Student Resistance to Apartheid at the University of Fort Hare

Freedom Now, a Degree Tomorrow

Rico Devara Chapman

The book explores forms of popular student resistance to apartheid education in South Africa, particularly at the University of Fort Hare (UFH), by tracing student activism at UFH from 1970 to 2000; highlighting the factors that influenced the development of a culture of student resistance; investigating the root causes that made Fort Hare exceptional in its stand against apartheid; and chronicling the educational and social implications that resulted from students’ unparalleled and fearless actions against the apartheid system. Student resistance at Fort Hare can be traced as far back as the 1940s; however, this book will primarily focus on the critical 1970–2000 period, which was marked by increased student activism in South Africa. The 1980s and 1990s were peak years for student activism in the country. There is no doubt that student struggles during this period and thereafter helped dismantle apartheid and usher in a new South African government.

Lexington Books

Pages: 148 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-0-7391-9214-6 • Hardback • May 2016 • $108.00 • (£83.00)

978-0-7391-9215-3 • eBook • May 2016 • $102.50 • (£79.00)

Subjects: Political Science / World / African, Education / Higher, History / Africa / South / General, Social Science / Social Change

Student Resistance to Apartheid at the University of Fort Hare

Freedom Now, a Degree Tomorrow

Hardback

eBook

Summary

The book explores forms of popular student resistance to apartheid education in South Africa, particularly at the University of Fort Hare (UFH), by tracing student activism at UFH from 1970 to 2000; highlighting the factors that influenced the development of a culture of student resistance; investigating the root causes that made Fort Hare exceptional in its stand against apartheid; and chronicling the educational and social implications that resulted from students’ unparalleled and fearless actions against the apartheid system. Student resistance at Fort Hare can be traced as far back as the 1940s; however, this book will primarily focus on the critical 1970–2000 period, which was marked by increased student activism in South Africa. The 1980s and 1990s were peak years for student activism in the country. There is no doubt that student struggles during this period and thereafter helped dismantle apartheid and usher in a new South African government.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 148 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-0-7391-9214-6 • Hardback • May 2016 • $108.00 • (£83.00)

978-0-7391-9215-3 • eBook • May 2016 • $102.50 • (£79.00)

Subjects: Political Science / World / African, Education / Higher, History / Africa / South / General, Social Science / Social Change

Author

Rico D. Chapman is associate professor in the Department of History and Philosophy and director for the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute @ COFO-Human and Civil Rights Interdisciplinary Education Center at Jackson State University.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1. The University of Fort Hare as the Birthplace of Activism in South Africa
Chapter 2. Black Consciousness and ‘Sham’ Autonomy at Fort Hare
Chapter 3. Fort Hare Students and the Ciskei Bantustan
Chapter 4. Towards Independence: “A People’s University”
Chapter 5. Conclusion: Post-Apartheid Higher Education at Fort Hare

Reviews

Student protests have been a common feature of South African university life from the Second World War to the present. Focusing on Fort Hare University in the eastern Cape, Rico Chapman provides an insightful analysis not only of student protests during the 1970s and 1980s against the apartheid system and Bantu Education but also against university policies in post-apartheid South Africa. For anyone interested in understanding the historical backdrop of recent protests at South African universities such as Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall, this volume is a must read.
— Robert Edgar, Howard University

Rico Chapman makes a remarkable contribution to our understanding of the origins of the internal struggle for South African Liberation and the role that the African students from the Native College at Fort Hare played in that important process.
— Charles D. Johnson, North Carolina Central University

Student Resistance to Apartheid at the University of Fort Hare is a must read for those interested in learning about all those dynamic youngsters who took down apartheid from the base of a historic Black university. Insightful, well-researched, clearly written, and deeply scholarly and accessible, this book is a tremendous and much-needed addition to the growing and ever popular global body of literature on antiracist student resistance.
— Ibram X. Kendi, University of Florida