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SUMMARY:Youth and generational conflict in South African historiography - 
 Prof Clive Glaser\, University of the Witwatersrand
DTSTART:20171030T170000Z
DTEND:20171030T180000Z
UID:TALK93673@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Victoria Jones
DESCRIPTION:In recent years ‘the youth’ - whether through mounting con
 cerns over mass unemployment\, elaborate 40th anniversary commemorations o
 f the June 1976 uprising\, the rise of the Economic Freedom Fighters or th
 e 2015-2016 university rebellions - have captured (or perhaps recaptured) 
 public attention in South Africa. Nevertheless\, local political commentat
 ors and the media have given little thought into the meaning of youth or i
 ts significance historically. It is therefore an appropriate moment to ref
 lect on the substantial South African historiography on youth and generati
 onal conflict in an attempt to understand our current conjuncture more eff
 ectively. I will make two key points in this paper. First\, far from being
  a recent development\, generational tension has been a continuous feature
  of Southern African history since at least the late nineteenth century. S
 econd\, organised political mobilisation is not the way this tension usual
 ly manifests itself. Mass youth politics is a specific phenomenon\, which 
 needs to be explained historically rather than assumed. I will focus on th
 ree historical examples to illustrate this: early migrant labour in South 
 Africa\, the formation of urban youth gangs\, and the sustained youth upri
 sing from 1976 until the early 1990s. I will conclude with a tentative att
 empt to draw some parallels between that phase of rebellion and recent stu
 dent upheavals.
LOCATION:Seminar Room S1 Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge
  CB3 9DT
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