Thesis (Ph.D.(History)) -- University Of Limpopo, 2022 / The problem under investigation in this thesis is centred on the complex changes and
transformation in student activism at the University of Limpopo (UL) during the period
1968-2015. The overreaching objectives of the study were to unpack the changing
conceptualisation of student politics, tactics and strategies deployed in realising
student needs and interests in the creation of South Africa’s contested transition from
the openly racist apartheid system to a liberal democratic regime enshrined in the 1996
constitution. Periodisation theory, which conceptualises and frames development or
change and transformation of historical phenomena as unfolding in terms of distinctive
time periods, was used to provide historical insight into the evolution of student
activism. The cognitive merits and possibilities of periodisation theory were enhanced
by integrating Altbach’s Theory of Student Activism, which stresses the Importance of
recognising and grasping the unique characteristics of student activists and their
organisations in higher education systems. The resultant theoretical framework
produced a cognitive structure which provided the researcher with concepts and
ideation to make sense of the difficult and complex reconfiguration demanded,
especially by the transition.
The methodology utilised in the study involved collecting and analysing data from both
primary and secondary sources. The primary data was acquired from a sample of
former students who were registered at UL during the period covered by the study.
The Thematic Content Analyses (TCA) approach distilled themes embedded in the
data collected.
An overreaching finding of the study is that while it was relatively easy for Black
students to conceptualise and decode the nature of oppression and struggle in an
openly racialised system, such as apartheid, the ascendance to state power of Black
leaders of liberation movements, some of whom were militant student activists prior to
1994, created a political landscape which made it difficult for students to decode what
was required to deepen liberation and freedom. Some of the difficulties manifested
themselves inter alia in the scandalous vandalisation of University resources, such as
libraries, cars and classrooms. More than twenty years into “democracy”, however,
student activists began to penetrate and decode deeper layers of oppression, hidden
by the dense fog of liberal democracy, which needed to be dismantled.
It is in this sense that the thesis views the eruption of the 2015 #Fees Must Fall
movement and the accompanying curriculum decolonisation battles in South Africa as
constituting a revolutionary landmark in the evolution of student activism. Student
activists since 2015 seemed to have come to the realisation that liberal democratic
rights and freedoms were incapable of dismantling white supremacy (racism), which
is at the heart of the subjugation and oppression of Black people in South Africa and
beyond. The thesis recommends, inter alia, that the relative invisibility of the role of
women in studies of this nature is troubling and that historians must urgently solve this
lacuna
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ul/oai:ulspace.ul.ac.za:10386/4234 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Vuma, Sethuthuthu Lucky |
| Contributors | Dhliwayo, A. V., Shai, K. B. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | xv, 224 leaves |
| Relation |
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