Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

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Browsing Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences by Subject "#FeesMustFall"

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    Becoming and Unbecoming: A critical cartography of a student journey through the Fallist period
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Durrheim, Anna Ruth; Perold-Bull, Karolien; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa's 'born-free' generation - those who were born during the country's transition to democracy - were reaching adulthood in the early 201 Os. In the years that followed, this new, post-Apartheid generation would enter the university system to claim the promise Of equal education and a better future that had been made in 1994. This promise had been broken as many black students faced social and economic barriers within the higher education System. The year 2015 witnessed the emergence Of a series protests at South Africa universities which addressed these issues Of exclusion through a movement known as Fallism. This research project is concerned with the initial protests that destabilised some Of the most prestigious South African universities. These included the #RhodesMustFall (RMF) and #FeesMustFall (FMF) protests, from which the name 'Fallism' was derived. Both Of these movements aimed at addressing issues Of access to higher education, while also calling attention to the pervasiveness Of colonial ideals which continued to privilege the country's white minority. Through the use Of Rosi Braidotti's (2014) cartographic methodology, this research project aims to situate Fallism socio-politically and historically. This will attempt to track the various actors and timelines that converged to create the movement in 2015. The movement embodied processes Of both becoming and unbecoming as institutions and students reckoned with who they are in the world, and who they want to become. Fallism will be discussed using Anuro Escobar's (2012 & 2018) theories Of Ontological design and how they function within the university space. The Fallist protests were both driven and documented through the use Online platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. This reflected a global trend Of activism, as discussed by Manuel Castells (2015). The research aims to consider Fallism in relation to social media and the Internet, exploring the digital space as a site Of both action and memory. The research questions what insights can be revealed from a cartographic exploration of Fallism, as it connects to both the past and to our future, thus giving us navigational tools for the present. As a researcher, I am part of the privileged white minority who was challenged by the Fallist discourse. Therefore I aim to situate myself in relation to the Fallist context through the use of auto-ethnography and digital storytelling. This journey is explored through the creation of a multi-layered digital story that makes use of found and original imagery to find connections between memory, media and theory.