Fallist Feminist Futures in South Africa

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall student-worker movements in South Africa to examine the complex relationship between student movements calling for decolonisation of education and the realities of Black women and non-binary people within these movements. The ferocious Fallist movements that began in 2015 rupture the post-Apartheid story of coherence, success and a flourishing Rainbow Nation. The Fallist movements unveiled the nationwide camaraderie by shedding light on lived realities as falling short of reaping the gold at the end of the rainbow. The movement persuades us to engage critically with the history of South Africa and its public narrative, the role of the state, white supremacy and patriarchy and the meaning of universities. In this chapter, the invisible labour, of women, queer and non-binary people in protests is an important part of thinking through the limitations of transformative imaginaries within radical movements.