Humanities 1:Layout 2 - University of Cape Town

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Martinique and his adopted Algeria. His
theorising about religion was informed by
Aime Cesaire’s romantic recasting of
religion in sacralising Africa, by Richard
Wright’s adamant rejection of religion, and
by Albert Memmi’s analysis of the
psychological ambivalence of religion in
relations between colonizers and colonized.
His understanding of religion was also
shaped by his encounters with Christianity,
Islam, and indigenous traditions in colonial
situations and anti-colonial struggles.
Although he was skeptical about any
revolutionary role for religion, Fanon
ultimately produced narratives of the “new
man” and “new nation” emerging out of anticolonial
struggles that bore traces of the
sacred. By uncovering these neglected
features of Fanon’s work through a close
reading of his texts, Rico shows how Fanon
dealt with religion as an ambivalent force in
the Manichean world of colonialism.
Supervisor: Professor D Chidester
(Religious Studies)
In Rhetoric Studies:
Audrin Inambao Mathe
Thesis Title: Persuasion as a social heuristic:
a rhetorical analysis of the making of the
Constitution of Namibia
Audrin Mathe was born on January 4 th , 1974
at Katima Mulilo, Namibia and matriculated
at St. Kizito College in 1992. In 2007, he obtained
an MA degree in Communication Science
from the University of the Free State.
He worked as a Television Producer at the
NBC. In 2001, he was appointed as
Spokesman to two consecutive Namibian
Prime Ministers. He is currently the Head of
Communication at Roads Authority. In 2003,
he was one of the twelve individuals from
developing countries selected by the US
State Department to be inducted as a “future
leader”.
Up to now the Constitution of
Namibia has been studied by students of constitutional
and political history. Scholars
have been interested in such matters as the
structure and powers of the government,
checks and balances, separation of powers,
guarantees of fundamental rights and freedoms
and kindred subjects. This thesis departs
from this traditional angle and applies
the discipline of rhetoric to the subject matter.
The thesis reveals the tools of rhetorical
construction of distributive bargaining that
were applied during the negotiations for
Namibia‘s Constitution. The thesis further
reveals how the rhetorical creation of common
ground influenced the outcome of negotiations
for Namibia‘s Constitution.
Audrin also examined the compromises the
parties made during the constitution-making
process by investigating specific agreements
that were reached through classical exchanges
of concessions. The candidate
demonstrates that the drafting of the Constitution
was a process of give and take and
concludes that political leaders’ rhetorics are
important instances of public argumentation.
Supervisor: Distinguished Professor
P Salazar (Film and Media Studies)