Contesting Transformation

Popular Resistance in Twenty-First Century South Africa

Edited by Marcelle C. Dawson, Luke Sinwell

Publication date:

10 April 2014

Length of book:

320 pages

Publisher

Pluto Press

ISBN-13: 9781849648325

Contesting Transformation is a sober and critical reflection on the wave of social movement struggles which have taken place in post-Apartheid South Africa.

Moving beyond a social movement scholarship that has tended to romanticise emergent movements, this collection takes stock of the contradiction and complexity that is necessarily entangled in all forms of popular resistance. Through an exploration of labour strikes, legal organisations, community protest and local government elections, the contributors consider how different movements conceive of transformation and assess the extent to which these understandings challenge the narrative of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

An empirically grounded analysis from a coterie of leading researchers and analysts, Contesting Transformation is the definitive critical survey of the state of popular struggle in South Africa today.

List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
1. Transforming Scholarship: Soberly Reflecting on the Politics of Resistance - Marcelle C. Dawson and Luke Sinwell
2. The Crisis of the Left in Contemporary South Africa - Dale T. McKinley
3. Voice, Political Mobilisation and Repression under Jacob Zuma - Jane Duncan
4. Barricades, Ballots and Experimentation: Making Sense of the 2011 Local Government Elections with a Social Movement Lens - Peter Alexander
5. Insurgent Citizenship, Class Formation and the Dual Nature of a Community Protest: A Case Study of ‘Kungcatsha’ - Malose Langa and Karl von Holdt
6. Unfolding Contradictions in the ‘Zuma Movement’: The Alliance in the Public Sector Strikes of 2007 and 2010 - Claire Ceruti
7. Labour Strikes and Community Protests: Is There a Basis for Unity in Post-Apartheid South Africa? - Trevor Ngwane
8. Agents of Change? Reflecting on the Impact of Social Movements in Post-Apartheid South Africa - Fiona Anciano
9. Resisting Privatisation: Exploring Contradictory Consciousness and Activism in the Anti-Privatisation Forum - Carin Runciman
10. The Challenge of Ecological Transformation in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Re-emergence of an Environmental Justice Movement - Jacklyn Cock
11. ‘Tacticians in the Struggle for Change’? Exploring the Dynamics between Legal Organisations and Social Movements Engaged in Rights-Based Struggles in South Africa - Kate Tissington
12. How the Law Shapes and Structures Post-Apartheid Social Movements: Case Study of the Khulumani Support Group - Tshepo Madlingozi
13. Managing Crisis and Desire in South Africa - Shannon Walsh
14. Transforming Contestation: Some Closing Words - Luke Sinwell and Marcelle C. Dawson
Bibliography
About the Authors and Editors
Index

'This must-read collection unromantically, sympathetically, and critically analyses the contested terrain of popular resistance in post-apartheid South Africa'