Control, Compliance and Conformity at the University of Fort Hare 1916 – 2000: a Gramscian Approach
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Control, compliance and conformity at the University of Fort Hare 1916 – 2000: a Gramscian Approach A thesis submitted to Rhodes University in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (EDUCATION) by Pamela Johnson Student number: 610J7308 Supervisor: Professor Peter Vale i KEY WORDS/ PHRASES POLITICAL ECONOMY CRITICAL THEORY EXERCISE OF HEGEMONY CONTROL / COMPLIANCE / CONTESTATION FORMS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN STATE UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION ABSTRACT Arising from Marxist theory, critical theory investigates the mechanisms that enable continued domination in capitalist society, with a view to revealing the real, but obscured, nature of social relations and enabling these to be challenged by subjugated classes. Within the broad spectrum of Marxist theory, social relations of domination and subordination are assigned according to the relationship of social classes to economic production. However, the neo-Marxist perspective developed by Antonio Gramsci locates relations of power within the broader context of the political economy. In doing so, the role of the State in a capitalist society assumes greater significance than that of maintaining and securing social relations on behalf of the dominant class through coercion and force. Instead, the State embarks on a range of activities in the attempted “exercise of hegemony”, or the cultivation of general acceptance by all social classes of existing social relations and conditions. Gramsci refers to this desired outcome as “consent”, the product of the successful exercise of hegemony, a political function which is thus crucial to the accumulation of capital. When unsuccessful, dissent cannot be contained by the State, and the extent to which contestation constitutes a threat is revealed by recourse to coercion. The manner in which relations of power are cemented through the exercise of hegemony lies at the core of this thesis. It investigates the relationship between the State and the administrators of an institution within civil society, the University of Fort Hare, as well as the responses to the activities of the State and University Administration within the University itself, over an extended period of time between 1916 and 2000. This period is divided into three specific time frames, according to changes in the expression of the South African State. In general, it is seen that conformity characterises the relationship between the State and the University Administration, i underscoring the success of the State in fostering the role of education in the reproduction of social relations and values and in eliciting conformity. The nature of conformity is seen to vary according to different expressions of the State and changes in social relations, which are in turn informed by the overarching political economy and events taking place within society and the University of Fort Hare. Manifestations of consent and dissent, as responses to the attempted exercise of hegemony, are presented in the three periods corresponding to different expressions of the State. Four reasons for conformity, as presented by Gramscian scholar Joseph V Femia (1981), are utilised in order to explain and illustrate the nature of control and compliance at the University of Fort Hare between 1916 and 2000. [435 words] Date: December 2013 DECLARATION I declare that ‘Control, compliance and conformity at the University of Fort Hare 1916 – 2000: a Gramscian approach’ is my own work, that it has not been submitted for any degree or examination in any other university, and that all the sources I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by complete references. Full name: Pamela Johnson Date: December 2013 Signed: ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the following people for their academic and moral support at various stages throughout the development and writing of this thesis: Peter Vale Scholar and intellectual of local and international acclaim, for agreeing to supervise a novice, and for his unfailing encouragement. Sioux McKenna Coordinator of the PhD programme, for her steadfast support. Yoli Soul Chief Librarian, Fort Hare University, for her kindness and thoughtfulness in allowing me the use of her office throughout 2011 to sift through the unsorted files of former Rectors and Vice-Chancellors of Fort Hare University. I would also like to acknowledge several authors whose work I have used extensively as a secondary source in the chapters containing the narrative and analysis in this research. Firstly, the historian Donovan Williams, whose carefully documented account of the period during which he lectured at the University of Fort Hare in the 1950s is contained in his book, A History of the University College of Fort Hare, South Africa, the 1950s: The Waiting Years. It not only offers detailed facts, but also insights into the relationships that existed on the campus as well as those between Fort Hare and the surrounding community in the ‘White’ town of Alice. Secondly, the American journalist Daniel Massey, who studied towards his Masters at the Fort Hare between 1997 and 1999, during which time he interviewed 34 alumni, many of whom had later become members of the post-apartheid State’s political elite. These interviews form an integral part of his Masters, which was later published as a book, Under Protest – The Rise of Student Resistance at the University of Fort Hare. Thirdly, South African historian Jeff Peires, whose research into the history of the Xhosa people in the Eastern Cape area of South Africa is contained in The House of Phalo – A History of the Xhosa iii People in the Days of their Independence, on which I relied to present part of the historical background and context for the research. Finally, the Canadian scholar whose Gramscian approach resonates with my own, Les Switzer. His meticulous and exhaustive research into the political history of the area between the Fish and Kei Rivers between 1750 and 1981 forms the substance of Power and Resistance in an African Society – The Ciskei Xhosa and the Making of South Africa. Many references in this research will be seen to originate from these four sources, particularly the first, second and fourth. However, the use of these authors and their work should not be construed as an attempted short-cut or academic idleness on the part of the researcher, whose aim is not primarily to reveal new historical facts or details, but to illustrate the applicability of a particular theoretical perspective. In focusing on the interpretation, rather than the presentation of evidence, the researcher is adding a new dimension to the findings of the above four authors.1 Furthermore, as one of the aims of the research is to present a critical overview, the gaps or relative silences relating to the personal perspectives of others who have written about the University of Fort Hare should be noted. Williams admits to an ideological bias in favour of the Christian values that characterised the period during which Fort Hare was run by a missionary Administration. His account of the events in the 1950s is interspersed with reflections on the ideological tensions between staff and students, and within each of these bodies, and his first-hand observation offers a dimension to this research that would otherwise be lacking. It also affords further insights into the tensions in the relationship between the South African State and the University of Fort Hare during the 1950s, just after the National Party had gained control of the State and introduced its Apartheid project. Daniel Massey’s stated twofold purpose was “to examine patterns of political development among students at Fort Hare” and to “use the perspective of student experience to illustrate the place of 1 It is necessary to explain the referencing convention that has been utilised in this research. When an author is first cited, the full name is provided; in subsequent references, only the surname is given. iv the University of Fort Hare in South African history”.2 Massey focuses on substantiating the self- professed role of Fort Hare as nurturing the African nationalism with which so many alumni were imbued, and, in doing so, embellishes the Fort Hare legacy. His contribution, as a journalist, was to record and document interviews with alumni, and while accounts of their student days by these alumni add colour and detail, there is an over-emphasis on the role of students in challenging racial domination – firstly, in protesting against the paternalism of the missionary Administration, and later in resisting the apartheid Administration. None of the alumni attributed their privileged post-apartheid social status to the university education they had received, and none of them reflected on the access it had given them access to the ranks of the professional and middle class. On the occasion of his book launch at Fort Hare on 6 May 2010, Massey acknowledged, when questioned about the absence of an ideological framework to his book, that one of its foremost intentions was to document first-hand accounts by those who might not live much longer to tell their tale. Given that many of these alumni were elderly and have since died, this contribution to the historical archives at Fort Hare is indeed valuable. Lacking an analytical framework, Massey’s book serves as a well-researched and entertaining narrative of student protest. Peires deals with a period that pre-dates the University of Fort Hare, and narrates Xhosa history as recounted by Xhosa people, from the perspective of complex political, social and cultural structures. Notwithstanding the enormously valuable background that this offers, it would be meaningless to attempt to integrate either this perspective or this period into the research, which commences at the turn of the nineteenth century. His work thus serves essentially as a prelude to the colonial encounter that was to give rise to the establishment of the University of Fort Hare.