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This study investigated the discursive strategies used in major speeches in South Africa with distinct socio-political systems, which put nation-building in a central place, making the nation both the context and an analytical unit for the study of nation-building. The research question that needed to be answered was: to what extent does a presidential speech, as a tool, reflect South Africa's nationbuilding objectives? This study specifically examined various discursive techniques used in the political language of former President Thabo Mbeki. Two speeches by former President Thabo Mbeki were collected from the GCIS website. A general textual description of the speeches is made in terms of lexis and syntax to uncover the underlying ideology in the speeches. Thematic content analysis was adopted. The analysis was predominantly qualitative, supported by some statistical data, on the assumption that a purely qualitative analysis would not necessarily yield reliable results. The occurrence of linguistic features was presented; each text was transcribed and marked for relevant linguistic features. The critical discourse analysis revealed that, on a macro-level, the text of the speeches can be viewed as a manifestation of larger socio-political processes within the country. The texts illustrate a type of political speech positioned in a society in transition, as there are references to building a cohesive society, policy implementation, new programs of government, job creation, and poverty alleviation. The speeches did serve as a nation-building tool, as they conveyed the steps undertaken by the South African government to strive towards an inclusive and all-encompassing approach in an effort to achieve nation-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photojournalism uses images to tell stories and report events, while fine-art photography aims to express creative ideas and messages also through images. Although both fields express sociopolitical and religious ideas and reflect the past through pictures, they differ in approach. Photojournalism portrays events as they are using pictorial representations, without imputing the opinion of the journalist; fine art projects such events also pictorially, but from the vision of the artist. Thus both photojournalism and fine-art photography use photographs as a medium of expression. However, while photojournalism fosters a deep appreciation of works of art by projecting artistic images via communication media, which ultimately informs the psyche of the audience, fine-art photography expresses the emotions and viewpoints of the artist through photographs. This study, therefore, uses documentary evidence to determine the interface between photojournalism and fine-art photography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing sophistication of security issues in many rural Igbo societies requires that a new approach to security provision and communication be reintroduced. Today, kidnapping, rape, robbery, theft of antiquity, attack by Fulani herdsmen, etc have become major challenges in Nigeria, and the rural communities appear to bear much of the brunt. Although, some of these communities maintain some level of integrity and peace, with respect to the security of their lives and property, the gradual change in the modus operandi of miscreants have challenged the serenity of the societies and sometimes overwhelmed the threshold of existing communication and security provisions. Consequently, there is a need to revisit the traditional forms of communication and security provisions with a view to determining how to curb this menace. This paper examines the security provisions and modes of communication in rural Igbo societies. It uses face-to-face interviews and literary sources to aver that the integration of modern and traditional modes of communication will provide a solution to the nagging security challenges that currently befall many traditional Igbo societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]