Topic Proposal Paragraph
editI have chosen the South African National Students Congress (SANSCO) as my topic for the Wikipedia article because I want to explore how student activism and social movements can drive political change in a country. This topic is particularly interesting to me as it can offer perspective on how student activism on contemporary issues of climate change and racism may shape our society in years to come. I enjoy studying historical contexts and therefore writing an article on SANSCO allows me to explore the different leaders, protests and conferences that led to the removal of the bill reducing subsidies for politically active universities, the formation of a non-racial student body and ultimately, the collapse of Apartheid in South Africa.
Annotated Bibliography
editNkumo, S. (1991). Organising Women in SANSCO: Reflections on the experience of women in organisation. Agenda (Durban), 7(10), pp10-15. doi: 10.1080/10130950.1991.9675124. - Nkumo discusses her personal experience of student activism in South Africa, reflecting on her time at university and her role in women’s groups. Nkumo explains the attitudes of young women at the time, who felt that womens activism was for older women, mothers. She also detailed how many women were involved in women’s groups due to their male counterparts' involvement in activism, and would leave when the relationships fell through. Nkumo goes into detail about the friction between black womens groups and other groups due to negligence that issues went deeper than gender roles, survival was the goal for some.
Badat, S. (1999). Black Student Politics, Higher Education & Apartheid: From SASO to SANSCO, 1968-1990. HSRC Press. Available at: https://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/books/black-student-politics-higher-education-apartheid [3 November 2021].
- In Chapter 10, Badat questions Brewers claims that SANSCO was a radicalised black consciousness organisation. Badat analyses the gender composition of SANSCO, acknowledging the lack of female representation. The book also touches on the key ideologies and movements SANSCO had, investigating its founding links with BC and AZASO.
SAHO. (2013). ‘South African National Students Congress (SANSCO)’. Available at: https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/south-african-national-students-congress-sansco [3 November 2021].
- This article outlines the formation and leaders of SANSCO, describing its transformation from ASAZO and BCM, redesigning itself. It details the devastating state of South Africa when SANSCO was launched with political violence deaths rising and a state of emergency declared. Key aims such as turning tertiary institutions into peoples campuses are laid out.
Walters, S. (2005) ‘Social movements, class, and adult education’, New directions for adult and continuing education, 2005(106), pp. 53–62. doi: 10.1002/ace.179.
- Walters dives into the history of social movements in South Africa, identifying the growth of capitalism in the latter stages of the 20th century as a cause of issues. Walters looks at movements related to the banning of political organisations in the 1960’s and 70’s and 80’s.
Healy‐Clancy, M. (2017) ‘The everyday politics of being a student in South Africa: A history’, History compass, 15(3), p. e12375–n/a. doi: 10.1111/hic3.12375.
-Clancy looks to contextualise recent protests in South Africa surrounding the decolonisation of the curriculum, using the protests in the apartheid era which organisations such as SANSCO were involved in.