The relevance of past rural resistance in contemporary South Africa: The Case of the Mpondo Revolts

The Faculty of Humanities invites you to attend the following seminar:

The relevance of past rural resistance in contemporary South Africa: The
Case of the Mpondo Revolts

Presented by: Prof Thembela Kepe, Geography Department, University of
Toronto

Abstract

Much has been written about popular resistance of the marginalized people of
South Africa, as well as its violent repression by the state in urban areas.
Very little attention has been paid to resistance by rural poor.
Additionally, current political discourses about the poor are selective in
acknowledging rural areas in general. In this seminar lessons are drawn from
a reflection on the Mpondo Revolts, to highlight the relevance of past rural
resistance in understanding continuing marginalization of, and responses by,
rural people.

Thembela Kepe is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of
Toronto. He is currently a visiting professor in the Department of
Geography, Rhodes University. Originally from Grahamstown, he has done most
of his research in rural Eastern Cape and has published widely in the areas
of land rights, rural resistance, politics of land use planning,
people-environment interactions, among others. He is co-editor of Land,
Memory, Reconstruction and Justice: Perspectives on Land Claims in South
Africa (Ohio University Press and UKZN Press, 2010) and Rural resistance in
South Africa: The Mpondo Revolts after Fifty Years (Brill and UCT Press,
2012).

 
Date: Tuesday 28th May 2013
Time: 5pm
Venue: Faculty of Humanities Seminar Room