Southern Resistance in Critical Perspective : The Politics of Protest in South Africa's Contentious Democracy

From the Arab Uprising, to anti-austerity protests in Europe and the US Occupy Movement, to uprisings in Brazil and Turkey, resistance from below is flourishing. Whereas analysts have tended to look North in their analysis of the recent global protest wave, this volume develops a Southern perspective through a deep engagement with the case of South Africa, which has experienced widespread popular resistance for more than a decade. Combining critical theoretical perspectives with extensive qualitative fieldwork and rich case studies, Southern Resistance in Critical Perspective situates South Africa’s contentious democracy in relation to both the economic insecurity of contemporary global capitalism and the constantly shifting political terrain of post-apartheid nationalism. The analysis integrates worker, community and political party organizing into a broader narrative of resistance, bridging historical divisions between social movement studies, labor studies and political sociology.

Marcel Paret is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Utah, USA, and Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Carin Runciman is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Luke Sinwell is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.