A Fanonian theory of rupture: from Algerian decolonization to student movements in South Africa and Brazil / Une théorie fanonienne de rupture : de la décolonisation algérienne aux mouvements étudiants en Afrique du Sud et au Brésil

Title:

A Fanonian theory of rupture: from Algerian decolonization to student movements in South Africa and Brazil 

Une théorie fanonienne de rupture : de la décolonisation algérienne aux mouvements étudiants en Afrique du Sud et au Brésil 

 

Author:

Josh Platzky Miller

Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Published:

Critical African Studies, 15 February 2021

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21681392.2021.1884106?src=

Abstract 

This paper offers an approach to understanding dramatic social change, entwined with belief revision and shifting knowledge. It explores the interplay between rapidly changing material and ideological conditions through the concept of a rupture. Ruptures are breakdowns in existing social and epistemic practices and relations: periods which call into question what is normalized, such that something else can grow through the cracks. Ruptures do not guarantee any particular replacement, but rather facilitate the emergence of new practices and understandings of the world. Ruptures thus create conditions of possibility for people to explore new social relations and ideas. To develop this idea, this paper draws on Franz Fanon's writings on the Algerian anti-colonial revolution (1954–1962), as a paradigmatic rupture, as well as two smaller-scale ruptures: the student-worker movements over 2015–2016 in South Africa (#FeesMustFall) and Brazil (the primavera secundarista). In their respective contexts, each movement has substantively challenged prevailing practices and understandings that had been hegemonic.  

 

Cet article présente une approche pour comprendre le changement social dramatique, entremêlé avec une révision de la croyance et un glissement du savoir. Il explore l’interaction entre des conditions matérielles et idéologiques en rapide évolution à travers le concept de rupture. Les ruptures sont des ruptures dans les pratiques et relations sociales et épistémiques existantes: des périodes de remise en question de la norme, en sorte que quelque chose d’autre puisse croître à travers les failles. Les ruptures ne garantissent pas un remplacement particulier, mais facilitent plutôt l’émergence de nouvelles pratiques et compréhensions du monde. Les ruptures créent ainsi des conditions rendant possible pour les gens d’explorer de nouvelles idées et relations sociales. Cet article s’appuie, pour développer cette idée, sur les écrits de Franz Fanon sur la révolution anticoloniale algérienne (1954–1962), en tant que rupture pragmatique, ainsi que sur deux ruptures de plus petite échelle: les mouvements de travailleurs étudiants sur la période 2015–2016 en Afrique du Sud (#FeesMustFall) et le Brésil (le primavera secundarista). Dans ces contextes respectifs, chaque mouvement a notablement remis en question les pratiques et les compréhensions qui avaient été hégémoniques.

Student movements and politics in Latin America: a historical reconceptualization [Scholarly Article - Higher Education, 4 February 2021]

Title:

Student movements and politics in Latin America: a historical reconceptualization

 

Author:

Imanol Ordorika

Affiliations: 

Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

&

University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Published:

Higher Education, 4 February 2021

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-020-00656-6

Abstract:

Student movements have played a significant political role in the history of Latin America. Since the beginning of the 20th century until now, students have transformed their universities, resisted totalitarian and authoritarian regimes and struggled against US military occupations. In the early 1900s these movements promoted university reforms, autonomy, shared governance, Latin Americanism, and university obligations towards social change. During the 1960s and 1970s, they fought for democratization and committed to attempts for profound radical transformations of society in many countries. In the 1980s student movements resisted structural adjustment policies and attempts to increase tuition. A decade later they continued to defend public universities against privatization and marketization brought about by the neoliberal model. In spite of these historical facts, mainstream literature in the 1980s and 1990s predicted the decline and even death of student movements in the region. A historical reconceptualization of student mobilization is presented in this article in order to fully grasp the impact and sustained presence of student movements in Latin America up to the present day. In this way it is possible to understand the existing links between movements over time and across countries, the continuity and shifts in student discourses, demands and strategies, and the emergence of new struggles for gender equality and to eradicate violence against women.