Ndumiso Daluxolo Ngidi
ABSTRACT
South Africa has been a democratic country for 21 years, yet racial and economic transformation appears to have stagnated. Recently, the accumulation of frustration and injustice amounted to a wave of student-led protests, the scale of which is unprecedented in the democratic period. This paper, while contributing to broader literature on student protests, focuses on a field that has received little scholarly attention; that of social media as a tool for anti-poverty activism. This paper presents a social media and personal narrative analysis of the October 2015 #feesmustfall student protests to highlight the value of social media in poverty reduction. We locate this paper within Appadurai's theory of cultural capacity -- capacity to aspire [7]. The research findings illuminated the aspects of the politics of recognition, compliance and future orientation within the student narratives. The capacity to aspire framework further advocates for strengthening the capability of the poor and to cultivate their voice.
- Nkinyangi, J.A. (1991). "Student Protests in Sub-Saharan Africa". Higher Education, 22 (2), 157--173. Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Koen, C., Cele, M., and Libhaber, A. (2006). "Student Activism and Student Exclusions in South Africa". International Journal of Educational Development, 26, 404--414. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Mathabatha, S. (2004). "The 1976 Student Revolts and the Schools in Lebowa, 1970--1976". South African Historical Journal, 51 (1), 108--129. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Gusfield, J.R. (1971). "Student Protest and University Response". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 395, 26--38. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Chambers, R. (1997). Whose reality counts?: putting the first last. Intermediate Technology Publications Ltd (ITP). Google ScholarCross Ref
- Goba, T., (2015). Discourse on the method: the theory of "Asijiki", an necessary transition. Accessed from https://izidlamlilo.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/discourse-on-the-method-the-theory-of-asijiki-a-necessary-transition/, 24 October, 2015.Google Scholar
- Appadurai, A. (2004). The capacity to aspire: culture and the terms of recognition.in Rao, V., and M. Walton (eds.) Culture and Public Action. Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
- Maurin, E. and McNally, S. (2008). "Vive la Revolution! Long-Term Educational Returns of the 1968 to the Angry Students". Journal of Labor Economics, 26 (1), 1--34. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Boudon, R. (1971). "Sources of Student Protest in France". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 395, 139--149. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Liebman, A. (1971). "Student Activism in Mexico". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 395, 159--170. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Glaser, C. (1998). "'We must infiltrate the tsotsis': School Politics and Youth Gangs in Soweto, 1968--1976". Journal of Southern African Studies, 24 (2), 301--323. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Badat, S. (1999). Black Student Politics: Higher Education and Apartheid from SASO to SANSCO, 1968--1990. Psychology Press.Google Scholar
- Carter, M. R., & May, J. (1999). Poverty, livelihood and class in rural South Africa. World Development, 27(1), 1--20. 10.1016/s0305-750x(98)00129-6 Google ScholarCross Ref
- South Africa. Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social Cohesion and Elimination of Discrimination in Public Higher Education Institutions, & Soudien, C. (2008). Report of the Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social Cohesion and Elimination of Discrimination in Public Higher Education Institutions. Department of Education.Google Scholar
- Olssen*, M., & Peters, M. A. (2005). Neoliberalism, higher education and the knowledge economy: from the free market to knowledge capitalism. Journal of Education Policy, 20(3), 313--345. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Harris, S. (2005). Rethinking academic identities in neo-liberal times. Teaching in higher education, 10(4), 421--433. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Ray, D. (2006). Aspirations, poverty, and economic change. Understanding poverty, 409--421. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Sen, A. (2001). Development as freedom. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
- Toyama, K. (2011). Technology as amplifier in international development. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 2011 iConference, Seattle, Washington. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Attwood, H., May, J., & Diga, K. (2014). Chapter 8: The complexities of establishing causality between an ICT intervention and changes in quality-of-life: the case of CLIQ in South Africa. In E. O. Adera, Waema, T. M., May, J., Mascarenhas, O., Diga, K. (Ed.), ICT Pathways to Poverty Reduction: Empirical evidence from East and Southern Africa. Rugby, UK: Practical Action Publishing. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Kleine, D. (2013). Technologies of Choice? ICTs, Development and the Capabilities Approach. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Munusamy, R (2013) 'From Young Lions to purring pussycats: Malema chapter in ANCYL reaches inglorious end.' Daily Maverick. http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-01-29-from-young-lions-to-purring-pussycats-malema-chapter-in-ancyl-reaches-inglorious-end/Google Scholar
- Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods. SAGE Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
- Cuiker, W., Ngwenyama, O., Bauer, R. and Middleton, C. (2008), "A critical analysis of media discourse on information technology: preliminary results of a proposed method for critical discourse analysis", Information Systems Journal, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 175--196. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Johnstone, M. J. (1999). Reflective topical autobiography: An under utilised interpretive research method in nursing. Collegian, 6(1), 24--29. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Bath, C (2015). 'Twitter bombarded by #feesmustfall tweets' Eyewitness news (23 October 2015) http://ewn.co.za/2015/10/23/More-than-140000-FeesMustFall-tweets-overnightGoogle Scholar
- IOL Beta, 2015. Blade's #studentsmustfall causes a stir, http://beta.iol.co.za/news/politics/blades-studentsmustfall-causes-a-stir-1934299, accessed 22 October, 2015.Google Scholar
- Valenzuela, S., Arriagada, A., & Scherman, A. (2012). The social media basis of youth protest behavior: The case of Chile. Journal of Communication, 62(2), 299--314. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Republic of South Africa, (1999). National Student Financial aid Scheme Act. 1999. Cape Town: Government Gazette.Google Scholar
- Ministry of Education. (2001). Draft National Plan For Higher Education In South Africa.Google Scholar
- Altman, M., Mokomane, Z. and Wright, G. (2014). Social security for young people amidst high poverty and unemployment: some policy options for South Africa. Development Southern Africa, 31(2), 347--62. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Yu, D. (2013). Youth unemployment in South Africa revisited. Development Southern Africa 30(4-05), 545--63. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Hlongwane, A.K. (2007). The mapping of the June 16 1976 Soweto student uprisings routes: past recollections and present reconstruction(s). Journal of African Cultural Studies, 19(1), 7--36. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Halupka, M. (2016). The rise of information activism: how to bridge dualisms and reconceptualise political participation. Information, Communication & Society. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Bath, C. (2015 Oct 23). 'Twitter bombarded by #feesmustfall tweets'. Eye Witness News. http://ewn.co.za/2015/10/23/More-than-140000-FeesMustFall-tweets-overnight/Google Scholar
- Brigg, M., & Bleiker, R. (2010). Autoethnographic International Relations: exploring the self as a source of knowledge. Review of International Studies, 36(03), 779--798. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Statistics South Africa. (2016) Quarterly Labour Force Survey -- Quarter 4: 2015). Released 25 February 2016. URL: http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02114thQuarter2015.pdfGoogle Scholar
- Statistics South Africa (2015) Methodological report on rebasing national poverty lines and development of pilot provincial poverty lines -- Technical report No. 03-10-11. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.Google Scholar
Recommendations
Trends in Social Media Usage: An Investigation of its Growth in the Arab World
In the present era of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, Social Networking Sites have given us means of providing real-time services. Recent years have brought a massive growth in the social networking phenomenon. The use of social media in the Arab World has been ...
Social Media Use for News and Individuals' Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Political Participation
Recently, scholars tested how digital media use for informational purposes similarly contributes to foster democratic processes and the creation of social capital. Nevertheless, in the context of today's socially-networked-society and the rise of social ...
Cyberactivism through Social Media: Twitter, YouTube, and the Mexican Political Movement "I'm Number 132"
HICSS '13: Proceedings of the 2013 46th Hawaii International Conference on System SciencesSocial media is increasingly important for political and social activism in Mexico. In particular, Twitter has played a significant role in influencing government decision making and shaping the relationships between governments, citizens, politicians, ...
Comments