This thesis focuses on songs by Mzwakhe Mbuli during and after apartheid South Africa to illustrate the importance of songs and cultural orature in the context of a struggle. Analysis is based on...Show moreThis thesis focuses on songs by Mzwakhe Mbuli during and after apartheid South Africa to illustrate the importance of songs and cultural orature in the context of a struggle. Analysis is based on three songs, one during Apartheid and two post-Apartheid. One of the songs is in Zulu to analyse significancy and differences in communication. Mzwakhe Mbuli was considered to be the people’s poet in South Africa, an iimbongi, who had a significant status between South Africans. He has used his music as a cultural resistance against state policies. Mbuli’s music embodies social comments on themes such as peace and nation-building during Apartheid. However, he also remained remarkably critical in the new South Africa because of the government’s broken promises as well as the ills of the society.Show less
This thesis analyses how the French government and American diplomats utilised and subsequently shaped the French-language press due to their influence and propaganda efforts during the American...Show moreThis thesis analyses how the French government and American diplomats utilised and subsequently shaped the French-language press due to their influence and propaganda efforts during the American Revolutionary War. The role of the press in the Ancien Régime can reveal developing political, social, and diplomatic cultures. The rigid censorship policy of the French monarchy places the newspapers in a middle ground between the government and the literate portion of the population. There were competing notions amongst the most popular European publications as to what constituted news and how it should be communicated, thus the coverage of the American Revolutionary War varied across geographical and temporal boundaries. This thesis seeks to assess the social and political upheaval that was the American Revolution in 1775, and its impact on France, through the lens of governmental control of newspapers. France’s role in the American Revolution has been well documented, as the monarchy utilised this opportunity to gain prestige and damage Britain’s standing as a global power. France officially sent military and financial aid to the rebels from 1778, and many French soldiers such as the Marquis de Lafayette became heroes who fought alongside their American counterparts to overthrow the control of King George III in the colonies. However, getting France to agree to this was difficult. It was therefore necessary for the Americans to send diplomats to Versailles to vouch for their cause and elicit support. Thus ensued a major propaganda campaign which would entangle both state and non-state actors, and would have significant implications for the development of press culture in France. France heavily censored newspapers and imposed strict regulations on the influx of foreign information from countries with a freer press environment, such as the Netherlands. In Britain, the licensing act lapsed in 1695, and provincial and national newspapers consequently multiplied in number and prospered. After the British government allowed the publication of parliamentary reports in 1772, French-language newspapers were able to reprint them, leading to increased scrutiny on their response to events in the colonies. This meant that readers of foreign French-language newspapers illegally circulating in France at the time were being exposed to alternative sources of news. The national newspapers largely reflected and upheld elite values that were ingrained into French society at the time, and left little room for debate or opposition. However, this was radically altered by the presence of the American diplomats in Paris. Leading figures, such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, were greatly admired by the French public, and they utilised this wave of popularity to bolster their political agenda. This agenda had undoubtedly been influenced by French Enlightenment thought - particularly regarding the individual rights of man, political representation, and freedom of speech and the press. This thesis explores how this philosophical and political transfer influenced the French government’s approach to the medium of the press. It identifies four main newspapers as indicators of how the war was impacting the way in which the government wanted to portray itself on the diplomatic stage. The American Revolution showed the world how it was possible to uproot a system of political injustice and to justify it using fundamental ideas of democracy. The use of the French-language press by the Americans and the French government to further their interests, therefore, exposed a reading audience to political ideas that might have otherwise been suppressed. It is in this context that the newspapers take on significance. The attempted control of the content of these papers through the manipulation of texts, propaganda and the production of war narrative that favoured French and American interests shaped how French readers came to view the conduct of their government in a way not previously seen. Furthermore, the personal relationships formed between government figures, American political leaders and philosophers, and the editors of highly influential and widely-read papers sheds light on the deep entanglement of the press with politics. While the limitations of readership in Ancien Régime France are taken into account, this thesis argues that the French involvement in the American Revolutionary War shaped French government relations with the press, and contributed to a shaping of its diplomatic engagements with America both during and after the war.Show less
This study examines the transmission of Ludovico Maria Sinistrari’s De Daemonialitate in light of previously unexamined manuscripts and archival material that bear upon issues of authenticity,...Show moreThis study examines the transmission of Ludovico Maria Sinistrari’s De Daemonialitate in light of previously unexamined manuscripts and archival material that bear upon issues of authenticity, manuscript circulation, and reception. New material pertaining to the Liseux manuscript is examined which should help dispel the widely spread notion of a bibliographical hoax perpetuated by Isidore Liseux or Paul Lacroix. An analysis of Liseux’s transcription in relation to six other extant manuscripts demonstrates that it is not based on Sinistrari’s holograph MS but rather a later witness with several notable textual corruptions. A preliminary stemma codicum is suggested based on an examination of all extant MSS and the Daemonialitas text from the Albrizzi and Gianni editions of De Delictis et Poenis. On the basis of the evidence reviewed in this study the argument is made that the most plausible explanation for the expurgation of De Daemonialitate is Sinistrari’s advocacy of suffumigation over the approved ceremonies of the Roman Rituale and his arguments against the limits of ecclesiastical authority and scripture when it comes to the question of the existence of incubi and succubi. This study proves that despite the forty-five year prohibition of Sinistrari’s De Delictis et Poenis, the Daemonialitate manuscript was still clandestinely circulated amongst monks of the Franciscan order. The later legacy of De Daemonialitate is also considered through an examination of all print editions from 1875-1927.Show less
In 2003, China’s Ministry of Culture published the ‘Interim Regulations on the Administration of Internet Culture’: a list of rules concerning all cultural products on the internet, including music...Show moreIn 2003, China’s Ministry of Culture published the ‘Interim Regulations on the Administration of Internet Culture’: a list of rules concerning all cultural products on the internet, including music. On August 10th, 2015, the Chinese Ministry of Culture used article 16 on the Interim Regulations on the Administration of Internet Culture to censor a total of 120 Chinese songs from the internet. The ministry labeled the 120 songs as blacklisted, because their content was seen as ‘endangering social morality’, according to article 16. A key point of censorship and morality in music in China is that the Chinese government’s rules and regulations for what is considered moral and immoral in music are phrased in very generic terms, leaving room for interpretation. That leaves us with the question, can the blacklisting of the 120 songs be meaningfully related to these rules and regulations? This thesis explores the complex relationship between music, morality and politics in contemporary China by performing a discourse analysis on the banned songs and the legislations regarding internet culture.Show less
Sexually explicit shunga of the Edo period have long been subjected to censorship and suppressive official attitudes. In the Meiji era, due to crypto-colonial pressures, censorship grew more...Show moreSexually explicit shunga of the Edo period have long been subjected to censorship and suppressive official attitudes. In the Meiji era, due to crypto-colonial pressures, censorship grew more stringent and persists until today. Even academic shunga publications long remained censored and their study has been marginalized within ukiyo-e research, both in Japan and abroad. With the liberalization of shunga publication in Japan, scholarship began closing the gaps in the field, shifting from aestheticizing to more critical approaches. However, despite the interconnectedness of shunga with ukiyo-e imagery, museum institutions have lagged behind in their inclusion. Thus, marginalizing and self-censoring institutional attitudes still persist, despite changing social ones, constructing a disjuncture between scholarly and institutional discourses on shunga. This thesis presents the 2013 British Museum exhibition and its 2015-2016 reshowing in Japan, which resulted from the international collaborative efforts of researchers and practitioners, as a model for overcoming institutional self-censorship and marginalization of shunga. Thus showing a way forward towards the inclusion of the sexually explicit genre.Show less
Since the beginning of the 1980s, much debate in the jurisprudential literature on freedom of speech has been about the (alleged) right to produce and publish pornography. Law professor and...Show moreSince the beginning of the 1980s, much debate in the jurisprudential literature on freedom of speech has been about the (alleged) right to produce and publish pornography. Law professor and feminist Catherine A. MacKinnon produced an interesting argument to justify censorship: pornography itself silences women (and we are allowed to silence silencing speech). This thesis seeks to investigate this normative defence of the 'silencing of the silencing', particular in the form promulgated by Rae Langton from the 1990s on. It argues that Langton and other feminists are right to conclude that free speech implies more than a mere 'right to locution' -- there must also be a right to be heard. Yet, it puts into question the premise that that fact alone could justify a censorship. That usually constitutes an offence against the spirit of autonomy, one of the main reasons to accept free speech in the first place.Show less
Censorship is a theme that plays a major role in the Chinese online, but also offline society. In order to maintain the status quo of the stability of their regime, the Chinese Communist Party...Show moreCensorship is a theme that plays a major role in the Chinese online, but also offline society. In order to maintain the status quo of the stability of their regime, the Chinese Communist Party ensures that, by issuing heavy guidelines, the online communities are unable to mobilize against the central government. In this thesis, I discussed the representation of the hashtag #十九大 by Weibo, in collaboration with the People’s Daily, during the 19th National Congress. I found the topic of this project to be of importance, since I consider online censorship in China to be necessary of researching on a case-to-case basis, to assess what instantiations of censorship practices we might find across China’s online spheres. This thesis used a comparative method, involving the hashtag page on Weibo and the storage database of censored posts on Freeweibo. I found out that not only the guidelines of the central government are to blame for the restriction of free speech, but also that the company Sina and a moral sense of self-censorship are important factors that play a role in the game.Show less
This thesis provides a study of the subversive cinematographic practices in Spain during the period of political repression under Francoism (1939-1975). In foregrounding the non-conformist cinema...Show moreThis thesis provides a study of the subversive cinematographic practices in Spain during the period of political repression under Francoism (1939-1975). In foregrounding the non-conformist cinema of the time, it is my hope that this thesis contributes to the reconstruction of an immediate past in order to fight against the loss of memory, instigated by the dominant accounts of the history of that period, including that of the Spanish cinema. This thesis aims, then, to bring to light the repression that was encouraged by the state within the purview of film in order to hinder freedom of speech, and to revive a period of Spanish film history in which some films must be seen, I argue, as an instrument for social criticism. Against this background of repression I have, firstly, drawn attention on the institutional mechanisms and administrative procedures of censorship and propaganda – through which the state exercised control over the film making practices –, and the propaganda films made by directors who followed the principles of the regime, particularly focusing on the case of José Luis Sáenz de Heredia. Secondly, I have focused on two different lines of dissidence, i.e. internal and external, through the works of Falangist director José Antonio Nieves Conde, and the collaborative works of Luis García Berlanga and Juan Antonio Bardem, respectively.Show less
The Japanese constitution guarantees freedom from censorship. However, article 175 of the Japanese Criminal Code prohibits the production and distribution of obscenities. In an effort to still be...Show moreThe Japanese constitution guarantees freedom from censorship. However, article 175 of the Japanese Criminal Code prohibits the production and distribution of obscenities. In an effort to still be able to publish erotic manga, manga artists use a plethora of self-censorship techniques, trying to circumvent the law. In this thesis I try to investigate what exactly is deemed obscene under the Japanese law. By examining the works of Japanese erotic gay manga artist Tagame Gengoroh I try to establish whether certain techniques are more favorable than others according to different publication media. It turns out that Japanese judges tend to alter the definition of obscene to the opinions of society; the definition seems to change through time.Show less
This thesis reviews some of the main arguments of the right or not to pornography in order to defend that censoring pornography would bring many negative consequences for women and minorities. The...Show moreThis thesis reviews some of the main arguments of the right or not to pornography in order to defend that censoring pornography would bring many negative consequences for women and minorities. The thesis will argue that a ban on pornography would make women and minorities more exposed to exploitation, would ignore other forms of hatred towards women in media, would threaten women's autonomy over their bodies, and would neglect the possibility of educating towards consensual values through pornography. Moreover, this thesis also advances that promoting female participation in the production of pornography and ensuring minimal working conditions for sex works could avoid many of the exploitation there is in mainstream pornography.Show less
