Southern Resistance in Critical Perspective: The Politics of Protest in South Africa's Contentious Democracy

by Marcel Paret (Editor), Carin Runciman (Editor), Luke Sinwell (Editor)

Overview

From the Arab Uprising, to anti-austerity protests in Europe and the US Occupy Movement, to uprisings in Brazil and Turkey, resistance from below is flourishing. Whereas analysts have tended to look North in their analysis of the recent global protest wave, this volume develops a Southern perspective through a deep engagement with the case of South Africa, which has experienced widespread popular resistance for more than a decade. Combining critical theoretical perspectives with extensive qualitative fieldwork and rich case studies, Southern Resistance in Critical Perspective situates South Africa's contentious democracy in relation to both the economic insecurity of contemporary global capitalism and the constantly shifting political terrain of post-apartheid nationalism. The analysis integrates worker, community and political party organizing into a broader narrative of resistance, bridging historical divisions between social movement studies, labor studies and political sociology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472473462
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/30/2017
Series:	The Mobilization Series on Social Movements, Protest, and Culture
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Marcel Paret is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Utah, USA, and Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Carin Runciman is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Luke Sinwell is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Table

Notes on Contributors

Preface

List of Abbreviations

Chapter 1 - Southern Resistance in Critical Perspective

Part I: Global Formations

Chapter 2 - Social Movements in the Neoliberal Age

Chapter 3 - South African Social Movements in the Neoliberal Age

Part II: Community Formations

Chapter 4 - Postcolonial Politics: Theorizing Protest from Spaces of Exclusion

Chapter 5 - South Africa ‘Unrest’ or Rebellion: A Focus on Durban Community Protests

Chapter 6 - Social Movements Beyond Incorporation: The Case of the Housing Assembly in Post-Apartheid Cape Town

Part III: Local State Formations

Chapter 7 - Party Politics and Community Mobilisation in Buffalo City, East London

Chapter 8 - Protests, Party Politics, and Patronage: A View from Zandpsruit Informal Settlement, Johannesburg

Part IV: Labour Formations

Chapter 9 - Changing Forms of Power and Municipal Worker Resistance in Johannesburg

Chapter 10 - Organic Intellectuals and Leadership in South Africa’s Contemporary Mineworkers’ Movement

Part V: Left Formations

Chapter 11 - South Africa’s New Left Movements: Challenges and Hopes

Index