South African Magazine Research Articles

New Feminist Approaches to Social Science Methodologies: An Introduction

New Feminist Approaches to Social Science Methodologies: An Introduction

Dominante motiewe in die transformasie van Huisgenoot, 1916-2003

Huisgenoot is the oldest and most successful Afrikaans magazine ever. It was founded in 1916 with a twofold motive: to financially support the struggling political mouthpiece of the Cape National Party, De Burger, and to provide the Afrikaner people (volk) with the inspiration, information and light entertainment it desperately needed. This article plots the changing motives (idealism and profit) through the years. It is found that the idealism of Afrikaner nationalism dominated for a considerable time, although editors obviously had to make some concessions to populist taste. For example, photos of Afrikaner heroes such as Paul Kruger dominated the early covers, but later made way for photos and drawings of South Africa's natural beauty. In the 1950s and 1960s attractive women, in particular film stars, were frequently used on the cover. The idealism and formalised cultural life and mores were slowly making way for a more secularised money-driven culture. But in 1978 the magazine was in dire straits. New editors took a definitive step towards profi t-driven populism and Huisgenoot became a publishing phenomenon, climbing from a circulation of 140 000 to 500 000 per week. This unheard of circulation for any South African magazine was founded on a populist diet of celebrities, news on TV programmes and personalities and a general mixture of must-reads. One can conclude that Huisgenoot's dominant motives changed markedly, in step with changes in the views held by the Afrikaner as well as the pressure to produce profi ts for its owners in a purely market economy.

Childish images. The gendered depiction of childhood in popular South African magazines

JEANNE PRINSLOO looks at the way advertisements in South African magazines construct childhood along gendered lines

Children and race in South African magazine advertising: Pre- and post-apartheid

This article reviews how South African marketers portray children in magazine advertisements in two very distinct periods in the country's history, namely before and after the ANC government came into power in 1994. A longitudinal study (over a 17 -year period) was conducted to determine the incidence, and how marketers in the new South Africa depict children of different races in full page magazine advertisements. The relevance of the findings for South African marketers is highlighted and suggestions for further research are proposed. Hierdie artikel gee ‘n oorsig van die gebruik van kindermodelle in tydskrifreklame vóór en na die ANC-regering in 1994 aan bewind gekom het. ‘n Longitudinale studie is oor ‘n 17-jaar tydperk onderneem om onder meer vas te stel wat die voorkomssyfers is, asook die wyse waarop bemarkers kinders van verskillende rasse in volblad-tydskrifadvertensies uitbeeld. Die relevansie van die studie vir Suid Afrikaanse bemarkers word uitgelig, en voorstelle vir toekomstige navorsing word gemaak.

Children and race in South African magazine advertising: Pre- and post-apartheid

This article reviews how South African marketers portray children in magazine advertisements in two very distinct periods in the country's history, namely before and after the ANC government came into power in 1994. A longitudinal study (over a 17 -year period) was conducted to determine the incidence, and how marketers in the new South Africa depict children of different races in full page magazine advertisements. The relevance of the findings for South African marketers is highlighted and suggestions for further research are proposed. Hierdie artikel gee ‘n oorsig van die gebruik van kindermodelle in tydskrifreklame vóór en na die ANC-regering in 1994 aan bewind gekom het. ‘n Longitudinale studie is oor ‘n 17-jaar tydperk onderneem om onder meer vas te stel wat die voorkomssyfers is, asook die wyse waarop bemarkers kinders van verskillende rasse in volblad-tydskrifadvertensies uitbeeld. Die relevansie van die studie vir Suid Afrikaanse bemarkers word uitgelig, en voorstelle vir toekomstige navorsing word gemaak.

Power through Knowledge: Ignorance and the ‘Real Man’

The aim of this article is to show that tensions between conflicting accounts of masculinity need not only be ‘resolved’ by individual men, but can have a collective ‘resolution’. We argue that the ‘real man’ - by drawing together the ‘macho’ and ‘new man’ discourses - represents one such ‘integrated’ discourse of masculinity available to men. Our argument is based on a discourse analysis of 15 editions of Men’s Health, a South African magazine predominantly aimed at white, middle- to upper-middle class, heterosexual men. We also investigate how such integrated discourses may be collectively produced, arguing that the ‘real man’ is the product of a rhetorical question-answer strategy that moves men from ignorance to knowledge. Focusing on the rhetoric of masculine ignorance, we argue that the knowledge produced in answer to this ignorance serves to ‘resolve’ a current dilemma for men: how to maintain an essential masculinity while distancing oneself from criticisms of men as traditionally macho. We conclude by exploring, from a feminist perspective, the political implications of the ‘real man’ discourse as a collective ‘resolution’.