Politics, Education and the Imagination in South African and Brazilian Student-Led Mobilisations (2015-16)
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Politics, Education and the Imagination in South African and Brazilian student-led mobilisations (2015-16) Joshua James Platzky Miller St. John's College December, 2019 This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Declaration This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or am concurrently submitting, for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or is being concurrently submitted, for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. This dissertation does not exceed the prescribed limit of 80 000 words. Joshua James Platzky Miller April 1, 2020 Abstract When students contest an education system they experience as oppressive, what do they imagine could exist instead? This dissertation explores the intersection of politics, education, and the imagination amongst students who mobilised in Brazil and South Africa during the 2015-2016 protest waves. The study focuses on how students learnt from their activism, reimagining both education and society more widely. In Brazil, it focuses on the activity of high school students in S~aoPaulo and Rio de Janeiro during the Primavera Secundarista (Student Spring). Here, primarily through school occupations, students fought to keep their schools open, supported their striking teachers, and called attention to a crumbling public school system. Simultaneously, they challenged various forms of oppression and questioned the purpose of schooling in an unequal, exploitative society. In South Africa, it focuses on university students in Johannesburg and Cape Town during #FeesMustFall and affiliated campaigns. These students exposed problems of university access and funding, decolonising education, and exploitative labour practices in universities, particularly outsourcing workers. They questioned the `post-Apartheid' social order, continued racism and racialised capitalism, and how universities reproduce these conditions. The dissertation draws on 9 months of fieldwork across four cities, primarily encom- passing interviews with student participants and staff working in solidarity, documents and statements produced by participants, and both journalistic and academic articles that have reflected on these processes. It tracks the precursors to and eruption of the mobili- sations, how the students involved reconfigured existing coalitions and groups, ran their own educational projects, and in the process challenged ideas and practices of education, thereby shaping their own perspectives. Drawing on literature about the imagination and social movement learning, I argue that students reimagined education conceptually and practically. They challenged the existing education systems, while addressing their experiences of alienation, marginalisation, and exclusion. In doing so, they constructed dialogical, thoughtful spaces of teaching and learning, interrogating the educational system in which they were embedded. Students who took part in politicised collective action over 2015-16 were thus shaped by their experiences, emerging with different perspectives on education and society. Acknowledgements For Giulio, and all those who have faced repression and brutality, with the courage that knows a better world is possible. I thank those who understand the constraints and challenges of this kind of academic work, and were patient, supportive and kind in light (and in spite) of that. A heartfelt thank you to my supervisor, Maha Abdelrahman, for your support, interest, insight, and care. I have learnt a great deal from you about what it could be like to be an activist-scholar, without reducing the importance of either. Thank you to my parents, Laurine Platzky and Eric Miller. Throughout this all, your support has kept me going. Without our dinner table discussions, I would not have the interests that I do; my knowledge and appreciation of the Continent and its struggles I gained from your work and lives. And to my extended family, particularly Sharon, Iris and Michael (RIP), Peter and Ginny, Laurence and Hannah, Max and Jude, and cousin Dave - you have provided a home away from home. To the many friends who helped me in countless ways on this path: I have been shaped by you. In Cambridge, from those in Development Studies and the Writing Club, the Mawson Collectives, the African Society and other South African students, CUBS and the Brazilians, multiple activist communities including CDE, CTP, Decolonise, Demilitarise, the UCU, and elsewhere: Amir, Taskeen, Lorena, Noura, Maria, Isabel, Paola, Aline, Halima, Nafisa, Caroline, Jolly, Anna, Rekha, Shama, Shreyashi, Isabella, Grace, Nabila, Idil, Chris, Matt, Albert, Nungari, Jostein, Mihiri, Njoki, Chinedu, Damilola, Edyth, Jess, Abi, Thandeka, Mubeen, Siyabonga, Victor, Harum, Lucy, Mahvish, Tariq, Dima, Hana, Ayse, Niyousha, Ruth, Luke, Michael, Kweku, Dilar, Hakan, Lina, Anne, Janani, Clement, Was, Elyem, Justin, Sarah, Isabelle, Rebekah, Cillian, Varun, Rashmi, Avi, Hannah, Maggie, Jonathan, Ian, Trina, Aoife, Youmna, Chandrima, Basti, Joana, Vicky, Alisa, Robin, Amy, Laura, L´ıvia,Ligia, Pedro, Flavia, Lea, Julie, Safieh, Lydia, Em, Matt, Stella, Ben, Claire, Ed, Lola, Eleanor, Michael, Jinan, Lili, Sophia, Felix, Sen, Vyara... To those elsewhere in the UK who gave me refuge when Cambridge became all too much - Lea, Pip, Raf, Joya, Mar´ılia, Dela, Claire-Marine, Kathryn, Giovanna, Mike... In South Africa, friends from multiple pasts and who will remain into the future; particularly Greg & Philip, always; Meghan, Neil, Sara, AK, who helped build the foundations for me to grasp these themes; and the Dops & Dialectics group with whom many of these ideas were generated and debated - thank you Maxine, Anye, Alex, Mike, Claire, Carilee, Neil, Luke. Thank you also to Brian, Siyabonga, Jess, Onesisa, Leigh- Ann, Aaliyah, Pier Paolo, Zinhle, Noor, Lawrence, Thoko, Shibu, Anne, Nosipho, Sarah, Mohammed, Hibist, Alex, Patricia, Kgotsi, Natheem, Mary, Shirley, Arnold, and Faisal. No Brasil, voc^esque eu conheci mais recentamente, e especificamente, voc^esque me ajudaram com as tradu¸c~oes,interpreta¸c~oes,introdu¸c~oes,e discuss~oessobre pol´ıtica, historia e educa¸c~aobrasileira. Valeu Renata, Paula, Thais, Catherine, Gabriel, Luis, Maria Julia, Guilherme, Manu, Caju, Katucha, Marcelo, Rodrigo, Jailson, Katia, Lara, Daniela, Vannessa. A` Thais, uma personalidade ressonante, RIP... Luis, Aldalea, Sueli, Daniel, Juan, Katia, Rui, Lara, Rosemary, Marcelo, Leonardo, Kaliane, Andressa, Jose, Millena, Jailson, Julio, Raissya, Morgana, Catharina, Alan, Isabele, Lucas, Roberta, Esmeria, Andreh, Sol, Rafael, Maria, Jo~ao,Bruno, Lorrane, e muitos mais... My deep appreciation to Lorena Gazzotti, Noura Wahby, Amir Lebdioui, Maria Hengeveld, Paola Velasco Herrej´on,Felix Anderl, Anye Nyamnjoh, Mike Smith, Alex Pennington, Carol Souza, Nafisa Waziri, Lea Cantor, Aline Khoury, and Senthuran Bhuva- nendra, who read and gave critical feedback on chapters and sections of the dissertation. Thank you also to Sarah, Simphiwe, Evan, Luthando, Guilherme and Gabriela for help transcribing. My continuing educational journey has been moulded by many educators, from Cape Town to Cambridge, via Durham, Pretoria, Himachal Pradesh, and Gaborone. Education is much more than a job - thank you for your care and inspiration. Thank you to Prof Andrew Nash in particular, to whose ideas and perspectives I keep returning, as well as Drs Gay Meeks, Shailaja Fennell, Ha-Joon Chang, Graham Denyer Willis, David Clark, Solava Ibrahim, Helena P´erezNi~noand her plants, in the Centre of Development Studies for your invaluable assistance. There are also numerous people I have met at conferences and workshops, who have encouraged the project in various ways. Thank you in particular to Anne Harley and Linda Cooper for your support. Renata Malheiros Henriques, as well as Cynthia Rocha, Karin Tahir, and Emma Furuta at the Language Centre, muito obrigado, sem sua ajuda e encorajamento, a parte brasileira da minha pesquisa de campo n~aoteria sido poss´ıvel. Thank you, Dave and Rachael, and the rest of the Samatha group, for the calm and insight you have provided over these years. Thank you also to the many people whose support enables teachers to do their work; Gavin Clarke, Doreen Woolfrey, Emma Cant´u, Elise´ Lapaire, and Annabel Sherwood, you have been the department's foundation. In the final weeks before my submission, the University and Colleges Union went on strike over pensions, pay, working conditions, equality, racism, sexism, and casualisation (25 Nov - 4 Dec 2019). Capai (2019) Espero Tua (Re)Volta, a film about the Brazilian student movements, was screened in Cambridge as part of the UCU Strike Teachout programme, co-hosted with Cambridge Defend Education, Critical Theory and Practice, and the Cambridge University Brazilian Society. This one event represented all the student- worker solidarity, public education, international exchange of knowledge and experience, and supportive care that I have tried to emphasise throughout this dissertation.