likely contribution it could make to promote a multilingual environment at school and post school levels. Further, it will identify the implications for the future of teaching and learning through the harnessing of MMORPGs.
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  • Date Issued: 2010

An intercultural approach to implementing multilingualism at Rhodes University, South Africa

- Kaschula, Russell H, Maseko, Pamela, Dalvit, Lorenzo, Mapi, Thandeka, Nelani, Linda, Nosilela, Bulelwa, Sam, Msindisi S

Analyzing, digitizing and technologizing the oral word: the case of Bongani Sitole

- Kaschula, Russell H, Mostert, André M

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Mostert, André M
  • Date: 2009
  • Subjects: Sitole, Bongani, 1937- , Xhosa (African people) -- South Africa , Xhosa poetry , Folk poetry, Xhosa
  • Language: English
  • Type: article , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59368 , vital:27566 , https://doi.org/10.1080/13696810903259384
  • Description: This article analyzes the oral poetry, izibongo, produced by Xhosa oral poet Bongani Sitole (both in book and technological form). It will trace this poetry from the moment it was orally produced, through to the technologizing and publication of this poetry in book form and on a website. The initial part of this article looks at the life and work of the poet. A contextual analysis of selected poetry is provided. The latter part of the article concentrates on issues related to technology and its relationship to the oral and written word. The term ‘technauriture’ has been coined in order to refer to this process. The contribution of eLearning4Africa (www.elearning4africa.com) to the digitization process of Sitole’s poetry is acknowledged.
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  • Date Issued: 2009

The influence of cellular phone "speak" on isiXhosa rules of communication

- Kaschula, Russell H, Mostert, André M

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Mostert, André M
  • Date: 2009
  • Subjects: Cell phones -- South Africa , Communication and culture -- Technological innovations , Language and culture -- South Africa , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
  • Language: English
  • Type: article , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59401 , vital:27594 , doi: 10.5842/37-0-43
  • Description: Cellular telephones have revolutionised the art of communication across all societies, and South Africa is no exception. Access to this form of communication has made personal contact easier, in both rural and urban contexts. Globally this form of communication has been readily embraced. However, cultural rules that pertain to face-to-face communication are often flouted by cellular phone users. This flouting holds true no doubt across many cultures, languages and contexts. Bloomer (2005:97-100) assesses this flouting of cultural maxims in relation to Grice's cooperative principle. This article attempts to assess how general rules of politeness in isiXhosa have been and are being transformed by what could be termed the "economics of speaking".
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  • Date Issued: 2009

Vocational language learning and teaching at a South African university: preparing professionals for multilingual contexts

- Maseko, Pamela, Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Maseko, Pamela , Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 2009
  • Subjects: Intercultural communication in education -- South Africa , African languages , Cultural awareness , Communication and culture , Multilingualism -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: article , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59412 , vital:27597 , doi: 10.5842/38-0-60
  • Description: This paper highlights the methodology that has been used at Rhodes University and other South African universities in implementing vocation-specific African language learning programmes. Essentially, the paper links the curriculum design to the theoretical paradigm of intercultural communication. Intercultural theory is used as a basis to develop vocation-specific courses where language and culture are taught, for example, to second language learners of isiXhosa at Rhodes University. These courses include courses for Pharmacy and Law students. This paper offers a new theoretical paradigm for intercultural language teaching. Furthermore, examples from specific courses are provided in order to illustrate how this theoretical paradigm can be implemented in a practical way. The impact of multilingualism and intercultural communication in the wider legal and healthcare work environment in South Africa is also discussed.
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  • Date Issued: 2009

Communicating across cultures in South African law courts: towards an information technology solution*

- Kaschula, Russell H, Mostert, André M

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Mostert, André M
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Language policy -- South Africa , Courts interpreting and translating -- South Africa , Translating and interpreting -- Technological innovations , Intercultural communication -- South Africa , Conduct of court proceedings -- South Africa , Linguistic rights -- South Africa , Multilingualism -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: article , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59423 , vital:27599 , doi: 10.5842/36-0-39
  • Description: Language rights in South Africa are entrenched in the Constitution of South Africa (Chapter 1, Section 6, Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996). However, the concomitant infrastructure and organisational realities make this policy difficult to implement, especially in law courts (Kaschula and Ralarala 2004). Creating effective communicative environments has historically been constrained by lack of effective training of legal practitioners and by the lack of capacity for building translation structures. With the advancement of technology, potential solutions are becoming more apparent and it is incumbent upon the academic community to embark on a rigorous investigation into possible solutions and how these Information Communication Technology (ICT) solutions could be applied to the execution of justice in South African law courts. This article aims to open the discourse of possible solutions, via assessments of computer based translation solutions, ICT context simulations and other potential opportunities. The authors hope to initiate the interest of other language and legal practitioners to explore how the new technological capabilities could be harnessed to support the entrenchment of language rights in our law courts.
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  • Date Issued: 2008

The oppression of isiXhosa literature and the irony of transformation

- Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 2008
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Article
  • Identifier: vital:6334 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012398 , https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5481-6748
  • Description: his article will contend that the natural development of isiXhosa orature and literature, as with all South African indigenous literatures, ended with the arrival of European missionaries in 1799. The apartheid policy then exacerbated the destructive approaches to indigenous languages already in operation as it designated separate language boards for language development. These boards operated in the 'homelands' and were generally conservative, corrupt and oppressive. The manuscripts they recommended to publishers were for the most part only those that could be prescribed in schools. This resulted in the publishing of material that was parochial, apolitical and neutral in style. Often the material prescribed was written by the board members themselves. For instance, Lennox Sebe, erstwhile President of the Ciskei, produced an isiXhosa book entitled Ucamngco, for prescription, though it seems to contain little original material. Laurence Wright has shown that the opposite was true for English literature written by black South Africans and published internationally in the 1970s, at the height of apartheid (2004, 47). He describes, for instance, how one of the manuscript readers of Peteni's seminal novel, Hill of Fools (1976), rejected it as irrelevant and unsuitable for publication precisely because it made no reference to South Africa's turbulent politics. Throughout this period, however, only apolitical novels were published in the indigenous languages.
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  • Date Issued: 2008

The oppression of isiXhosa literature and the irony of transformation

- Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/458734 , vital:75767 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC47955
  • Description: This article will contend that the natural development of isiXhosa orature and literature, as with all South African indigenous literatures, ended with the arrival of European missionaries in 1799. The apartheid policy then exacerbated the destructive approaches to indigenous languages already in operation as it designated separate language boards for language development. These boards operated in the 'homelands' and were generally conservative, corrupt and oppressive. The manuscripts they recommended to publishers were for the most part only those that could be prescribed in schools. This resulted in the publishing of material that was parochial, apolitical and neutral in style. Often the material prescribed was written by the board members themselves. For instance, Lennox Sebe, erstwhile President of the Ciskei, produced an isiXhosa book entitled Ucamngco, for prescription, though it seems to contain little original material. Laurence Wright has shown that the opposite was true for English literature written by black South Africans and published internationally in the 1970s, at the height of apartheid (2004, 47). He describes, for instance, how one of the manuscript readers of Peteni's seminal novel, Hill of Fools (1976), rejected it as irrelevant and unsuitable for publication precisely because it made no reference to South Africa's turbulent politics. Throughout this period, however, only apolitical novels were published in the indigenous languages.
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  • Date Issued: 2008

The Sacred Door and other Stories: Cameroon Folktales of the Beba (Makuchi)

- Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 2008
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/175177 , vital:42550 , https://doi.org/10.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.45i2.4743
  • Description: In The Sacred Door and Other Stories: Cameroon Folktales of the Beba, Makuchi has collected thirty-three folktales of the Beba people. These stories are presented in English only. The book contains a foreword by well-known oral literature scholar, Isidore Okpewho and a preface by the author. In the foreword, Okpewho states that:“Tales like these need to be retold again and again, because the lessons they yield belong not merely to a long-forgotten historical or so-called primitive past but very much to the present times in which we live”(xi). The book therefore represents a sense of continuity between past and present. Although the tales may no longer be told in the same way that they were many years ago, the messages contained in the tales remain as relevant today as they did in the past.
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  • Date Issued: 2008

Identity in the Siyagruva Series of novels: Toward an intercultural

- Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 2007
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/175159 , vital:42548 , DOI: 10.4314/tvl.v44i2.29792
  • Description: This article explores the notion of changing South African youth identity and how it is depicted in the Siyagruva [We are Grooving] Series of novels for young adults. The article highlights the need for a broadening of literary theory in order to include an appropriate theoretical approach for new South African youth literature. This theory explores intercultural literary discourse by making use of, for example, the work of intercultural theorists such as Ting-Toomey (1999), Gudykunst (2003) and others. It is argued that this form of literary discourse is now appropriate as a theoretical paradigm within multilingual South Africa where intercultural communication is becoming a reality. There is also reference to intracultural communication where differences are beginning to appear between young people who are perceived to come from the same cultural group, for example, the character Brunette in the Siyagruva Series who is perceived as a “coconut” by her friends, and thus finds herself having to justify her belonging within a particular in-group or culture. The article concentrates on selected novels, though reference is made to many of the twenty three published novels in the Siyagruva Series, twenty in English, and three translated into isiXhosa.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

Emthonjeni:

- Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 2006
  • Language: isiXhosa
  • Type: text , book
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/175351 , vital:42567 , ISBN 9781869285012
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  • Date Issued: 2006

Indigenous languages and the media in South Africa:

- Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 2006
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/175137 , vital:42546 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC15168
  • Description: This article explores the status of South Africa’s indigenous languages and how they are being used in the media. More specifically, the performance of these languages in the print media, the broadcasting media and the Internet, is outlined. This is done against the backdrop of the South African Constitution, Section 6, which entrenches eleven official languages. Contrary to the Constitution’s provisions, it is found that the indigenous languages are achieving varying levels of success within the media. The reasons for this are outlined. Finally, the effects of globalisation on the indigenous languages within the media are assessed.
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  • Date Issued: 2006

Take Me to the River:

- Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 2006
  • Language: isiXhosa
  • Type: text , book
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/175339 , vital:42566 , ISBN 9781869285852
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  • Date Issued: 2006

The Dassie and the Hunter: A South African Meeting

- Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 2005
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/175147 , vital:42547 , https://doi.org/10.4314/tvl.v43i1.29727
  • Description: This book does not resemble any of Jeff Opland’s previous academic works. There is no similarity in style, and to some extent content. His previous books, namely, Xhosa oral poetry: Aspects of a black South African tradition (Cambridge University Press, 1983), and Xhosa poets and poetry (David Philip, 1998), were written as purely scientific, academic works. The Dassie and the Hunter amounts to a subtle snub of academia and its restrictive rules. Though written by Opland, it is as if he and his research subject, Manisi, have colluded to make this work different and special, in a personal mystical way, disregarding academic etiquette, weaving a more creative, poetic tapestry. This makes the book an interesting read. In style and content, it is neither rigorously academic, solely biographical, nor purely creative. It evades classification. It is individualistic.
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  • Date Issued: 2005

Language rights, intercultural communication and the law in South Africa

- Kaschula, Russell H, Ralarala, Monwabisi K

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Ralarala, Monwabisi K
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: Language policy -- South Africa , Courts interpreting and translating -- South Africa , Intercultural communication -- South Africa , Conduct of court proceedings -- South Africa , Linguistic rights -- South Africa , Multilingualism -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: article , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59434 , vital:27602 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2004.10587242
  • Description: This article seeks to explore the present language scenario in courts of law. The article makes use of section 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996), as a point of departure. At face value this section seems to entrench the language rights of individuals. This would mean that individuals could request trials to be held in their mother tongues, with fluent and competent speakers of that mother tongue sitting on the bench. However, this has not materialised. Contrary to popular opinion, the article argues that individual language rights are to some extent entrenched in the Constitution, but there are no mechanisms to secure such rights in the public domain. The article argues that it is often only language privileges that are preserved in institutions such as the justice system. Legally speaking, there is an obligation on the State to provide interpreters to facilitate access to all eleven official languages in courts of law. This in itself presents numerous challenges. The article argues further that the corollary to this is that there is very little space for intercultural communication in courts of law (as defined by Ting-Toomey, 1999, and Gibson, 2002). There has been little or no capacity building in this regard. It is English, to some extent Afrikaans, and the western cultural paradigm, which prevails. The result is further communication breakdown and language intolerance. In this article, the notion of language rights in courts of law is explored against the backdrop of existing theories of intercultural communication.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Oomashayela phezulu:

- Mazibuko, Nokuthula, Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Mazibuko, Nokuthula , Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 2004
  • Language: Zulu
  • Type: text , book
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/175323 , vital:42565 , ISBN 9781869284251
  • Description: ‘Sam, khawuphole maan, thob'umoya. KungoLwesihlanu namhlanje, sakuba nalo ithuba elininzi ngomso lokuzithethelela ebazalini bethu! Ha, ha, ha!'wagigitheka uBrunette'Thatha nantsi icider, usele!'UBrunette wayonwabile, wayekuthanda futhi ekonwabela ngoku ukusela, kwaye ezi iicider zazingavakali ngathi butywala! Wayeziva efanelekile kwibhulukhwe yakhe ebomvu, ethe nca kuye emzimbeni kakuhle, nehempe awayeyinxibe ngentla ehambelana nayo, nezihlangu ezichophileyo awayezinxibile. Wagqiba kwangexesha ukuphotha iinwele zakhe ngoboya bomsila wehashe, elungele ipati eyayiza kuba ngobo busuku. Yayintle into yokuba abe woluka iinwele zabantu. Ngokwenza njalo wayezenzela.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Imbongi and griot: toward a comparative analysis of oral poetics in Southern and West Africa

- Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 1999
  • Subjects: Folk poetry, African , Oral tradition -- Africa , Folk literature -- Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: article , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59379 , vital:27576 , https://doi.org/10.1080/13696819908717840
  • Description: This article takes up the challenge of comparative research in Africa by analysing and comparing the oral art of West African griots and Southern African iimbongi or oral poets. Similarities and differences between these performers and their respective societies are highlighted through the use of an ethnographic methodology. A distinction is drawn between the more traditional performers such as Thiam Anchou and D.L.P. Yali-Manisi, and the more modern performers such as M’Bana Diop, Bongani Sitole and Zolani Mkiva. The rich use of genealogy and history in the more traditional performances is highlighted. In comparing the work of the more contemporary, urban poets such as M’bana Diop of Senegal and Zolani Mkiva from Southern Africa, similarities are found in their performances on post-independence leaders such as Senghor and Mandela. Political pressures which have been brought to bear on the performer are also discussed. This article explores the continuity between the past and the present in relation to aspects such as the following: how performers gain recognition, their continued survival, their relationship with politics and religion, the orality- literacy debate, and the stylistic techniques used by these performers. Wherever possible, examples of performers and their work are provided.
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  • Date Issued: 1999

Imbongi in Profile

- Kaschula, Russell H

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
  • Date: 1993
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124689 , vital:35649 , https://www.jstor.org/stable/40238706
  • Description: Today, many elements of the tradition have been discarded or adapted; nevertheless, the concept of singing praises still retains an identifiable character which is based on past tradition. In this tradition, the imbongi' s relationship with his audience and the function of his izibongo (poetry) within his society are of utmost importance. Any analysis of this communitarian art form will therefore have to take into account the context of the performance, the nature of the audience, and the role of the imbongi in a society which continues to be subject to socio-cultural and political pressures of unused intensity. My intention in this article is to provide a case study of Bongani Sitole, a contemporary imbongi, in order to instance some of the ways in which the tradition has adapted. During the course of the discussion mention will also be made of other iimbongi.
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  • Date Issued: 1993
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