The Everyday at Grassroots level: poverty, protest and social change in post-apartheid South Africa
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Date
2009
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
CLACSO
Abstract
This paper posits that social change derives from how the everyday is encountered,
analyzed and experienced at the grassroots level. Drawing extensively
from the seminal work of Henri Lefebvre, the paper argues that for ordinary
people in post-apartheid South Africa, the everyday is often an instantiation of
multiple contradictions, tensions, conflicts and struggles as the promises of a
“better life for all”, the mantra of the Mbeki government, would appear to remain
largely rhetorical as evidenced by the increasing levels of homelessness and
unemployment since the creation of the democratic State in 1994. The failure to
substantively improve the everyday reality experienced by the poor, homeless
and unemployed, has given rise throughout the country, especially from 2004
to 2009, to massive protests by communities against local authorities (municipalities).
The paper concludes by considering the question whether or not this
type of community discontent could serve to transform the everyday into a more
equitable and democratic dispensation at the grassroots level.
Description
This paper was originally presented to the International Workshop “Development and Social Movements in the
South”, organised by “The Africa, Asia and Latin America Scholarly Collaborative Program”, supported by the Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency and held in Rio de Janeiro, april 2008.
Keywords
Epistemic formations, Existential suffering, Structural continuities, Institutional incompetence, Social change, Post-apartheid, South Africa
Citation
Williams, John, J., (2009). The Everyday at Grassroots level: poverty, protest and social change in post-apartheid South Africa. CLACSO Southern Papers Series, 3