Abstracts Language, Literature, and Linguistic

Migrations : Photographic representations of biography, place and entanglement in contemporary South Africa

by Freire Maria Garcia

AFRIKAANS OPSOMMING: Die volgende tesis fokus op die lewensverhale van vyf vrouens, elk ewe oud, wat afkomstig is van verskillende agtergronde en in Stellenbosch Suid Afrika gewoon het as migrante gedurende 2014 en 2015. Dié tesis raamwerk volg n praktyk gedrewe studie wat gelyktydig fokus op vorme van verteenwoordeging in twee modaliteite: portuur fotografie, stadsbeeld en landskap; biografiese narratief en lewensverhale. Die werk lê klem daarop om alternatiewe maniere te vind waarop migrante se subjektiwieteite deur wyse van fotografie en narratief uitgebeeld kan word, asook die verkenning en wyse waarop spasie, plek, geheue en agentskap bergyp kan word. Teoreties behels die studie ‘n kritiese en verkennende aanslag tot die begrip van verstrengeling soos dit gekonseptualiseer word deur post-koloniale kultuur teoretikuste Sarah Nuttall en Achille Mbembe, asook die kritiese refleksie op migrante soos verteenwoordig deur Edward Said. Dit word eerstens beryk deur te ky na spesifieke antropologiese en kultureule studies wat migrasie aanspreek; tweedens deur die selektiewe voorbeelde van Suid Afrikanse gedrukte media; en derdens deur die analisering van spesifieke foto-gebaseerde kunswerke wat subjektiewe ervarings van migrasie deur middel van rekord narratiewe en fotografiese dokumentasie uitbeeld. Die praktiese navorsing is die gids vir die theoretiese tesis; alby is dus verstrengel wat sodoende op die teoretiese inhoud in die vorm van navorsing aanbieding uit brei. ENGLISH SUMMARY: The following thesis focuses on the life stories of five migrant women of the same age, coming from different contexts and backgrounds, who all lived in Stellenbosch, South Africa during 2014 and 2015. The thesis frames a practice-led study focusing on forms of representation in two simultaneous modalities: photography as in portraiture, cityscape and landscape; and narrative as in biography, life story. This work aims to find alternative ways to represent migrant subjectivities by means of photography and narrative, also exploring notions of space, place, memory, and agency. Theoretically, the study entails a critical and exploratory approach to the notion of ‘entanglement’ as conceptualised by post-colonial cultural theorists Sarah Nuttall and Achille Mbembe, and the critical reflection on migrant representation by Edward Said. This is achieved firstly through specific anthropological and cultural studies addressing migration; secondly, through selected examples from the South African printed media; and thirdly, through the analysis of specific photo-based artworks which address subjective experiences of migrancy by means of recorded narratives and photographic documentation. The practical research is understood as the guide to the theoretical thesis; both are thus themselves entangled, which extends the theoretical content into the form of the research presentation. Advisors/Committee Members: Van der Merwe, Hentie, Smith, Kathryn, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts..