1st Edition

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

Edited By Marcel Paret, Carin Runciman, Luke Sinwell Copyright 2017
    208 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    208 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    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.

    List of Figures and Table

    Notes on Contributors

    Preface

    List of Abbreviations

    Chapter 1 - Southern Resistance in Critical Perspective

    Marcel Paret

    Part I: Global Formations

    Chapter 2 - Social Movements in the Neoliberal Age

    Michael Burawoy

    Chapter 3 - South African Social Movements in the Neoliberal Age

    Carin Runciman

    Part II: Community Formations

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

    Marcel Paret

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

    Tom Lodge and Shauna Mottiar

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

    Zachary Levenson

    Part III: Local State Formations

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

    Tatenda G. Mukwedeya and Patricia Ndhlovu

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

    Hannah Dawson

    Part IV: Labour Formations

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

    Carmen Ludwig and Edward Webster

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

    Luke Sinwell

    Part V: Left Formations

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

    Noor Nieftagodien

    Index

    Biography

    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.