Rethinking South Africa's Transition

From Transformative to Mainstream Approaches to Participatory Development

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2137672
AutoresLuke Sinwell (0000-0002-2126-6647, University of Johannesburg, autor de correspondencia)
Año2011
Volumen70
Número3
Páginas359-375
Fecha de publicación2011-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAfrican Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-0184 • E-ISSN: 1469-2872
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00020184.2011.628798
OpenAlexW2037241223
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas19

By the mid-1980s black township activists from across South Africa had risen up in an unprecedented manner to delegitimize and challenge the apartheid state. By the end of 1985, a new era in politics emerged in Alexandra, a small and densely populated township North East of Johannesburg, under the ideology of 'people's power'. Perhaps more than any other place in the country, the Alexandra Civic Organisation's (ACO's) ideology of 'people's power' was underlined by a socialist and participatory approach to solving local problems and resisting apartheid, and these politics quickly became deeply embedded in the community. The dawn of a new democratic dispensation in 1994 meant that the practices could have evolved into a transformative application of participation in development that would improve the lives of the previously marginalised majority. Many therefore hoped that these traditions of participation would be nurtured by the post-apartheid government, but this did not happen. By paying particular attention to the height of 'people's power', which offered a unique and radical approach to the practice of participation, this article argues that authors have not paid adequate attention to the decline of a particular kind of civic participation and the mainstream version of participation and model of citizenship that has been adopted by the ANC government. Keywords: apartheidcivic organisationsSancopeople's powerAlexandrademocracyparticipatory developmentcitizenship

Citizen journalism · Citizenship · Democracy · Economic growth · Government (linguistics · Ideology · Mainstream · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · State (computer science · Transformative learning · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Gender Studies · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · Public Administration · South African History and Culture