Steve Biko is the activist political thinker known for his contribution to black consciousness, a... more Steve Biko is the activist political thinker known for his contribution to black consciousness, a body of thought and practice, responding to blacks living in a racialized world and specifically the context of Apartheid South Africa. This article on Biko\u2019s political thought will focus on two themes: his conception of the black subject and his thinking on what constitutes the political. Biko presents the Black subject of South Africa as one who is a product of a history of \uabcultural obliteration\ubb yet one also able to and desiring to \uabwork with its remnants\ubb to make of him/herself a fighting, resisting subject. An important understanding of Biko\u2019s notion of the political lies in a conception of forces in conflict and the \uabpolitical\ubb as the perpetual deliberation about an ethical life; the latter shows up the limitations of an emphasis on the State, an uncommon feature in South African anti-colonial thought
Download a branded Cambridge Journals Online toolbar (for IE 7 only). What is this? ... Add Cambr... more Download a branded Cambridge Journals Online toolbar (for IE 7 only). What is this? ... Add Cambridge Journals Online as a search option in your browser toolbar. What is this? ... Hegemony and Resistance: contesting identities in South Africa by THILVEN REDDY Aldershot and ...
Cahiers De La Recherche Sur L Education Et Les Savoirs, Oct 1, 2006
L’article situe les developpements post-apartheid de l’enseignement superieur dans un contexte pa... more L’article situe les developpements post-apartheid de l’enseignement superieur dans un contexte particulier de transition par “transplacement” (un compromis entre l’ancienne classe dirigeante et un mouvement nationaliste modere). Il suggere que la politique macro economique neoliberale d’apres 1994 a eu pour effet de limiter la capacite de l’Etat a transformer la societe civile selon sa propre vision. La troisieme section discute des politiques cles concernant la transformation de l’enseignement superieur. L’auteur estime que la politique universitaire post-1994 est immanquablement sujette a interpretations contradictoires. La derniere section discute de l’impact de l’enseignement superieur sur les spheres politique, sociale, economique et culturelle de la societe post-apartheid. L’auteur conclut que l’enseignement superieur a contribue a l’emergence d’une classe moyenne noire et, ce faisant, a la consolidation des acquis democratiques, mais que les politiques suivies par l’Etat et les pratiques universitaires ont aussi exclu la majorite des etudiants pauvres, revelant par la meme l’emergence des nouvelles dynamiques de classes de l’Afrique du sud post-apartheid.
Abstract The paper offers a way to think through the advent of xenophobia as a feature of post 19... more Abstract The paper offers a way to think through the advent of xenophobia as a feature of post 1994 South African democracy. It does so by locating it within a broader politics of a mobilized citizenry in which a ruling class has been unable to assert its hegemony. In this context of opposing wills, the very terms of reference of citizenship are contested, the elite in the society operate within an idiom of rights, and the mass of poor, radical resource distribution and recognition. The ambivalent position of the ANC as liberation movement, key actor in the founding of the new constitutionalism, and political party engaged in competitive electoral politics adds to the social unease. The resultant fragile ruling ideology has allowed local discourses to thrive based on degrees of authentic belonging.
An ironic feature of contemporary South African politics is that while the organisations represen... more An ironic feature of contemporary South African politics is that while the organisations representing Black Consciousness (BC) ideas remain weak and fragmented, a revival in BC ideas, values and practices in official and civil society discourses seems evident. BC organisations dominated anti-apartheid politics in the 1970s, but their startling decline, particularly their weakened state under post-1994 democracy, calls out for analytical attention. In the 1999 and 2004 elections, the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) was the leading BC organisation. Together with the smaller Socialist Party of Azania (Sopa), Azapo received dismal support. Moreover, Azapo has split into three smaller organisations. Efforts to merge the three have so far faltered. One cannot conclude, however, that the obvious failure of BC political parties to challenge the ANC and the historically white political parties at the polls means that we should dismiss these organisations’ ideologies as ineffective and ...
Steve Biko is the activist political thinker known for his contribution to black consciousness, a... more Steve Biko is the activist political thinker known for his contribution to black consciousness, a body of thought and practice, responding to blacks living in a racialized world and specifically the context of Apartheid South Africa. This article on Biko\u2019s political thought will focus on two themes: his conception of the black subject and his thinking on what constitutes the political. Biko presents the Black subject of South Africa as one who is a product of a history of \uabcultural obliteration\ubb yet one also able to and desiring to \uabwork with its remnants\ubb to make of him/herself a fighting, resisting subject. An important understanding of Biko\u2019s notion of the political lies in a conception of forces in conflict and the \uabpolitical\ubb as the perpetual deliberation about an ethical life; the latter shows up the limitations of an emphasis on the State, an uncommon feature in South African anti-colonial thought
Download a branded Cambridge Journals Online toolbar (for IE 7 only). What is this? ... Add Cambr... more Download a branded Cambridge Journals Online toolbar (for IE 7 only). What is this? ... Add Cambridge Journals Online as a search option in your browser toolbar. What is this? ... Hegemony and Resistance: contesting identities in South Africa by THILVEN REDDY Aldershot and ...
Cahiers De La Recherche Sur L Education Et Les Savoirs, Oct 1, 2006
L’article situe les developpements post-apartheid de l’enseignement superieur dans un contexte pa... more L’article situe les developpements post-apartheid de l’enseignement superieur dans un contexte particulier de transition par “transplacement” (un compromis entre l’ancienne classe dirigeante et un mouvement nationaliste modere). Il suggere que la politique macro economique neoliberale d’apres 1994 a eu pour effet de limiter la capacite de l’Etat a transformer la societe civile selon sa propre vision. La troisieme section discute des politiques cles concernant la transformation de l’enseignement superieur. L’auteur estime que la politique universitaire post-1994 est immanquablement sujette a interpretations contradictoires. La derniere section discute de l’impact de l’enseignement superieur sur les spheres politique, sociale, economique et culturelle de la societe post-apartheid. L’auteur conclut que l’enseignement superieur a contribue a l’emergence d’une classe moyenne noire et, ce faisant, a la consolidation des acquis democratiques, mais que les politiques suivies par l’Etat et les pratiques universitaires ont aussi exclu la majorite des etudiants pauvres, revelant par la meme l’emergence des nouvelles dynamiques de classes de l’Afrique du sud post-apartheid.
Abstract The paper offers a way to think through the advent of xenophobia as a feature of post 19... more Abstract The paper offers a way to think through the advent of xenophobia as a feature of post 1994 South African democracy. It does so by locating it within a broader politics of a mobilized citizenry in which a ruling class has been unable to assert its hegemony. In this context of opposing wills, the very terms of reference of citizenship are contested, the elite in the society operate within an idiom of rights, and the mass of poor, radical resource distribution and recognition. The ambivalent position of the ANC as liberation movement, key actor in the founding of the new constitutionalism, and political party engaged in competitive electoral politics adds to the social unease. The resultant fragile ruling ideology has allowed local discourses to thrive based on degrees of authentic belonging.
An ironic feature of contemporary South African politics is that while the organisations represen... more An ironic feature of contemporary South African politics is that while the organisations representing Black Consciousness (BC) ideas remain weak and fragmented, a revival in BC ideas, values and practices in official and civil society discourses seems evident. BC organisations dominated anti-apartheid politics in the 1970s, but their startling decline, particularly their weakened state under post-1994 democracy, calls out for analytical attention. In the 1999 and 2004 elections, the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) was the leading BC organisation. Together with the smaller Socialist Party of Azania (Sopa), Azapo received dismal support. Moreover, Azapo has split into three smaller organisations. Efforts to merge the three have so far faltered. One cannot conclude, however, that the obvious failure of BC political parties to challenge the ANC and the historically white political parties at the polls means that we should dismiss these organisations’ ideologies as ineffective and ...
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