Full Description
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.
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
