In the absence of Rhodes: decolonizing South African universities
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In the absence of Rhodes : decolonizing South African universities. / Nielsen, Vibe.
In: Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 44, No. 3, 11.01.2021, p. 396-414.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - In the absence of Rhodes
T2 - decolonizing South African universities
AU - Nielsen, Vibe
PY - 2021/1/11
Y1 - 2021/1/11
N2 - This paper examines the ways in which the decolonization of South African universities was imagined and performed by members of the Rhodes Must Fall movement during the removal of the statue of Rhodes on the University of Cape Town in 2015. Showing how their demands can be seen as a move away from the reconciliation and non-racialist approach of the Rainbow Nation towards a re-racialized debate, in which victimhood is reconfigured, I argue that, although the movement ended up divided, the reclamation of one of South Africa’s most prominent public spaces provided an opportunity to write or paint something new. The South African visual artist Sethembile Msezane took this opportunity upon her, when she embodied the Zimbabwe Bird Chapungu and provided an image of what South Africa can also look like: a country whose public spaces also include those of black women and of stories linked to the African continent.
AB - This paper examines the ways in which the decolonization of South African universities was imagined and performed by members of the Rhodes Must Fall movement during the removal of the statue of Rhodes on the University of Cape Town in 2015. Showing how their demands can be seen as a move away from the reconciliation and non-racialist approach of the Rainbow Nation towards a re-racialized debate, in which victimhood is reconfigured, I argue that, although the movement ended up divided, the reclamation of one of South Africa’s most prominent public spaces provided an opportunity to write or paint something new. The South African visual artist Sethembile Msezane took this opportunity upon her, when she embodied the Zimbabwe Bird Chapungu and provided an image of what South Africa can also look like: a country whose public spaces also include those of black women and of stories linked to the African continent.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - South Africa
KW - decolonization
KW - re-racialization
KW - Rhodes Must Fall
KW - University of Cape Town
KW - Sethembile Msezane
U2 - 10.1080/01419870.2021.1851380
DO - 10.1080/01419870.2021.1851380
M3 - Journal article
VL - 44
SP - 396
EP - 414
JO - Ethnic and Racial Studies
JF - Ethnic and Racial Studies
SN - 0141-9870
IS - 3
ER -
ID: 255053729