Main Page
Welcome to the Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance (ESAT), the open access, online and Wiki-based, digital reference work on theatre, film, media and performance in South Africa.
NB: To skip the background information on the main page, and go directly to the Index of entries, click HERE.
This page was last modified on 19 April 2019
Contents
About the ESAT project
The ESAT encyclopaedia-project was conceived as an interactive resource for researchers interested in the evolution, history and forms of performance and media in South Africa, and it is based on research originally undertaken by the Centre for South African Theatre Research under the auspices of, and with the support of, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) between 1979 and 1987. In 1988 the research was transferred to, and continued at, the University of Stellenbosch by the Centre for Theatre and Performance Studies, with the support of the University's Division for Research Development, the former Centre for Science Development (CSD) and the National Research Foundation (NRF). The website was opened for public use in 2011.
Please note that any opinion, finding and conclusion or recommendation expressed in this material is that of the authors and that none of the sponsors of the project accept any liability in this regard.
The project is currently headed by Temple Hauptfleisch (founder, editor and project director of the undertaking), with Freddy Ogterop, Ivor Markman and Miriam Terblanche as assistant editors, while numerous contributors across the globe have helped in collating and writing the information since its first inception.
The encyclopaedia is published on the web with the assistance of the Drama Department (http://www.sun.ac.za/drama) and its former Centre for Theatre and Performance Studies, the J.S. Gericke Library and the division for Information Technology at the University of Stellenbosch (http://www.sun.ac.za/index.asp). The format of the work thus derives from the format used for the University of Stellenbosch's Libopedia[1] project, and uses the same Wiki format and programmes.
For more detailed information on the nature of the project and the history and aims of the encyclopaedia, click on:About ESAT
You can also contact ESAT at the following addresses:
Postal address: The Editor: ESAT, Department of Drama, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, MATIELAND 7602, South Africa.
E-mail address: satj@sun.ac.za
Fax number: (+ 27) 21 882 9141
How to use ESAT
While ESAT uses the Wiki programme, which makes provision for a very useful search function, the database has avoided contemporary multi-screen web-design, and has been constructed rather more traditionally, like a printed encyclopaedia, with an Index to the various entries (also called The ESAT Entries). The entries in the Index have been grouped in sixteen distinct categories, each one managed and edited by one of the research editors.
Three important notes for everyone using ESAT
- The focus is on pre-21st-century theatre, film, media and performance
- It is work in progress
- Policy regarding offensive language and terminology
To find out more about these matters, click on the relevant items listed above.
Accessing the database of entries
To access database material on the relevant category, the reader has two options:
Using the "Search" function
Go to the "Search" block at the top right of this page (or type: Alt+F), type in the search word/phrase and click on the search icon there (the magnifying glass) or press the Enter button on your keyboard.
Use the Index to ESAT
Click on Index above in the heading, or simply click HERE, to go to the list of 16 categories. On the list provided, click on the appropriate one, then follow instructions on the landing page.
NB: Copyright and referencing of material used
ESAT is an open access publication, which means that even though the material contained in the encyclopaedia is copyrighted to ESAT and the University of Stellenbosch, it may be freely used for academic and artistic purposes as long as such use is clearly referenced and the material used is attributed to The Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance (ESAT), the reference also including the URL for the particular entry in ESAT.
Contributing to ESAT
All researchers, artists and other interested parties are invited to help us to expand, improve, update and correct ESAT since, by its very nature, the database will always be incomplete and prone to error on occasion.
To find how you can contribute, click here: Contributing to ESAT.
