Theatres of Struggle and the End of Apartheid
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This is a study of the origins and trajectory of a legendary black uprising against apartheid - the Alexandra Rebellion of 1986. Using insights from the literature on collective action and social movements, it delves deep into the rebellion's inner workings. It examines how the residents of Alexandra - a poverty-stricken, segregated township in Johannesburg - manipulated and overturned the meanings of space, time and power in their sequestered world; how they used political theatre to convey, stage and dramatise their struggle; and how young and old residents generated differing ideologies and tactics, giving rise to a distinct form of generational politics. Theatres of Struggle asks the reader to enter into the world of the rebels, and to confront the moral complexity and social duress they experienced as they invented new social forms and violently attacked old ones
Robben Island and Prisoner Resistance to Apartheid
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Robben Island prison in South Africa held thousands of black opponents of apartheid, including Nelson Mandela. This book reconstructs these political prisoners' resistance strategies to show how these men created a political and social order behind bars. Survival was their first goal; challenging apartheid was their true aim. So although Robben Island was designed to repress, it was continually transformed by its political inmates into a site of resistance. The book theorizes that, where material conditions permit, the most far-reaching and effective forms of resistance involve constructive political action that seeks to remake existing power relationships. This theory is demonstrated in three focuses of the book: the activism of Robben Islanders, the effects of political prisoner resistance on the apartheid state machinery, and comparative cases that illustrate various international instances of political prisoners' shaping both prisons and political orders
The Cambridge Companion to Nelson Mandela
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Nelson Mandela is one of the most revered figures of our time. He committed himself to a compelling political cause, suffered a long prison sentence, and led his violent and divided country to a peaceful democratic transition. His legacy, however, is not uncontested: his decision to embark on an armed struggle in the 1960s, his solitary talks with apartheid officials in the 1980s, and the economic policies adopted during his presidency still spark intense debate. The essays in this Companion, written by experts in history, anthropology, jurisprudence, cinema, literature, and visual studies, address these and other issues. They examine how Mandela became the icon he is today and consider the meanings and uses of his internationally recognizable image. Their overarching concerns include Mandela's relation to "tradition" and "modernity," the impact of his most famous public performances, the oscillation between Africanist and non-racial positions in South Africa, and the politics of gender and national sentiment. The volume concludes with a meditation on Mandela's legacy in the twenty-first century and a detailed guide to further reading
The Foundations of Anti-Apartheid: Liberal Humanitarians and Transnational Activists in Britain and the United States, c.1919-64
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Anti-apartheid was one of the most significant international causes of the late 20th century. This book provides a detailed history of the emergence of anti-apartheid activism in Britain and the USA.
A Burning Hunger: One Family's Struggle Against Apartheid
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Recounts the story of the Mashinini family who became deeply involved in black liberation in 1976 in South Africa.
Masculinities, Militarisation and the End Conscription Campaign
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Masculinities, militarisation and the End Conscription Campaign explores the gendered dynamics of apartheid-era South Africa's militarisation and analyses the defiance of compulsory military service by individual white men, and the anti-apartheid activism of the white men and women in the End Conscription Campaign (ECC), the most significant white anti-apartheid movement to happen in South Africa. Military conscription and objection to it are conceptualised as gendered acts of citizenship and premised on and constitutive of masculinities. Conway draws upon a range of materials and disciplines
Open the Jail Doors -- We Want to Enter
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Tells the history of the policy of apartheid in South Africa and the struggles of black South Africans for civil rights. Highlights the Defiance Campaign, the goal of which was to overcrowd the jails and ultimately cause the break down of the South African judicial system.
