3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Women students as political activists(2018) Mudau, ElelwaniThe #FeesMustFall movement introduced a new era of youth uprising in South Africa; it is another example of the many social action movements wherein youth are the driving force and main voice for social change. An interest of this research project was to understand the ways throughout history that social action platforms have been utilized by those involved to assert their values and desires for social change. Social action platforms can be seen as one of the spaces in which humanity asserts its identity. Even during the #FeesMustFall protests in 2015 and 2016, it was evident that a number of identities were being mobilized; the black students’ identities are examples of such and even more was the insertion of black women students during the protests. The heightened role of women students in leadership positions during the protests was explored, especially because women had previously been seen to occupy secondary supporting roles in movements of political change. The project investigated the ways in which these women students inserted their multiple identities that had previously been seen as non-complementary; these identities became a means to address the political agenda of the #FeesMustFall movement. The methodology took a narrative approach to understanding the Experience-Centred narratives told by participants. Application of thematic analysis method produced recurrent narration of events; these particular incident narratives (PINS) (Wengraf, 2006) became important as focal points of analysis. The analysis of participants also revealed the impact of students’ individual upbringing. The family, school and other important influences played key roles in the extent of politicization of participants; from these experiences, leadership qualities were also instilled. Hence during the #FeesMustFall protest, participants were able to engage the movement in the ways they did. Due to their particular background influences, these students were not afraid to lead; neither were they timid about resisting unjust systemic measures on campus or within the movement structures. In the end it was their bodies that curbed police violence on campus.Item A narrative inquiry into white student identity in relation to the student movement of 2015 and beyond(2018) Klette, RyanThis project focuses on the narratives of white students at South African universities at the time of the rise of the student movement in 2015. Nine post-graduate white students were recruited through snowball sampling. Interviews were mostly unstructured although they each followed a similar temporal movement that included past and present experiences as well as imagined futures. The study primarily made use of narrative inquiry as a way of collecting and analysing the data. The stories collected showed that the movement came as a shock for the majority of participants, which highlights a significant rift between black and white students. Although students study in close proximity to each other, realities outside the classroom reflect much greater distance in experiences that continue to be shaped by both race and class. Participant accounts showed limited understandings about the daily struggles that many black students face. Furthermore, white students appear to take their places at university as assured and tend to take these positions on meritocratic grounds. The movement has been synonymous with change and many students described having being transformed in some way as a result of choosing to be involved in the protests and related events or vicariously through friends, media and being on campus. However, although participants reflected on their privilege and their understandings were shifted through the events of student protest, the data also suggest that many white students feel alienated from the movement, the student community at large and even the country and are experiencing a general sense of disrupted belonging. While perspectives are changing and white students on the whole appear to be integrating more inclusive orientations, it should also be noted that the study found ‘whiteness’ to be resistant to change and the unsettling of white identity is a layered process. Apparent progress is coupled with underlying layers of exclusionary thinking and ostensibly subtler forms of racism and ignorance. Moreover, there are also varying degrees that white students want to turn toward their ignorance, if at all. It is encouraging that the majority of participants in this study were at least beginning to question their privileged social positions and the historical moment they find themselves in.Item Doek and dagger, smoke and mirrors: how has the print media represented women of #FeesMustFall 2015?(2017) Koole, Gregory ThabangIn this report I look at women's representation in #FeesMustFall, which is a student led protest movement that began in mid-October 2015 in response to an increase in fees. The core question posed in this project is how has the print media have been reported in a selection of newspapers pertaining to the women of #FMF 2015, honing in on 77 articles written about #FMF, and arguing that issue of women in #FMF 2015 are underrepresented in these media outlets. [No abstract provide. Information taken from introduction]Item Framing the narrative: a comparative content analysis of how South African mainstream and alternative youth media reported on the 2015 student revolution(2017) Zimbizi, DoreenThe purpose of this research is to demonstrate how alternative youth media, particularly onlinebased news sources, in covering the #FeesMustFall (#FMF) campaign 2015 students protest from October 14, 2015 to October 23, 2015, challenged news framing, while shifting traditional mainstream media’s agenda-setting role. In post-apartheid South Africa in 2015, which was dubbed “the year of the student”, the history of student politics was significant in what culminated in the hashtag #FeesMustFall campaign, challenging the representation of student protesters in the media. The unprecedented local and international alternative youth media and mainstream media coverage of the 2015 student protests—in print, online and on social media platforms—signaled the impact of the biggest student protests since 1994. The results from this qualitative research sampling online-based news platforms and interviews with journalists for their opinions on the blanket media coverage of the protests, shows a significant paradigm shift in how newsrooms re-examined what would be a silent consensus of framing and agenda-setting as was dictated by alternative youth media.Item Writing from inside the fire: reflections on the fire-centered politics of the 2015/16 South African student movements(2017) Breakey, Jessica MaryFire lives briefly, breathes sharply and spreads with urgency across the surface of the earth. Writing from Inside the Fire offers a series of reflection on the fire-centered politics that have been ignited within the RhodeMustFall and FeesMustFall movements. in this paper I trace the political roots of fire and explore the ways in which it employed as a tool of resistance and empowerment during the anti-apartheid struggle.: [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version]