2014 Honours research essay topics

Ndumiso Buthelezi, 2014, The postcolonial abrogation of modernism as exhibited by Ijusi’s language issue. Supervisor: Professor Deirdre Pretorius

Khethiwe Makhubo, 2014, A social semiotic examination how textual and visual language of illegal outdoor adverts of herbal medicine and spiritual healing services found at the Wanderer’s taxi rank in Johannesburg’s central business district communicate notions of masculinity. Supervisor: Professor Deirdre Pretorius

Jacqui Proenca, 2014, Me, my selfie and I: An investigation into whether the selfies shared on social media are meaningful forms of self-expression and the communication of personal identity. Supervisor: Lize Groenewald

Yunisha Naiker, 2014, The Imagined Roman Empire: the construction of a South African national identity at Emperors Palace. Supervisor: Lize Groenewald

Chevaun Towell, Men’s Health: the ultimate male physique and the construction of masculinity. Supervisor: Professor Deirdre Pretorius

Staff research

Prof. Deirdre Pretorius

D Litt et Phil (Historical Studies). Ideology and Identities: Printed Graphic Propaganda of the Communist Party of South Africa 1921-1950. University of Johannesburg Jun 2007 Dec 2010

Recent Publications

Pretorius, D & Sauthoff, M. 2004. Challenging apartheid; posters from the United Democratic Front and End Conscription Campaign. Image and Text 11: 23-32.

Pretorius, D, Verhoef, G & Sauthoff, M. 2012. The printed propaganda of the Communist Party of South Africa during World War II. Image and Text 20: 30-49.

Pretorius, D. 2007. Amapasi Asiwafuni! / To hell with pass laws! Class, race and gender identities in the anti-pass laws cartoons published in Umsebenzi / South African Worker 1933-1936. Image and Text13.

Pretorius, D. 2008. Countering stereotypes: the representation of Africans in Communist Party of South Africa cartoons 1930-1936. Image and Text 14: 54-68.

Recent Conference Papers

Pretorius, D. 2008. Visual representation and race in the printed propaganda of the Communist Party of South Africa: Cartoons from Umsebenzi 1930-1936. South African Visual Arts Historians (SAVAH) Annual Conference, 4-6 September 2008, Stellenbosch.

Pretorius, D. 2009. Visually Constructing Socialist Identity in 20th Century South Africa: A Comparison of Communist Party of South Africa Cartoons from the 1930s and Congress of South Africa Trade Union Posters from the 1980s, in Imaging Ourselves: Visual Identities in Representation. Johannesburg: University of Johannesburg Research Centre:90-105.

Pretorius, D. 2011. The Printed Propaganda of the Communist Party of South Africa 1921-1950, Proceedings from the Design History Society Annual Conference, Design Activism and Social Change, 7-10 September 2012, Barcelona, Spain. Available online: http://www.historiadeldisseny.org/congres/

Pretorius, D. 2012. Representing masculinities in Huisgenoot Tempo Magazine. Paper presented at Work/Force: South African masculinities in the media, 13-14 September 2012, Department of Visual Arts, Stellenbosch University.

Marlize GroenewaldCurrently registered for her phD in Art History at University of Pretoria: Domesticating the modern: an interrogation of the visual rhetoric of South African graphic designer Ernst De Jong (1934 -)

Recent Publications

2008. Foundations of the nation: the Hillbrow and Brixton towers as figurations of national identity in South Africa, in proceedings of 6th International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering, Arlington, VA, August 11-16, 2008. Co-author: TFH Legge.

2008. The swerve upwards: concrete structures in Johannesburg as spectacular signifiers of the megacity, in Johannesburg & megacities phenomena, edited by L Farber. Johannesburg:VIAD.

2009. Mr Blatter, The boys and the bicycle kick: excavating identities in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Logo, in Imaging ourselves: visual identities in representation, edited by L. Farber. Johannesburg:VIAD.

2011. Wounds of the soul: reflections on Inge Hyson’s ‘The mindful garden’. de arte 84.

2012. “Cloudless skies’ versus ‘vitamins of the mind’: An argumentative interrogation of the visual rhetoric of South African Panorama and Lantern cover designs (1949-1961). Image & text 20.

Recent Conference Papers

July 2012. ‘Cloudless skies’ versus ‘vitamins of the mind’: cover designs of Lantern and Panorama as utopian rhetoric in the construction of nation (1949-1961). South African Visual Arts Historians (SAVAH) / ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2012, University of South Africa.

Brendan Gray
Currently registered for his phD, Praxis in the aesthetic experiences and cultural productions of working class learners at the University of Johannesburg.

Recent Publications

Gray, B. 2010. An exploded consciousness; David Andrew and Marcus Neustetter’s C30 project. Art South Africa 6(3).

Gray, B. 2010. Making Art in the wrong place: Neighbourhood and otherness in Speak English to Me,Critical arts; a South-North journal of cultural and media studies, edited by L. Faber & Bishop, R. [sl]: Routledge.

Gray, B. 2011. Collaboration: Dialogue as Catalyst for Redefining Creative Practice. Art South Africa. 10(2)

Recent Conference Papers

Gray, B. 2006. Learners as agents; Design as a learning vehicle. Paper presented at Design Educators Federation of South Africa, 21 – 22 September, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

Gray, B. 2009. Critical Looking in Advertising; Gerry Human’s University of Johannesburg Alumni Exhibition Humanism: The Art of Selling. Paper presented at Imaging Ourselves; Visual Identities in Representation, edited by Leora Farber.

Gray, B. 2010. Habitus and reflective practicum: tensions between notions of teaching and learning in design education. Paper presented at the University Of Johannesburg Teaching Excellence Conference, 27 October 2010

Gray, B. 2010. Conversation and aesthetics in Speak English to Me. Paper presented at Memory in the City architecture seminar series, School of Architecture and Planning, 16 February, The University of the Witwatersrand.

Gray, B. 2010. Making findings and making do: The challenges of practice-led research in writing up Speak English To Me (2007–2008). Paper presented at On Making: Integrated Approaches to Practice-Led Research in Art and Design Colloquium, October, University of Johannesburg.

Gray, B. 2011. Why design cannot be taught: graduate attributes and learning in an age of super-complexity. Paper presented at Design Educators Forum of South Africa Conference, University of Johannesburg, 7 – 8 September.
Christa van Zyl

Recent Conference Papers

van Zyl, CE. 2013. Supporting a community through design: Melville, Johannesburg. Paper presented at Design educators Forum South Africa, Conference Proceedings, September 2013.

van Zyl, CE. 2014. The Challenges and Complexities Inherent to Multidisciplinary Community Engagement Projects in Service Learning – Green Week 2014. Cumulus Conference Proceedings, September 2014

Robyn Cook

Currently registered for her D.Phil, Visual Art, University of Pretoria: Sober & Lonely: on generosity, artist-run platforms, and new institutional strategies: The new institutions: artist-run participative platforms and initiatives in South Africa.

Recent Conference Papers

Cook, R. 2013. Sober & Lonely: On generosity, artist-run platforms and new institutional strategies Paper presented at SAVAH, Conference Proceedings, September 2013.