Research and Theses
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The research database consists of research and theses, from academics, students, activists and international organisations on the issues of gender and media diversity. Research is key to successful knowledge creation.
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Women trading in food across the Zimbabwe-South Africa border: experiences and strategies
27 February 11
Regional relevance: South Africa, Zimbabwe
This article focuses on Zimbabwean women who are responding to economic problems at home by trading food in South Africa. It explores crops the women market, the strategies they use to access these markets, the challenges they face in South Africa, and the way they handle and resolve conflicts of various kinds which... [read more]
A critical analysis of the oppositional discourses of the ideal female body in women's conversations
25 February 11
Regional relevance: South Africa
Socialisation agents such as the popular media and same age female peers construct and reproduce notions of what is physically ideal, feminine and beautiful in a woman (Hesse-Biber 1996). My interest lies in how a group of young women reproduce, contest and possibly transform such notions in conversations with their... [read more]
A hermeneutics of sexual identity: A challenge to conservative religious discourse
24 February 11
Regional relevance: International
In this thesis the researcher explores the use of the bible as a normative text with regard to sexuality (especially homosexuality). It begins with a focus on the Genesis creation myth (Genesis chapters one and two), using Robert Gagnon’s gender complementarily argument against homosexuality. It is then argued... [read more]
The Struggles of youth in a time of HIV/AIDS: awareness and prevention programs
24 February 11
Regional relevance: South Africa
A discussion of the personal, interpersonal, and social challenges youth face against the backdrop of media-oriented campaign discourses in South Africa.
This thesis examines the different discourses on sexuality put forth by two prominent media-oriented HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns, Soul City and... [read more]
Homosexuality in Ethiopia
21 February 11
Regional relevance: International
This paper analyses the concept and the construction of homosexuality in relation to the issue of gender and feminism in Ethiopia. While female homosexuality is simply overlooked, male homosexuality has been criminalised under Ethiopian law with imprisonment up to three years. The media and the elite has been... [read more]
The Role Christian Councils Have Played in Peacemaking in Kenya and South Africa: 1990-2000
20 February 11
This dissertation describes the role two Councils of Churches in Africa: National Council of Churches of Kenya and the South African Council of Churches played over a ten years period (1990-2000) in the first two elections after major political changes--Kenya from one party to multiparty (1992 and 1997) and South... [read more]
Media and Elections: a handbook
20 February 11
This handbook aims to provide journalists, especially broadcast professionals, in the Asia-Pacific region with information and perspective on different aspects of covering elections. It includes articles by media professionals and others from several countries in the region which highlight various issues worth... [read more]
So this is Democracy? State of media freedom in Southern Africa 2009
20 February 11
This 16th edition of So This Is Democracy? documents numerous media freedom and freedom of expression violations that MISA recorded in Southern African during the course of 2009. The documentation and exposure of these media freedom alerts help turn the spotlight from around the world squarely on those responsible... [read more]
The Digital Public Sphere: challenges for media policy
20 February 11
Until recently, media policy was thought of as national, media-specific, and as part of the cultural domain. All this is changing in a digital public sphere: first, by the processes of globalisation in a broad sense; second, by a blurring of boarders between media, which can be summed up as convergence; and, third,... [read more]
Newspaper coverage of gender, environment and development issues in India
19 February 11
Regional relevance: International
The purpose of this study was to examine the coverage of gender, environment and development (GED) issues in the Indian English-language newspapers. A main hypothesis is that the high rate of gender discrimination in India contributes to a gender bias in the coverage of GED stories. The newsworthiness of GED has... [read more]
