Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction
Drum magazine is one of South Africa’s longest standing magazines, celebrating 64 years in the media publishing industry. Drum magazine has been at the forefront of media that relates to black people in South Africa. The magazine was founded during the era of racial segregation which subsequently affected how black people perceived themselves, but it the magazine still manages to inspire black people and influence their social behaviours. Johnson (2009-37) Maintains that the publication played an important role documenting black stories, “through asserting an African urban and modern existence, apartheid ideology denied, Drum participated in debates over race, class, gender, generation and their meanings and boundaries in mid-twentieth century South Africa”.Thus this study will investigate the connection between media representation and black identity, because the “magazines have their own hierarchies of media gatekeepers who control flow and access of information regarding people, issues and advertising” (Govender 2015-108). This affirms that the not only does the media have the power to control content, but they also influences individual thinking. How has the magazine continued to construct black identity in post-apartheid dispensation?. This study aims to examine how black identity is constructed in a newly democratic South Africa as well as how the publication is able to reinvent itself from a publication that is politically influenced in the earlier years to one that currently operates under a celebrity tabloid angle.
This research plays a fundamental role in accessing how black identity is constructed in a white supremacy capitalistic system, because “the media and other social institutions face the challenge of providing and maintaining equitable and objective representation of the South African population” (Govender 2015:4), this is very imperative particularly when it concerns to the development of black people .
The portrayal of hairstyles on magazine covers has a direct influence on how black women perceive the standards of beauty and social acceptance in an era of globalisation, in which those standards continue to evolve as social culture evolves. This research aims to exam the progression of the magazine beginning with the height of the apartheid era and two years after the first democratic elections ending with 11 years into the new dispensation.
1.2 Aim of the study
In light of all of the political changes that South Africa has been through, the media remains at the centre of social constructions. The aim of this study is descriptive in nature and will explore how media publications such as drum magazine construct black identity in the post-apartheid dispensation and how black people are able to negotiate those standards perpetuated to them. Identity is closely related to ideology, this is because ideology works to support those that have power, in particular, ideology works to legitimate social inequalities and works at the level of subjectivity (Rose 2001:70)1.2 Statement of the problem/research
Media platforms such as magazines play a fundamental role in forming the identity of the society, so how does a publication such as drum magazine continues to construct black identity in a post-apartheid dispensation? As one of the longest publication that is aimed at the black community, the magazine remains at the forefront of cultural identity through the many reinventions it had gone through. Black identity has gone through various stages and as social culture evolves, the media becomes a mirror or a reflection of the society and how black people perceive themselves in relation to other races. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the media perpetuates living standards such as capitalism, vanity and ideal standards of beauty, body image and hair. The limitation of this study is that it will not be a comparative study of two different magazine covers, rather it will analyse 6 covers, 4 will be from the 1950s era and 2 covers will be analysed from the present decade (2012 & 2014) respectively. Moving from a politically influenced editorial content to a publication that depicts celebrity tabloid culture, my assumption is there has been a radical shift in Drum magazine covers, and this visual interpretation will indicate the social paradigm shift that came with acquiring democratic freedom.1.3 Literature review
The concept of Black identity is a phenomenon that has been analysed by many theories, in particular in relation to magazine covers that are targeted at black people. This study aims to investigate the impact that Drum magazine covers has in constructing black identity post-1994. The research will trace the historical transition of the magazine by analysing 6 covers, with 4 covers from the 1950s when the publication was created, as well as two covers in the present time, which will be 2014 and 2016. This research aims to comment on the presence of popular culture that the magazine has embraced over the years and as a result, this has become a social indicator of the changes the country and publication has gone through. Lastly, the politics of hair will be analysed because for “black women hair is an identity marker and symbol of status that can connote beauty, acceptance and power” (Gilchrist & Thompson 2011:4). Therefore, for black women, in the quest for acceptance and decisions about hairstyle one ought to have, are always influenced by the style depicted in media.Bell hooks: black look race and representation
She provides the context of black identity in a way that gives ways for black people in Africa or in the Diaspora to rethink the notion of blackness in a post-colonialism era especially within the field of race representation in the the media, where those who have power are able to use stereotypical representation as a tool to withhold social dominance. Hooks Hooks (1992:18) asserts that one should be aware that images have ideological influences and how masses of people continue to be socialised via mass media and non-progressive educational system to internalise white supremacist thoughts and values. As a result, in the quest for acceptance, it is assumed that black people have lost a sense of self and culture identity, due to the adoption of the values that mainstream media perpetuates. Bell Hooks will assist in expanding the theory of black identity by working with ideologies that construct black identity in a negative light especially when it concerns mass media such as magazine covers.
Mbembe, A.Apartheid Futures and the Limits of Racial Reconciliation.
The journal article provides an overview of the new south African landscape post-1994, it comments on the policies that emerged to help solve inequalities in accessing economic freedom amongst the black population, as a result, the past regime and the problem those policies had on the nation. Mbembe comments on the task that all South African has to do in order correct the injustice of the past and lead a new revolution to social cohesion and transformation, however, this journal does not comment on the global influence that continues to have an effect on black people in relation to other races. With this new democracy black identity is under threat due to the legacy of colonialism and apartheid law so finding a social position amongst other races becomes problematic. The aim of this research is to analyses the influence democracy has on black people in relation to other races.
Stuart Hall: cultural identity and Diaspora
Hall describes how culture and identity are never neutral; it constructs a point of view in which the dominant social groups have control and power. Therefore culture formation will never reach a state of completion. Hall (Hall 1990:223) mentions how such a conception of cultural identity played a critical role in all the post-colonial struggles which have so profoundly reshaped our world. Mass media shapes our world and identity through the use creative force aimed to perpetuate those conceptions.
Hall recounts his experience as a being Jamaican living in the United Kingdom and having to negotiate his own identity with those that process power, in his later work modernity: an introduction to modern society, hall investigates the culture shifts brought by modernity and globalisation. Hall (Hall1996:622 ), asserts that "the more social life becomes mediated by the global marketing of styles, place and images, by international travel and global networked media images, the more identities become detached". This will eventually would result in an identity crisis, in a way that dominant cultures becomes the default for social acceptance. The journal offers points on how to analyse cultural identity amongst the black community in a post-1994 South African context.
Gilchrist. E.S. Thompson C: Media effects and black hair politics
Black women have subscribed to the notion of beauty that is perpetuated by the media, straightened hair, weave or weaves are all popularised to be acceptable to the society. Media effects and black hair politics investigates the importance that black women, in particular, have placed on the value of hair which is related to their self-esteem, according to Gilchrist and Thompson (2011:23, black hair impact these women of colour economically by influencing the products they buy and the hair service they request in order to reach ideal beauty goals portrayed by media), and ultimately impacts on their general self -image. This journal provides an insight into the politics of hair placing it within a historical context of colonialism as well the current situation that black are faced with when constructing an identity, Gilchrist use a method of using a sample women and monitored their reaction based on four critical question that assess the perception women have with regards to what constitutes acceptable hair. Gilchrist comments on hair offer new way to expand this debate by including a new subculture that rebels against the notion of the ideal look in a contemporary way.
Govender, N. 2015.Magazines representation of women and the influence on identity construction
Identifies media as a social weapon to fight against injustices that people go through and simultaneously media is an aid to one's identity because it is a reflection on the society. Govender’s study uses qualitative approach by analysing two South African publications YOU and Dum magazines and advertisements which form the base of the editorial analyses, Govender. (2015-2) maintains that media contains an abundance of imageries and messages about masculinity, femininity and sexuality and it is most likely that these views and ideas will impact on identity construction; therefore the views strengthen dominant ideologies such as patriarchy which perpetuate the ideal role of women in society. The thesis explores the link between political influencers and media and the interpretation of gender stereotyping provides insight that will assist analysing female representation. Therefore this research will provide a third element of black identity formation that the reading does not concentrate on.
Chapman, M. The Drum decade: stories from the 1950s
Chapman’s book provides an overview of the history and origins of Drum magazines. The book contains collections of stories from various authors and writers and forces us to investigate assumptions about story-telling forms and purpose (Chapman 1989:195), which were also part of the writers or contributors for the magazines during the 1950s. This book is useful as it will provide necessary context of the magazine during the first phases of the apartheid law, the atmosphere of Sophiatown and the township life and tries to depict the culture of the black population. It will fill in the gap of this investigation when tracing the progress of the publication from what it used to be to what it has become now.
Bertelsen, E. 1998. Ads and amnesia: black advertising in the new South Africa.
After the first democratic election in 1994, South Africa went through a lot of political and economic changes. These changes were manifested in the media and subsequently changed how the nation, particularly the black people identified themselves, this book provides an overview of the changes the magazine publication went through to depict these change especially through advertisement to promote the ideology of consumerism. This article will give an important insight into what the acquiring of freedom brought to South Africa and thus transformed the political landscape of the country. According to Bertelsen (1998:20), the newly available and energetically distributed discourses of libertarian democracy, upward mobility and the free market are a volatile mix, therefore one needs to be aware of the impact mass media has to translate what freedom means and obscure reality.
Rauwerda.A, M. Whitewashing Drum magazine (1951-1959): Advertising race and gender
Drum magazine was founded to depict the lives black people living in the city and the township. The magazine's mandate was to showcase the culture and livelihood of the black population that the government of that era tried to prohibit and hide from the rest of the world. This article goes a step further by investigation the advertisement in Drum magazine that were actually an attempt to erase blackness and suggest that being close to "whiteness" was the ideal. The advertisement presented to black people illustrate how racial privileging is transferred to commodities that express key elements of pro-white stereotypes, in particular, the notion of whiteness symbolise civilisation, cleanliness, intellect, popularity and power, (Rauwerda, 2007:397).This article provides an overview of the publication and gives insight to the nuances of advertisements that are presented as natural and assist in analysing the comprehension
1.4 Theoretical framework
The research method consists of a qualitative methodology by analysing the magazine covers and utilising content analysis as an approach, which aims to make sense of the cultural context that the site of the image contains. Content analysis as a research method aims at analyzing large quantities of magazine covers, which will be provided by the Baileys African history archive, which is based on a sample procedure of counting the frequency of certain visual elements in a clearly defined large sample of images and then analysing that frequency. Each aspect of this processes has certain requirements in order to archive replicable and valid results ( Rose 2001:56), and a set of categories is attached to each image that makes it easier to count the number of relatable element that occurs. The research is thematic in nature and aims to go further than realms of connotation by using the interpretation that will bring in a social meaning to the site of an image.Semiology as a research framework will assist in decoding signs that form the structure that each image contains, its focus on signs means that semiology always pays very careful attention to the compositional modality of that site; but its concern for the social effects of an images meaning that some attention is also paid to the social modality of that site, semiology will define where the meanings of the signified and signifier concept intercept. Semiology plays a fundamental role in understanding representation because human intellectual and social life are based on the production, use and exchange of signs and representation (Sebeok 2001:8) therefore the construction of magazine covers will be unraveled based on the situational context they were created in.
The sign of an image consist of two elements, the signifier referring to the basic concept or object and the signified refers to the particular sound or image attached to the signifier (Rose. 2001:74), this method will assist in deconstructing the ideological underpinning an image contains and the knowledge structure.
The study, therefore, consists of a literature review and thereafter an analysis of the covers. It does not attempt to obtain the opinion of readers of the magazine, but rather is based on the personal interpretation by the author.
1.5 Overview of chapters
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: Modernity and identity in the 20th century
2.2. Overview of the political Landscape
- Chapter 3: representation of black women on Drum magazine
3.2Black hair
Chapter 4: Conclusion