Carolyn E Holmes
Biographic Data
| ID | 114147 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Carolyn E Holmes |
| GIVEN NAMES | Carolyn E |
| FAMILY NAME | Holmes |
| SIGNATURE | HOLMES C E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Pretoria |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6142-0979 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 36 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Challengers in a Pandemic
In early 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments imposed states of emergency rule to streamline budgeting, impose mitigation protocols, and increase health sector capacity. These rules fundamentally changed executive–legislative relations while in place, accruing extraordinary power to executives and sidelining legislatures. In Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa—all dominant or hegemonic party regimes …
Negotiating the boundaries of farmerhood
Blending Truth and Lies
Ethnographic methods of all varieties contend with the idea of the “truth” of accounts and the meanings attached to them, as well as the importance of context in mitigating truth or falseness in how these accounts are presented. Discerning truth from lies and the purpose of both in the context of making meaning in a time and place is at the heart of the ethnographic enterprise. Because powerful images or messages evoke emotional reactions on soci…
A Case for Description
Descriptive research—work aimed at answering “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “how” questions—is vital at every stage of social scientific inquiry. The creative and analytic process of description—through concepts, measures, or cases, whether in numeric or narrative form—is crucial for conducting research aimed at understanding politics in action. Yet, our field tends to devalue such work as “merely descriptive” (Gerring 2012), subsidiary to o…
What Went Right? South African Democracy and the Study of Political Science
South Africa has been an important case in both scholarship and the public eye for decades. The anti-apartheid struggle saw mass international participation, and there was significant international optimism about the South African transition to multiracial democracy in 1994. Yet in the years since the advent of the new democratic dispensation in South Africa, a kind of pessimism has set in about the prospects for the country and for its democracy…
Is ‘white nationalism’, nationalism
Are ‘white nationalists’ really nationalists? This label is one that right‐wing, white activists themselves have chosen, and as such, compels rigorous investigation to avoid simply adopting the preferred nomenclature of these activists and their ambitions. The nation and nationalism are concepts with rich scholarly histories, and this paper seeks to examine the discussion, activities and statements of so‐called white nationalists in light of this…
Standing Out and Blending In
This article explores the ethical difficulties that arise because of the interaction between fieldwork practitioners and their sites, in terms of the positionality of the researcher. What are the ethics of blending in or of standing out? This question stems from my experience of 12 months of fieldwork in South Africa in two distinct locales and among two different populations, one in which I could “pass” and another in which I was marked as vario…
The Black and White Rainbow
Victimhood gone viral
In her 2013 paper, Lee Ann Fujii proposes the concept of “extra-lethal violence,” which explores the ways that actors use violence over and above a standard of lethality to achieve group goals, like in-group cohesion. This paper, in an extension of Fujii’s work on extra-lethality, looks at the multiple audiences that such violence engages. Utilizing cases of rural violence in South Africa, this paper argues that the brutality of extra lethal viol…
Checking trust
Social capital research has measured the concept in two distinct ways: through direct reporting by participants in cross-national surveys and the presence of associative organisations. Both strategies raise difficulties: the former restricts comparability and assumes group stability; the latter relies on literal translation and uses direct questioning. We problematise these approaches and argue that the ratio of 'check-points' where individuals a…
The Politics of "Non-Political" Activism in Democratic South Africa
Conventions, Courts, and Communities
The Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women is central in outlining the gendered dimensions of human rights. India ratified this treaty with the reservation that it would be complied with only in accordance with the religious personal law. This article will examine the ways in which the convention interfaces with religious personal law, and the efficacy of the convention in both top-down and bottom-up reform of…
Winning is not everything
Icons of the Old Regime
Students engaged in the spring 2015 protests on the University of Cape Town campus demanded the removal of the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, prompting renewed debate over the appropriate treatment of colonial and apartheid-era statuary in contemporary South African public spaces. While the students’ protests were often dismissed in public discourse and media coverage as misguided or misinformed, this article situates them in the broader context of…
Marikana in translation
This article attempts to understand how different print cultures that service different \nlanguage communities fuel nationalisms that are not co-terminus with a nation-state. In \nthe tradition of scholars like Benedict Anderson, it examines the connections between \nnationalism and print culture, but with reference to a single important event: violence at \nthe Marikana mine. These events constituted the largest act of lethal force against \nciv…
Recrafting the national imaginary and the new “vanguardism
An opportunity exists to assess the limitations in building long-term peace in post-conflict states, particularly given the extent to which negotiated settlements incorporate demands for democratic mechanisms. By assessing how post-conflict governments construct new majorities through policy tools as well as assessing how they are constrained by the structural realities of negotiated settlements, we gain some purchase on the reasons why some post…
Framing the democratic narrative
While it is sometimes characterised as a dominant party, South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) has failed to demonstrate consistent dominance in provincial and municipal elections. It is argued that this incongruence is related to the ways in which the national political imaginary is successfully (and unsuccessfully) framed by ANC elites who have managed to make the story of the ANC largely inseparable from the national character of the …
Icons of the Old Regime
Students engaged in the spring 2015 protests on the University of Cape Town campus demanded the removal of the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, prompting renewed debate over the appropriate treatment of colonial and apartheid-era statuary in contemporary South African public spaces. While the students’ protests were often dismissed in public discourse and media coverage as misguided or misinformed, this article situates them in the broader context of…
Is ‘white nationalism’, nationalism
Are ‘white nationalists’ really nationalists? This label is one that right‐wing, white activists themselves have chosen, and as such, compels rigorous investigation to avoid simply adopting the preferred nomenclature of these activists and their ambitions. The nation and nationalism are concepts with rich scholarly histories, and this paper seeks to examine the discussion, activities and statements of so‐called white nationalists in light of this…
Winning is not everything
Framing the democratic narrative
While it is sometimes characterised as a dominant party, South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) has failed to demonstrate consistent dominance in provincial and municipal elections. It is argued that this incongruence is related to the ways in which the national political imaginary is successfully (and unsuccessfully) framed by ANC elites who have managed to make the story of the ANC largely inseparable from the national character of the …
A Case for Description
Descriptive research—work aimed at answering “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “how” questions—is vital at every stage of social scientific inquiry. The creative and analytic process of description—through concepts, measures, or cases, whether in numeric or narrative form—is crucial for conducting research aimed at understanding politics in action. Yet, our field tends to devalue such work as “merely descriptive” (Gerring 2012), subsidiary to o…
Marikana in translation
This article attempts to understand how different print cultures that service different \nlanguage communities fuel nationalisms that are not co-terminus with a nation-state. In \nthe tradition of scholars like Benedict Anderson, it examines the connections between \nnationalism and print culture, but with reference to a single important event: violence at \nthe Marikana mine. These events constituted the largest act of lethal force against \nciv…
Standing Out and Blending In
This article explores the ethical difficulties that arise because of the interaction between fieldwork practitioners and their sites, in terms of the positionality of the researcher. What are the ethics of blending in or of standing out? This question stems from my experience of 12 months of fieldwork in South Africa in two distinct locales and among two different populations, one in which I could “pass” and another in which I was marked as vario…
Victimhood gone viral
In her 2013 paper, Lee Ann Fujii proposes the concept of “extra-lethal violence,” which explores the ways that actors use violence over and above a standard of lethality to achieve group goals, like in-group cohesion. This paper, in an extension of Fujii’s work on extra-lethality, looks at the multiple audiences that such violence engages. Utilizing cases of rural violence in South Africa, this paper argues that the brutality of extra lethal viol…
The Politics of "Non-Political" Activism in Democratic South Africa
Conventions, Courts, and Communities
The Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women is central in outlining the gendered dimensions of human rights. India ratified this treaty with the reservation that it would be complied with only in accordance with the religious personal law. This article will examine the ways in which the convention interfaces with religious personal law, and the efficacy of the convention in both top-down and bottom-up reform of…
Recrafting the national imaginary and the new “vanguardism
An opportunity exists to assess the limitations in building long-term peace in post-conflict states, particularly given the extent to which negotiated settlements incorporate demands for democratic mechanisms. By assessing how post-conflict governments construct new majorities through policy tools as well as assessing how they are constrained by the structural realities of negotiated settlements, we gain some purchase on the reasons why some post…
Framing the democratic narrative
While it is sometimes characterised as a dominant party, South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) has failed to demonstrate consistent dominance in provincial and municipal elections. It is argued that this incongruence is related to the ways in which the national political imaginary is successfully (and unsuccessfully) framed by ANC elites who have managed to make the story of the ANC largely inseparable from the national character of the …
Recrafting the national imaginary and the new “vanguardism
An opportunity exists to assess the limitations in building long-term peace in post-conflict states, particularly given the extent to which negotiated settlements incorporate demands for democratic mechanisms. By assessing how post-conflict governments construct new majorities through policy tools as well as assessing how they are constrained by the structural realities of negotiated settlements, we gain some purchase on the reasons why some post…
Marikana in translation
This article attempts to understand how different print cultures that service different \nlanguage communities fuel nationalisms that are not co-terminus with a nation-state. In \nthe tradition of scholars like Benedict Anderson, it examines the connections between \nnationalism and print culture, but with reference to a single important event: violence at \nthe Marikana mine. These events constituted the largest act of lethal force against \nciv…
Winning is not everything
Icons of the Old Regime
Students engaged in the spring 2015 protests on the University of Cape Town campus demanded the removal of the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, prompting renewed debate over the appropriate treatment of colonial and apartheid-era statuary in contemporary South African public spaces. While the students’ protests were often dismissed in public discourse and media coverage as misguided or misinformed, this article situates them in the broader context of…
The Politics of "Non-Political" Activism in Democratic South Africa
Conventions, Courts, and Communities
The Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women is central in outlining the gendered dimensions of human rights. India ratified this treaty with the reservation that it would be complied with only in accordance with the religious personal law. This article will examine the ways in which the convention interfaces with religious personal law, and the efficacy of the convention in both top-down and bottom-up reform of…
The Black and White Rainbow
Victimhood gone viral
In her 2013 paper, Lee Ann Fujii proposes the concept of “extra-lethal violence,” which explores the ways that actors use violence over and above a standard of lethality to achieve group goals, like in-group cohesion. This paper, in an extension of Fujii’s work on extra-lethality, looks at the multiple audiences that such violence engages. Utilizing cases of rural violence in South Africa, this paper argues that the brutality of extra lethal viol…
Checking trust
Social capital research has measured the concept in two distinct ways: through direct reporting by participants in cross-national surveys and the presence of associative organisations. Both strategies raise difficulties: the former restricts comparability and assumes group stability; the latter relies on literal translation and uses direct questioning. We problematise these approaches and argue that the ratio of 'check-points' where individuals a…
Standing Out and Blending In
This article explores the ethical difficulties that arise because of the interaction between fieldwork practitioners and their sites, in terms of the positionality of the researcher. What are the ethics of blending in or of standing out? This question stems from my experience of 12 months of fieldwork in South Africa in two distinct locales and among two different populations, one in which I could “pass” and another in which I was marked as vario…
What Went Right? South African Democracy and the Study of Political Science
South Africa has been an important case in both scholarship and the public eye for decades. The anti-apartheid struggle saw mass international participation, and there was significant international optimism about the South African transition to multiracial democracy in 1994. Yet in the years since the advent of the new democratic dispensation in South Africa, a kind of pessimism has set in about the prospects for the country and for its democracy…
Is ‘white nationalism’, nationalism
Are ‘white nationalists’ really nationalists? This label is one that right‐wing, white activists themselves have chosen, and as such, compels rigorous investigation to avoid simply adopting the preferred nomenclature of these activists and their ambitions. The nation and nationalism are concepts with rich scholarly histories, and this paper seeks to examine the discussion, activities and statements of so‐called white nationalists in light of this…
A Case for Description
Descriptive research—work aimed at answering “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “how” questions—is vital at every stage of social scientific inquiry. The creative and analytic process of description—through concepts, measures, or cases, whether in numeric or narrative form—is crucial for conducting research aimed at understanding politics in action. Yet, our field tends to devalue such work as “merely descriptive” (Gerring 2012), subsidiary to o…
Negotiating the boundaries of farmerhood
Blending Truth and Lies
Ethnographic methods of all varieties contend with the idea of the “truth” of accounts and the meanings attached to them, as well as the importance of context in mitigating truth or falseness in how these accounts are presented. Discerning truth from lies and the purpose of both in the context of making meaning in a time and place is at the heart of the ethnographic enterprise. Because powerful images or messages evoke emotional reactions on soci…
Challengers in a Pandemic
In early 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments imposed states of emergency rule to streamline budgeting, impose mitigation protocols, and increase health sector capacity. These rules fundamentally changed executive–legislative relations while in place, accruing extraordinary power to executives and sidelining legislatures. In Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa—all dominant or hegemonic party regimes …
Political science (15 works) · Law (13 works) · Politics (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Democracy (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Gender Studies (7 works) · Political economy (6 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (5 works) · South African History and Culture (4 works)