Education Protest Research Articles

Disrupting Whiteness as Higher Education: Towards a Systemic Decoloniality

This creative conceptual paper expands traditionalised academic approaches through integrated narratives, plays, lyrics, and poetry as decolonial method. Based in first person narratives, informal interviews, artistic expression, and music-integration, the author clarifies tensions in decolonial strategy, including moving beyond racial representation to acknowledge and respond to racialised poverty, racism built into the fabric of higher education, and an overarching denial of racial disparities. The paper begins with a discussion of the student-created and produced play, The Fall, which brings the #RhodesMustFall movement onto the stage. Integrating student discussions and reactions to the play, the paper echoes themes from The Fall, suggesting that strategies which interrupt coloniality, while necessary, are insufficient to transform from formal education’s capitalistic and exploitative foundation. In centring USA and South African writers, the paper highlights that the purpose of education remains a White supremacist vision and that to move from such anti-Black infrastructures, transformation must align directly with ongoing, student-led decolonial approaches. The paper then parallels higher education protests to the context of the 2010 World Cup’s artistic exploitation of South Africa, warning of the power of appropriation, especially on a global stage. The paper concludes with the affirmation that creative, artistic, and Black-centric voices must be fostered and integrated into decolonial strategies to transform the global Whiteness of higher education.

Echoes from the Global South: Reflections on the Student Public Intellectual, Hashtags and Neoliberal Themes in the #FeesMustFall Student Protests in South Africa (2015–2016)

The student protests in South Africa (2015–2016) reflected multiple dimensions of the crisis in higher education. These included epistemic, economic, political, psychological and social dimensions, raising serious concerns about the social compact in a post-1994 South Africa. What I examine through an eclectic approach which incorporates a first-person methodology and critical discourse analysis are the nuances and meanings that surfaced when students captured specific events and then articulated the events and the unfolding experiences in a vocabulary that provided a translation for their emotions and pain. This was done by the students by both linking and challenging protest hashtags or referencing texts that had only recently become accessible to them. As they learnt, they shared, and as they shared they realised that there were others experiencing similar challenges, such as the student protests in Chile (2011–2012). Sharing experiences is an act of solidarity and the benefits of solidarity strengthened the language needed to articulate what the students encountered in specific moments. I show that the South African students echoed issues that were found in the higher education protests in Chile, whilst also drawing lines in the sand with regards to the challenges in their own lived context. What is most significant for me is that in both the South African and Chilean protests an interesting phenomenon is evident that has not been acknowledged—this is the rise of the student-academic public intellectual. This paper highlights these developments to challenge the narrative of “uncivilised” and violent black students by contextualising and animating their articulations, questions and their understanding of the ideology and system that was suffocating them.

Nationalistic education in the Hong Kong and the Macao SARs of China

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to compare and analyse the role and implementation of nationalistic education in Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions (SARs) since their respective handover of sovereignty to China in the late 1990s. Both SARs face the educational need to cultivate a Chinese national identification among the students after the sovereignty changes. While Macau SAR has enjoyed a relatively smooth implementation of nationalistic education towards which Macau’s schools and students are largely receptive to nationalistic programmes since its handover in 1999, Hong Kong SAR Government’s nationalistic education was met by reservation from some parents, students and civil society’s groups under allegations of “political indoctrination” and “brain-washing”. The Hong Kong civil society’s resistance to National Education culminated in the anti-Moral and National Education protest in Summer 2012 and then Hong Kong schools and society. This paper attempts to provide an overview and analysis on the development of nationalistic education in both Hong Kong and Macao SARs, and to give some possible explanations on the factors that lead to differences of perceiving and responding to the nationalistic education between both places.Design/methodology/approachAfter conducting a literature review, this study utilises different sources of data such as curriculum guidelines, previous studies and other scholarly findings in examining the development of civic education and national education policy in both SAR societies, as well as in discussing the possible developments of nationalistic education in both SARs by making references to previous studies of citizenship and nationalistic education.FindingsThis study found out that different relationships between the two SAR Governments and their respective civil society, the extent of established socio-political linkages with China, as well as the introduction of a core subject of Liberal Studies in Hong Kong secondary schools, which emphasises on multiple perspectives and critical thinking skills, are some plausible factors that explain different stories and developments of implementing nationalistic education in Hong Kong and Macao SARs.Research limitations/implicationsFor giving suggestions for a nationalistic education in both Chinese SARs, first, there should be an exploration of multiple citizenship identities. This will allow people to choose their identities and thus facilitate their belongingness in terms of local, national and global dimensions. In addition, there should be an exploration of a Chinese national identification with different emphases such as knowledge orientation and critical thinking so as to cater for youth values. Promoting the idea of an informed and reasonable-in-thinking patriot could also be a way to ease the concern that building a national identity negates a person’s freedom of thinking.Originality/valueThis paper attempts to compare and analyse the different responses to the same policy of enhancing nationalistic education development in both Hong Kong and Macao SARs of China. Some plausible explanations were given based on political, social and educational factors, as well as youth value oritentations. This paper would be an attempt to show that a top-down single-minded orientated nationalistic education may not work well a society such as Hong Kong, where civil society and youth values are quite different than that can be found in China.

Shattering the silence: dialogic engagement about education protest actions in South African university classrooms

ABSTRACTThis study explores how academics create safe spaces in university classrooms to engage in dialogue about education protest actions in South Africa. Utilising the research methodology of narrative inquiry and the theoretical framework of Pedagogy of Compassion, this paper explores how academics reflect on their responses to change and protest actions and how they co-construct knowledge with students in light of this change. Data capture included a mix of focus group interviews, participant reflections, field notes and a researcher journal and was analysed by means of the content analysis method. Findings reveal that lecturers had to navigate through the institutional quagmire and were confronted by polarised thinking of students. Furthermore, it seemed that student protest actions had a negative effect on lecturers. However, despite the tide of negativity and resistance, lecturers became transformative intellectuals and created safe spaces for students to engage in dialogue and to shatter the ‘normative’ silence.

Teacher education students engaging with digital identity narratives

Teaching English with digital technology has exacerbated the process of teaching and learning. In youth leisure, computers are more than information devices: they convey stories, images, identities, and fantasies through providing imaginative opportunities for play, and as cultural and ideological forms. In this paper, I report on a project conducted with teacher education students at a university in Johannesburg, South Africa. The focus of the project is to examine how students construct their identities digitally through the multimodal narratives they create in the English classroom. To do this I report on two narratives, as well as a recurring theme, decolonisation. The latter theme is significant because it was during the time of this project that South African universities found themselves in the grip of decolonisation and free education protests. I use New Literacy Studies as a framework to theorise literacy practices, and the work of Hall and others to theorise identity. The paper presents further possible implications of digital identity construction for teaching and learning. Keywords : decolonization; digital identities; digital literacies; digital narratives; higher education; South Africa

The Complexities of Silence in Buhle Ngaba’s The Girl Without a Sound in the Context of Contemporary South African Tertiary Education Protest

This paper aims to read Buhle Ngaba’s The Girl Without a Sound, a children’s book available for free online, alongside readings of silence in the context of the protests against rape culture at the university currently known as Rhodes (UCKAR/Rhodes University). The allegorical power of the text in the context of a genre largely populated by white, male protagonists is significant. This paper will also consider the role of children’s books as social texts and how these can be used to impart ideologies, for better or worse. I will argue that The Girl Without a Sound resists silencing in both historical and contemporary contexts. The protagonist is a little girl with a “fluff of hair, a mouth the shape of a cherry blossom and brown pools for eyes” (Ngaba 2016: 2), an atypical protagonist in most English-medium children’s literature industries. This paper aims to articulate the allegorical power of The Girl Without a Sound and to read it against theories of silence, protest and the contemporary moment of student protest, particularly with regard to the protests against rape culture that took place at UCKAR in April 2016. Ultimately, the text offers an affirmation of the agential power of girls of colour, speaking in concert with calls for intersectionality in contemporary political movements.

The Rise of “Localism” and Civic Identity in Post-handover Hong Kong: Questioning the Chinese Nation-state

AbstractWhile it was traditionally accepted that Hongkongers shared a form of pan-Chinese cultural identification that did not contradict their local distinctiveness, over the last decade Hong Kong has seen the rise of new types of local identity discourses. Most recently, “localists” have been a vocal presence. Hong Kong has – quite unexpectedly – developed a strong claim for self-determination. But how new is “localism” with respect to the more traditional “Hong Kong identity” that appeared in the 1970s? The present study takes a two-dimensional approach to study these discourses, examining not only their framework of identification (local versus pan-Chinese) but also their mode of identification (ethno-cultural versus civic). Using three case studies, the June Fourth vigil, the 2012 anti-National Education protest and the 2014 Umbrella movement, it distinguishes between groups advocating civic identification with the local community (Scholarism, HKFS) and others highlighting ethnic identification (Chin Wan). It argues that while local and national identification were traditionally not incompatible, the civic-based identification with a local democratic community, as advocated by most participants in recent movements, is becoming increasingly incompatible with the ethnic and cultural definition of the Chinese nation that is now being promoted by the Beijing government.

The Constitutional Background of the Chilean Education Protests: Conflict, Codification and Entrenchment

The Constitutional Background of the Chilean Education Protests: Conflict, Codification and Entrenchment

Education and Churchgoing Protestants' Views of Highly Politicized Christianity

Many churchgoing Protestants support a highly political role for the Christian religion, endorsing Christian ideals shaping public policy. Highly educated Protestants' emphasis on individualism and protecting civil liberties, however, can encourage a distrust of highly politicized Christianity. Specifically, college and graduate school educated Protestants often want to avoid forcing the Christian religion on secular society. Regression results from the 1996 Religious Identity and Influence Survey show that, among churchgoing Protestants, education is strongly and negatively correlated with supporting laws based on Christian doctrines. Highly educated Protestants are also less likely than high school educated Protestants to advocate Christians attempting to change society to reflect God's will, particularly because they feel they should not impose the Christian religion on society. With debates over issues such as same-sex marriage and the use of under God in the Pledge of Allegiance, Protestants'views of the proper relationship between Christianity and politics will help shape future policy decisions; and highly educated Protestants' views will be increasingly important as college education becomes the norm in the Protestant community. The results provide insights into the religious privatization of highly educated churchgoing Protestants in the United States as well as supporting the notion that with increased education comes at least partial support for one aspect of secularization-desacralization, or the separation of religion from other primary institutions, especially the state.

The Vietnam Era Antiwar Movement

America's military escalation in Vietnam during 1965 generated a rapid and organized public opposition. As the war dragged on, this dissent grew dramatically, becoming one of the largest social movements in the nation's history. Ultimately as part of a larger period of unrest, antiwar forces contributed to a general questioning of America's direction and values (1). The Vietnam Era antiwar movement emerged from existing peace and social justice organiza tions involved in civil rights or antinuclear activi ties. Mass demonstrations typically organized by broad coalitions of national and local groups attracted the greatest publicity, but most antiwar efforts took place at the local level. Political liberals represented the movement's largest con stituency, initially through groups like the Ameri can Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE), and Women Strike for Peace (WSP). Their mo tives for opposing the war varied, but liberals were generally proud of America's record in advancing human rights and retained cold war suspicions of the Soviet Union. They believed, however, that Vietnam diverted resources from more important foreign interests and objected to supporting Saigon's authoritarian regimes. They used education, electoral politics, and peace ful protest in calling for a negotiated settlement in Vietnam rather than continued fighting (2). Pacifists, divided into moderate and radical camps, frequently questioned America's cold war policy. Their international perspective as signed equal blame to the U.S. and the Soviet Union for global instability. Pacifists often over lapped with liberals in their views and member ships, but organizations like the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Committee for Nonvio

The China Democracy Party and the Politics of Protest in the 1980s–1990s

Does the appearance of the China Democracy Party signal a new level and type of political activism in China? This article explores the answer, through interviews with party members, primary documents and secondary sources. It finds that despite a number of continuities with protest actions of the 1980s – including an emphasis on legal, non-violent protest methods and a tendency toward intra-movement factionalism – the CDP displays some novel characteristics. The age, education, occupational status and prior protest experience of top CDP leaders suggest increased interaction among previously distinct social groups and decreased intellectual dependence on the state. Further, the communication methods of the CDP demonstrate the impact of newly available technologies such as the internet and e-mail. Will this new party ultimately succeed? Some point to Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party as a model, yet important differences outweigh the similarities. Nevertheless, although China's ruling elites have succeeded in stifling overt CDP actions and display little interest in greater political reform, in the long run, the new features of political dissent exhibited by the CDP may foreshadow more potent challenges to single-party rule.

Police violence flares up at Russian education protest

moscow Police in President Boris Yeltsin's home town of Ekaterinburg last week attacked local university students protesting against proposed educational reforms.

Student Magna Carta Results in Philippine Private Higher Education Protest

International Higher Education (IHE) publishes insightful, informed, and high-quality commentary and analysis on trends and issues of importance to higher education systems, institutions, and stakeholders around the world.

CATHOLIC BAPTISMAL REGISTERS IN THE CITY OF ABERDEEN, 1782-1876

Parish registers are familiar to every clergyman, yet they do not seem to have been much used by clerical historians. Much of what they contain is of course routine, but the record of a community's baptisms, marriages, and deaths can reveal interesting aspects of its social history. This is particularly so in the case of Scotland's Catholic community, both during and after the period of penal laws which made their rites of passage more or less illegal. The oldest surviving records from Aberdeen begin in 1782, at a time when the Catholics of Scotland had scarcely begun to come out into the open. The full rigour of law still stood against them in the harsh years after Culloden, and although the British government was inclined towards toleration, public opinion in Scotland was still divided. The easing of England's anti-Catholic legislation in 1778 (and the possibility of this being extended to Scotland) led to riots and the burning of Papist chapels in Edinburgh and Glasgow. It was shortly after he had seen to the restoration of one of the capital's two Mass centres that Bishop George Hay came north to take up residence in Aberdeen. His arrival in 1782 probably encouraged the keeping of regular records. Bishop Hay had troubles among his own people too. He had recently been forced to dismiss the distinguished but disrespectful Dr Alexander Geddes from his charge in the Enzie district of Banffshire, apparently for a too easy familiarity with Protestant gentry and clergymen. Deep in the territory of the Gordon family, this was the area which had proved the heartland of Scottish Catholicism during many years of persecution. The bishop was staunchly conservative and even puritanical, at a time when moderate ideas were gaining ground and many educated Protestants interpreted their Christianity in broad Deist terms. His distaste for any kind of liturgical display (and especially for church music) derived partly from a desire to keep Catholicism hidden from the hostile mob and partly from the religious tradition itself: 'Until this time there had been no glamour or romance about Catholic worship in Scotland to attract Protestants, for this was the last thing anybody wanted to do. First Communion was often postponed for years because of fear of irreverence and lack of true understanding of the august nature of the Sacrament. The laity

Nietzsche's Idea of Luther in Menschliches, Allzumenschliches

Until 1876 Nietzsche paid Luther very high compliments. The works and letters of his first creative period abound with praise for the German reformer. The youthful Nietzsche, professor of Greek and philosopher of culture, more than once expressed his intellectual indebtedness to the spirit of Wittenberg. In those early years he felt himself the heir of the Lutheran Reformation and the inveterate foe of Roman Catholicism. Though anything but an orthodox Protestant, he was nevertheless firmly convinced of the intellectual and moral superiority of Protestantism to the Church of Rome. As late as 1876 he looked upon Protestantism as a source of light and freedom and upon Roman Catholicism as the embodiment of darkness and intellectual bondage. However, all his complimentary utterances on Luther and the Reformation are scarcely based on an intimate knowledge of the man and the movement he inspired. They rather express little more than the idea of Luther held by most educated Protestants of that day. What he said reflects the general, favorable attitude characteristic of Protestant Germany: Luther the great hero of the Reformation, the first representative of modern culture, without whom the world in which we live would be quite unthinkable. In other words, Nietzsche identified himself as late as Richard Wagner in Bayreuth (1876) with the then prevalent Protestant opinion of the Reformation: “Halten wir an dem … Geiste fest, der sich in der deutschen Reformation … offenbart hat …” (IV, 54).