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Student movement, activism and collective identity – A textual analysis of #RhodesMustFall (RMF) student movement in South Africa

Fifa, Gjyljeta LU (2018) SIMV29 20181
Department of Political Science
Graduate School
Master of Science in Development Studies
Abstract
In 2015, Chumani Maxwele radical and controversial act of throwing human waste at the post-colonial statue of Cecil John Rhodes at University of Cape Town (UCT) came to give birth to a social media inspired student movement of #RhodesMustFall (RMF). The hashtag #RMF came to fuel protest towards the removal of the Rhodes statue at UCT due to its symbolic representation of white supremacy. The protests at UCT gave rise to a wave of student movements across universities in South Africa and contributed to the rise of the nation wide student movement of #FeesMustFall (FMF). In this research, I demonstrate how collective identity was important in the mobilization of RMF and how identity driven politics communicated on social media enabled the... (More)
In 2015, Chumani Maxwele radical and controversial act of throwing human waste at the post-colonial statue of Cecil John Rhodes at University of Cape Town (UCT) came to give birth to a social media inspired student movement of #RhodesMustFall (RMF). The hashtag #RMF came to fuel protest towards the removal of the Rhodes statue at UCT due to its symbolic representation of white supremacy. The protests at UCT gave rise to a wave of student movements across universities in South Africa and contributed to the rise of the nation wide student movement of #FeesMustFall (FMF). In this research, I demonstrate how collective identity was important in the mobilization of RMF and how identity driven politics communicated on social media enabled the development of a collective consciousness’s, which was sustained by the use of the social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Fifa, Gjyljeta LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMV29 20181
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Student movements, Collective Identity, #RhodesMustFall (RMR), Social Media, Development, South Africa
language
English
id
8956110
date added to LUP
2018-09-07 12:45:38
date last changed
2018-09-07 12:45:38
@misc{8956110,
  abstract     = {{In 2015, Chumani Maxwele radical and controversial act of throwing human waste at the post-colonial statue of Cecil John Rhodes at University of Cape Town (UCT) came to give birth to a social media inspired student movement of #RhodesMustFall (RMF). The hashtag #RMF came to fuel protest towards the removal of the Rhodes statue at UCT due to its symbolic representation of white supremacy. The protests at UCT gave rise to a wave of student movements across universities in South Africa and contributed to the rise of the nation wide student movement of #FeesMustFall (FMF). In this research, I demonstrate how collective identity was important in the mobilization of RMF and how identity driven politics communicated on social media enabled the development of a collective consciousness’s, which was sustained by the use of the social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.}},
  author       = {{Fifa, Gjyljeta}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Student movement, activism and collective identity – A textual analysis of #RhodesMustFall (RMF) student movement in South Africa}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}