In 2015, students marched in Durham in solidarity with #FeesMustFallactivists in Johannesburg. They show us that South African movements like #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall are not restricted to national politics, but speak to the concerns of young people at a global level: education, employment, dignity, equality, and justice.
Join us Monday the 27th at 12pm for a dialogue with Dr. Kelly Gillespie about South African student movements in the context of a broader history of social movements.
Dr. Kelly Gillespie’s work explores how the new student movement in South Africa has ripped through the national liberation narrative that has presided over South Africa since 1994, causing deep contestation over who can claim the future and what that future means.
Dr. Gillespie is a senior lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Witwatersran and a founder of the Johannesburg Workshop in Theory and Criticism.
Location:
Social Movements Lab, Franklin Humanities Center, Smith Warehouse, Bay 5, Duke University, 114 S. Buchanan Blvd., Durham, NC
For Parking and Accessibility info, see: https://fhi.duke.edu/contact-us
This event is co-sponsored by Duke University’s Program in International Comparative Studies, Social Movements Lab, The Concilium on Southern Africa, and Duke’s Africa Initiative
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In preparation for our upcoming dialogue on student movements and activism in South Africa, here is some suggested background viewing and reading:
The first is Mahmood Mamdani’s lecture in August this year in response to the student’s call for the decolonisation of the university in South Africa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKFAYXf05N0
Second, an essay by critical legal scholar Joel Modiri introduces some of the most difficult conversations that South Africans have been having about the potential and failures of the student movement:
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/…/2016-10-16-in-the-fall-…/…
Third, a piece written by students in the movement, who have written a lot. This one by siblings Thuli and Asher Gamedze, might tie well into US discussions: https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/concerning-politics-approach…/
