29 research outputs found
Space and identity in rebellion: Power, target, resource
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 24 May, 1999This paper explores the relationships between space, power and rebellion in one
extremely poor and spatially distinct South African township, called Alexandra, in
Johannesburg. Here, remarkably, during the mid-1980s a rebellion took place whose
character was so strikingly "spatial" that it provides a case study for the consideration
of the issue of the relationships between space and power more broadly. The case is
examined in several phases, which together, it is suggested, may provide a conceptual
framework through which "space, identity and rebellion" can be better understood.
The broad power of the dominant forces in South Africa during the period of "high
apartheid" is explored, and its spatial manifestations demonstrated. Then the paper
examines the ways in which their resulting spatial surroundings and arrangements came to be thought of as "normal" by the inhabitants of this township and what this
meant. This is followed by a brief examination of the ways in which apartheid's
power was weakened in the townships during the 1970s and early 1980s. A study of
the actual rebellion, which took place during 1985-86, then follows
History, experience and culture
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 21 March, 198
Class community and ideology in the evolution of South African Society
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented May, 198
Feminist interpretations and South African studies: Some suggested avenues for exploration
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 19th October, 198
Ritual and transition: The Truth Commission in Alexandra Township, South Africa 1996
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 11 May, 1998The South African Truth Commission has three Committees — one on Human Rights Violations,
one on Amnesty and one on Reparation and Rehabilitation. Together they are, in the words of the
Commission itself, designed to 'reveal the truth about the political conflicts of the past.1 Their
ultimate aim is to develop a 'culture of human rights in our country, so that the suffering and
injustices of the past never occur again.'. This paper examines the operation of one of these
committees, that on Human Rights Violations in Alexandra township. Alex was the home of
many of South Africa's political leaders during the struggle against apartheid. It was a place
where intense political and social conflicts occurred throughout the period covered by the
Commission (1960 - 1993), peaking in a strikingly focused period of rebellion in the mid 1980s.
The Truth Commission has taken thousands of statements from victims of apartheid, hundreds
of them residents in the townships of Johannesburg. People were asked to come forward if they
or their kin had been killed, abducted, tortured or severely ill treated for political reasons. The
commission defined such experiences as gross human rights violations. It undertook to investigate
them through its Investigative Unit. It aimed to find out who was responsible for these, how and
why they happened; and to hold public hearings. The Committee on Reparation and
Rehabilitation would receive the information thus derived, consult with 'communities' and make
policy recommendations to the President for appropriate reparation to victims.
This paper is concerned with only one of these activities, the holding of hearings throughout the
country, at which victims could speak out and be heard and seen by the public of their own
communities. Many hearings were recorded for television, but usually only brief extracts were
shown. The paper explores one of these hearings in more detail. Of the many who had been
victims of apartheid in the township of Alexandra, 22 were invited to present their testimonies
concerning resistance in the township between the 1960s and late 1980s. I attended two of the
three days during which the commission sat in Alexandra and heard these 22 testimonies.
Listening to the testimonies presented, many of them by people not well known outside Alexandra
itself — the classic subjects of oral histories- led me to realise that the public hearings were
unique. They involved entirely different processes from the taking of oral histories of the period
and they were quite unlike court cases as well. The commission has chosen to use the method of
ritual rather than that of law to carry out its purpose. This paper explores this procedure, using
the case of one relatively small but extremely significant part of the country as its lens
From governability to ungovernability: Race, class and authority in South Africa's black cities
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 18th March, 1996Soweto, Alexandra and Sharpeville were symbols with great resonance in the global
arena of anti-apartheid struggles. Tembisa, Katlehong, Atteridgeville, Wattville - there
are too many to mention - all have had considerable local and national significance.
These locations, townships, ghettoes, are the places to which black people were
consigned during the years of segregation and apartheid; within which the flames of
resistance were ignited during the struggles of the post-1976 era, where homes and
jobs are scarce and lawlessness is rife; and where, today, new local authorities are
attempting to achieve legitimacy and to exact rent and service payments from an
unwilling populace.
Much has been written about the better known amongst these townships. There are
vivid portrayals of moments of crisis and resistance; there are detailed studies of social
cleavage and cultural interplay, and there are analytical pieces. In addition there are
studies of different aspects of social and cultural life in townships - whether these be
focussed upon gangs, liquor brewing, music, sport or other leisure activities.
This paper seeks, whether boldly or foolishly, to draw together some of the themes
covered in these diverse pieces, and to add new ones - the latter drawn to some extent
from a case study of resistance in Alexandra township in the 1980s. !t addresses itself
to the question: how do we best understand the township rebellions of the nineteen
eighties and their aftermath
A comment on capital and the State in South Africa
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented August, 197
Explaining Social Consciousness : The Case of Mrs Molefe
B. Bozzoli — Expliquer la prise de conscience : le cas de Mrs Molefe.
Cet article traite de la prise de conscience d'une femme noire sud-africaine, Sets-wammung Molefe, et vise, en même temps, à critiquer les analyses des mentalités qui prévalent dans la théorie sociologique. Se fondant sur l'histoire orale pour expliquer la prise de conscience de cette femme, cet article tente de définir les notions de bien et de mal, d'honneur et de honte, de devoir et de responsabilité, de soi et de l'autre, de féminité et de masculinité. L'auteur montre également que si la conscience politique de Setswammung Molefe a pris forme pendant son enfance et son adolescence, elle a connu une mutation décisive au moment de l'instauration de l'apartheid.Bozzoli Belinda. Explaining Social Consciousness : The Case of Mrs Molefe. In: Cahiers d'études africaines, vol. 31, n°123, 1991. pp. 287-306
Women of Phokeng : consciousness, life strategy, and migrancy in South Africa, 1900-1983 /
Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-279) and index