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Films by Shannon Walsh

A very human tech doc, THE GIG IS UP uncovers the real costs of the platform economy through the ... more A very human tech doc, THE GIG IS UP uncovers the real costs of the platform economy through the lives of people working for companies around the world, including Uber, Amazon and Deliveroo.

From delivering food and driving ride shares to tagging images for AI, millions of people around the world are finding work task by task online. The gig economy is worth over 5 trillion USD globally, and growing. And yet the stories of the workers behind this tech revolution have gone largely neglected.

Who are the people in this shadow workforce? THE GIG IS UP brings their stories into the light.

Lured by the promise of flexible work hours, independence, and control over time and money, workers from around the world have found a very different reality. Work conditions are often dangerous, pay often changes without notice, and workers can effectively be fired through deactivation or a bad rating.

Through an engaging global cast of characters, THE GIG IS UP reveals how the magic of technology we are being sold might not be magic at all.

Who stands up when everything falls apart? A riveting meditation on resilience in the face of di... more Who stands up when everything falls apart?

A riveting meditation on resilience in the face of disaster, Illusions of Control unfolds in landscapes irrevocably shaped by human attempts to dominate them.

Five women confront unbearable crises: Silvia searches for her missing daughter in the deserts of northern Mexico; Yang attempts to hold back the expanding desert in China; Kaori mobilizes mothers as citizen-scientist to monitor radiation in Fukushima, Japan; Stacey builds on Indigenous knowledge to confront toxic legacies in Yellowknife; and, Lauren stands at the crossroads of a serious health diagnosis in Chicago. Each story reveals surprising ways to live on, and reimagine life in the ruins.

Featuring Lauren Berlant, Silvia Ortiz, Kaori Suzuki, Stacey Sundberg, Xue Lan Yang
Produced by What Escapes Production & Last Songbird Productions

Shot over the course of a single day and along the length and breadth of Jeppe, we meet five char... more Shot over the course of a single day and along the length and breadth of Jeppe, we meet five charming characters.

Familial love is behind Congolese restaurateur Arouna's success, nostalgia binds Ravi to his dusty framing shop that has been in his family for over three decades, ambition drives JJ's property development, tradition is at the heart of acapella singer Robert's all male Zulu choir, and everyday philosophy gives urban recycler Vusi his momentum.

In one day these characters reveal the city’s textures and breathe life into the decayed inner city neighbourhood.
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DIRECTED & WRITTEN BY SHANNON WALSH & ARYA LALLOO
WITH KITSO LYNN LELLIOTT, LUCILLA BLANKENBERG, MUJAHID SAFODIEN, NATALIE HAARHOFF, RYLEY GRUNENWALD, XOLISWA SITHOLE
EDITOR: VUYANI SONDLO
PRODUCERS: SARAH SPRING, ELIAS RIBEIRO, SHANNON WALSH
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: SELIN MURAT
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL KELL

Glide along the boulevards of St-Henri with the charming perpetual motion machines that are this ... more Glide along the boulevards of St-Henri with the charming perpetual motion machines that are this district’s diverse denizens, from the taciturn milkman to resourceful Doris the gleaner to a group of Mohawk hipsters.
This kaleidoscopic romp through a semi-industrial neighborhood pays homage to Hubert Aquin’s 1962 film of the same name by seamlessly drawing together the work of sixteen cinematographers to capture everyday life in a vibrant working-class community on a single summer day. A thoughtful spatial metaphor in which people—the city’s vital force—flow through St-Henri’s streets, steam tunnels, train tracks, and magnificent central canal like blood throbbing through veins. In St-Henri, people are definitely on the move, not to escape from home, but rather, to revel in it. With an original score by Polaris Prize-winning musician Patrick Watson, this dawn-‘til-dusk collage provides a rare opportunity to see a community transform in front of one’s eyes.

Inspired by the 1962 ONF film “À St-Henri le 5 septembre”, this unique collaborative film brings together some of the brightest talents in the contemporary Montreal documentary community to capture this story.

In Canada’s richest province, the war for water has already begun. It goes without saying that w... more In Canada’s richest province, the war for water has already begun.

It goes without saying that water – its depletion, exploitation, privatization and contamination – has become the most important issue to face humanity in this century. Water security will soon define the boundaries between people and countries. The war for oil is well underway across the globe. However, a struggle is increasingly being fought between water and oil not only over them.

Alberta’s oil sands are at the tension center. The province is rushing towards large-scale oil extraction, which will have far reaching impacts on water, health, animals and the environment in the region. H2Oil weaves together a collection of disparate but intersecting characters as they respond, engage, defend and seek solutions to the wavering balance between the urgent need to protect and preserve fresh water resources and the mad clamoring to fill the demand for oil globally.

Books by Shannon Walsh

The early 2000s were still a time of optimism and exuberance in newly democratic South Africa. Tr... more The early 2000s were still a time of optimism and exuberance in newly democratic South Africa. Transformations were afoot, and there was a courageous desire for change, even with the stark realities of HIV and AIDS-related illnesses looming. At the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000, Nkosi Johnson, aged 11, took the stage to give an impassioned speech emphasizing the importance of young people in responding to the AIDS pandemic. His call heralded an explosion of youth-focused initiatives, including the project that started this book. In My life follows the paths of a group of racially diverse young AIDS activists from Khayelitsha and Atlantis, first brought together as part of an educational HIV-prevention programme in Cape Town in 2002.

Over the next twenty years, we follow their inspiring and harrowing journeys, as they move from hopeful and passionate teen activists, through the tragedies and triumphs of transitioning to adulthood. With candour, they tell stories of hardships and loss, mental health issues, grief and violence, but also of personal transformations, love, friendship, artistic achievements, community connection and thrilling social justice wins. Connected to each other, and to their communities, their stories provide a glimpse into the long tale of activism and of educational work, forever asking the question: what difference does it make.

As the early post-apartheid enthusiasm and activism transformed and changed, stories have been a place where one could find solace and refuge, or find ways to be connected again. The stories in In My Life reflect the shifting times and context in South Africa, the transformation of the country and the complicated life stories of everyday life in the cracks of those who are artists, writers, creators, activists, researchers, teachers and many other things in between and beyond.

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In My Life tells the story of two decades of talking and walking in which boundaries blur and friendships are forged. It is a stunning exposition of ethnography-of-(e)motion as the South African transition dead-ends at the top and ignites from below.
-Ashwin Desai, author of We are the Poors: Community Struggles in Post-Apartheid South Africa and Inside Indian Indenture
*****
This pathbreaking ethnography convincingly demonstrates that any genuine attempt at bridging the divide between research, activism and social justice must be based on intimate relationships, expressions of love and the capacity for empathy.
-Luke Sinwell, author of The Spirit of Marikana: The Rise of Insurgent Trade Unionism in South Africa

*****
The twelve powerful narratives come at a time when we as a country need a strong reminder of the importance of active citizenry and the much-needed social disruption driven by young people. The stories draw attention to the high levels of violence we live under in South Africa, the journey of activism from adolescenthood to young adults, the turning points for becoming a role model and social justice activist, the real-life issues we all grapple with from body shaming, drugs, mental health, to stigma, surpassed by admirable strength, resilience and leadership. This book belongs on the shelves of the history of our modern times and a must-read for those working in the fields of youth advocacy, global health and HIV.
-Dr Shakira Choonara, 2017 Women of the Year in Health South Africa, Technical Specialist at the World Health Organization, UN Women Thematic Lead and former member of the African Union Youth Council

*****
This is a book of striking life stories by youth AIDS activists in South Africa, crafted over the course of two decades, an entire generation. The collection’s 12 narratives by young people of their lives from their teens to their thirties turn into evocative and reflective accounts of the unfolding of a self. In these, In My Life shares something delicate and important: how to create a way of knowing one another deeply in our country of distances and invisibility. Their stories of ordinary nearness, of friendship, risk, trust, hurt and trying again convey the vital possibilities of everyday realities in South Africa. Together these give the collection an almost breathtaking force. Through it, we are invited to wonder what it means to be near one another, in a multitude of ways. In My Life's hard-won, jagged intimacies and depth of relation come from 20 years of practicing a radical, difficult, continual becoming and togetherness.
-Gabeba Baderoon, author of Regarding Muslims: From Slavery to Post-Apartheid, and The History of Intimacy

*****
In a period where research, activism and resources on and for HIV & AIDS have dwindled, the book, In My Life: Stories from young activists in South Africa 2002–2022 is not only timely, but also reminds us of our collective unfinished business of getting to zero HIV infections. Importantly, amidst calls for the voices of young people to be at the centre of research and programming, In My Life showcases both the longitudinal, youth-focused participatory methodology that enabled the young people’s creative practices over two decades, and unearthed their engaging, thoughtful and generative stories of how they see themselves, and how they have located themselves in the context of AIDS activism in South Africa.
-Relebohile Moletsane, Professor and JL Dube Chair in Rural Education University of KwaZulu-Natal

Ties that Bind is an intriguing and long overdue book about race and friendship. It marks a time ... more Ties that Bind is an intriguing and long overdue book about race and friendship. It marks a time worldwide when virtual friendships are fast becoming the norm. And yet, after reading the chapters, one is left with a clearer sense of what it takes – or might take in the future – to actually be friends across race.
Sarah Nuttall is author of Entanglement: Literary and Cultural Reflections on Post-apartheid

What does friendship have to do with racial difference, settler colonialism and post-apartheid South Africa? While histories of apartheid and colonialism in South Africa have often focused on the ideologies of segregation and white supremacy, Ties that Bind explores how the intimacies of friendship create vital spaces for practices of power and resistance. Combining interviews, history, poetry, visual arts, memoir and academic essay, the collection keeps alive the promise of friendship and its possibilities while investigating how affective relations are essential to the social reproduction of power. From the intimacy of personal relationships to the organising ideology of liberal colonial governance, the contributors explore the intersection of race and friendship from a kaleidoscope of viewpoints and scales. Insisting on a timeline that originates in settler colonialism, Ties that Bind uncovers the implication of anti-Blackness within nonracialism, and powerfully challenges a simple reading of the Mandela moment and the rainbow nation. In the wake of countrywide student protests calling for decolonization of the university, and reignited debates around racial inequality, this timely volume insists that the history of South African politics has always already been about friendship.

Written in an accessible and engaging style, Ties that Bind will interest a wide audience of scholars, students, and activists, as well as general readers curious about contemporary South African debates around race and intimacy.

http://witspress.co.za/catalogue/ties-that-bind/

Papers by Shannon Walsh

Review of African Political Economy, Jan 1, 2008

This article deconstructs the problematic way the 'Poor' are represented by the intellectual 'Lef... more This article deconstructs the problematic way the 'Poor' are represented by the intellectual 'Left' as a fixed, virtuous subject. Even while this fixed identity is actively mobilised by people themselves to gain symbolic and real power, I argue that the philosopher's fixation on the singular subjectivity of the oppressed confines the 'Poor' to their very subjugation. Instead, I propose a more nuanced understanding of how agency and oppression occur within the uncomfortable collaborations that are forged between various actors.

South African Journal of Education, 2012

Educational research using visual methods has the power to transform the society in which we live... more Educational research using visual methods has the power to transform the society in which we live and the communities in which we work. We must not naïvely imagine that having the desire to make change in people's lives will mean that it will happen, as sometimes there may be surprising, unintended negative repercussions as well. Other constraints, such as structural violence and institutional racism, can also intersect with the possibility of making tangible change through educational research using visual methods. Qualitative assessment with a longitudinal approach is one approach that can reveal both the impact, and the limitations, of educational research on social change. I discuss these issues through grounded examples from an HIV educational project that used visual methodologies with a group of youths in Cape Town, South Africa over a number of years. Almost ten years later we interviewed three of the former participants about what impact the work has had on their lives. Each has travelled a different journey and been faced with different constraints that have implications for the effectiveness of such work. Where are they now, and as adults, what do they have to say about the visual methodologies, memory, and social change?

In this article I argue that participatory video must acknowledge its often technocratic, liberal... more In this article I argue that participatory video must acknowledge its often technocratic, liberal presumptions, and take a more critical look at the political underpinnings of 'empowerment' and 'voice'. I am interested in how we can use participatory video while resisting the romance of community, seeing beyond short-term individualist approaches towards a longer-term collective project of social justice. A reflexive approach to how power and agency work within participatory video is essential if the method is going to effect change and not merely manage social conflict. While the participatory video process can be discussed from many perspectives, I focus here on a critique of the often-hidden politics of participatory video, its relation to academic research and in turn, to project participants within a progressive social change agenda.

In September 2014, students and Hong Kong citizens took to the streets demanding universal suffra... more In September 2014, students and Hong Kong citizens took to the streets demanding universal suffrage. Cell phones and video cameras in hand, amateur student filmmakers were some of the first to capture the police tear-gassing young people that brought the city to its feet. Young people were positioning themselves as storytellers and knowledge producers on the streets. How has this restructured hierarchy of knowledge production often found in university education in Hong Kong? How too has being active participants and/or passive observers of the events of the Umbrella Movement translated into a pedagogy of experience in student’s daily lives, and how has this knowledge returned to the classroom? Specifically, I am interested in ways that young women who are not Cantonese first-language speakers understand their role in the movement and the kinds of knowledge they produced. Through interviews with these diverse students, and visual data from the footage they shot during the protests, we gain a rare glimpse into the multicultural world gathered beneath the umbrella of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, and how a new generation of young female filmmakers are using video to share their changing perspectives on democratic reform, education, and everyday life.

Agenda: Empowering women for gender equity, 2015

While girl-led projects that address sexual violence can empower girls to seek consent and to und... more While girl-led projects that address sexual violence can empower girls to seek consent and to understand their right to safety, this alone cannot deal with the reality of everyday violence. While girls are told to empower themselves and to voice their concerns, the surrounding cultural environment often reinforces silence, dismissal and retribution towards women who speak out. Men and boys need to be part of the solution. This briefing investigates the potentials of pro-feminist approaches to gender-based violence (GBV) targeting boys and men. Using examples from South Africa and North America, I look at various approaches and initiatives taken by and with men and boys, often with a desire to centre more radical analysis of patriarchy within the work itself. The briefing unpacks some of the dilemmas and potentials that have been raised by working with men and boys as allies around sexual violence, and ways to distinguish pro-feminist projects.

Learning from the Ground Up, 2010

In May 2008, South Africa was racked with the worst xenophobic violence since the end of aparthei... more In May 2008, South Africa was racked with the worst xenophobic violence since the end of apartheid. In the space of a few weeks, more than sixty people—overwhelmingly migrants from other African countries—were viciously attacked and killed by bands of vigilantes. Tens of thousands of people were displaced, many seeking protection outside local police stations, community and church halls, and temporary, precarious camps constructed throughout the country.

CITY: Analysis of urban trends, theory, policy, action, Jun 25, 2013

To cite this article: Shannon Walsh (2013): 'We won't move': The suburbs take back the center in ... more To cite this article: Shannon Walsh (2013): 'We won't move': The suburbs take back the center in urban Johannesburg, City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action, 17:3, 400-408

Sex Education, Jan 1, 2004

We are concerned with the ways in which social constructions of age can contribute to reducing or... more We are concerned with the ways in which social constructions of age can contribute to reducing or exacerbating the vulnerability of young people, and for this reason we refer to the issue as one of 'the politics of innocence'. The focus of this paper is on gender, youth and HIV prevention/AIDS awareness in the context of South Africa and investigates the uses (and abuses) of images of 'childhood', 'youth' and 'adolescence' in the age of AIDS. Notwithstanding the particular case of South Africa where the incidence of new cases of HIV infection amongst young people is at crisis proportions, the impetus for our work on the visual representations of youth, gender and AIDS comes out of a recognition of the increasing risk of youth to sexually transmitted infections, HIV and AIDS, and within that the particular vulnerability, worldwide, of young women.

HIV infection is a fast growing phenomenon amongst young people worldwide. In South Africa infect... more HIV infection is a fast growing phenomenon amongst young people worldwide. In South Africa infection rates amongst youth are particularly high, and the need to find strategies to engage young people in issues around healthy sexuality are imperative. This research uses visual and ethnographic approaches as a method for engaged research that supports community led peer education; with young people building on their own lived experience as part of the process. Borrowing from ideas of engaged pedagogy by bell hooks, Henry A. Giroux, and Paulo Friere and "thick and deep" data collection as explored by Clifford Geertz, Joseph Tobin and Claudia Mitchell, The Ground Beneath Me attempts to understand how to engage youth in creative strategies towards social change and more concentrated peer education around HIV/AIDS. This research is also influenced by understandings of AIDS in a global context through theorists such as Cindy Patton, Catherine Campbell, Paul Treichler and Paul Farm...

Who are the people in this shadow workforce? THE GIG IS UP brings their stories into the light.

Through an engaging global cast of characters, THE GIG IS UP reveals how the magic of technology we are being sold might not be magic at all.

Who stands up when everything falls apart? A riveting meditation on resilience in the face of di... more Who stands up when everything falls apart?

A riveting meditation on resilience in the face of disaster, Illusions of Control unfolds in landscapes irrevocably shaped by human attempts to dominate them.

Featuring Lauren Berlant, Silvia Ortiz, Kaori Suzuki, Stacey Sundberg, Xue Lan Yang
Produced by What Escapes Production & Last Songbird Productions

In one day these characters reveal the city’s textures and breathe life into the decayed inner city neighbourhood.
****

In Canada’s richest province, the war for water has already begun. It goes without saying that w... more In Canada’s richest province, the war for water has already begun.

****

http://witspress.co.za/catalogue/ties-that-bind/

Review of African Political Economy, Jan 1, 2008

South African Journal of Education, 2012

Agenda: Empowering women for gender equity, 2015

Learning from the Ground Up, 2010

CITY: Analysis of urban trends, theory, policy, action, Jun 25, 2013

Sex Education, Jan 1, 2004

Oriental Anthropologist, 12(2), 2012, 2012

Chatsworth about the post-apartheid era are profound. Not only was this the first time Indians an... more Chatsworth about the post-apartheid era are profound. Not only was this the first time Indians and Africans had attempted to forge a settlement and eke out an existence together in this way, it also make strikingly clear that the widening gap of poverty in South Africa was effecting more and more people and Indians, who are often portrayed as successful traders, find themselves in this mix. Given the situation of South Africa, the lack of political will of the ruling elite, the continuing commodification and privatization of housing, soaring unemployment, and the necessity to live close to the city, and land invasions such as described in this paper, are bound to continue. Those who are forced to actively take whatever they can get, wherever they can get it, will increase, as too will the violence of the state's repression of these kinds of actions. More and more there will be people who try to build a decent life on their own, who have given up on government as the only force that can do that for them. The jury is out on whether these kinds of reclamations will grow into a larger political force across the country.

Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y ... more Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter en ligne.

South African Journal of Education, 2012

South African Journal of Education. Volume 32(4), 2012. , 2012

Putting People in the Picture

Gender & Development, 2006

'I'm too young to die': HIV, masculinity, ... This article draws on th... more 'I'm too young to die': HIV, masculinity, ... This article draws on the narratives of boys about their lives, and explores some key questions relating to gender ... At the same time, the process of creating successful prevention campaigns has been daunting and ineffective, causing young ...

This br~efing arises out of our current action-oriented work as educators, activists and research... more This br~efing arises out of our current action-oriented work as educators, activists and researchers addressing gender and HIV with youth in South Africa. Situated within this work are two fundamental concerns.The first is the need to explore ways in which youth themselves can be active ...

Ties that Bind: Race and the Politics of Friendship, Eds, Shannon Walsh & Jon Soske, 2017

Ties that Bind: Race and the Politics of Friendship, Eds, Shannon Walsh & Jon Soske

Memory, 2018

It is a cultural axiom that we must remember the past or be condemned to repeat it. But as experi... more It is a cultural axiom that we must remember the past or be condemned to repeat it. But as experience has shown us, at times there are things best left forgotten. The surety of vindication is reserved for the privileged. Most of us are not so lucky. To move on, to move forward, to keep going, to persevere – to do these things, forgetting (or at least not keeping something close in mind) has its uses. In a world of violence and trauma, forgetting is as elemental to human action and human life as is remembering. What if it is survivors who best know the benefits of forgetting and the dangers of collective remembering?

in M. Dawson and L. Sinwell (Eds) Contesting Transformation: Popular Resistance in Twenty-first Century South Africa , 2013

It has become difficult to deny that organised left resistance to capitalism in South Africa has ... more It has become difficult to deny that organised left resistance to capitalism in South Africa has significantly declined in the post-apartheid period. The wave of progressive social movements outside of the African National Congress (ANC)-led Alliance that many hung
their hopes on through the 1990s and 2000s and that seemed to contest enclosures, the encroachment of capital into everyday life and the commodification of everything have largely dissolved.1

This is not to say that the streets of South Africa are quiet. Hardly: people continue to revolt in one way or another across the country. Yet it is difficult to understand these skirmishes as being akin to the articulated challenges to the dominant order that have previously characterised South Africa. As I argue below, there is a biopolitics at work in which the streets on fire signal tactical negotiations for basic
services more than the arrival of politically coherent ‘movements’.

While the organized left continues to trumpet sites such as Balfour, Ficksburg, Thembilile and other ‘hot spots’ where people take to the streets in battles with police, the reality is far more complex – both in a reading of the potential of such ‘revolutionary subjectivities’ and in understanding this moment in the expansion of empire that manages both crisis and desire.2

The issue is a fundamental one. If we misunderstand what we are fighting against, how can we fight? If the goal is to positively change the world in which we live and to do so with those we feel an affinity, then at the very least we must understand the changing nature of our adversary. If we neglect the micro-scales of power within the post-apartheid moment and the effects that privatised, neoliberal state policies around basic services have had on resistance, we miss both the eruption of new dimensions to the political landscape and the reasons why old political configurations have been hollowed out.

The contradictions are rich, yet they are almost continually homogenized and reduced to an opposition to neoliberalism by the left.3 Something is missing in our analysis of the way that capitalism fundamentally organises and manages desire and crisis. These micro-politics point towards a more-complex reading of both capital and resistance.

Education, participatory action research, and social …, 2009

CHAPTER THIRTEEN Ethnography-in-Motion: Neoliberalism and the Shack Dwellers Movement in South Af... more CHAPTER THIRTEEN Ethnography-in-Motion: Neoliberalism and the Shack Dwellers Movement in South Africa Shannon Walsh This chapter unravels the role of ethnography as an aspect of political practice in the context of shack dweller struggles in postapartheid South Africa. ...

Education, Participatory Action Research, and Social Change, 2009

Political Activist Ethnography, Edited by I. Hussey and L. Basaillon

Politikon, 2015

The influence of academics on South African social movements should not be a surprise to anyone w... more The influence of academics on South African social movements should not be a surprise to anyone who has had any experience working with movements in that country. In 2008 I wrote about the role of academics in Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) and other South African social movements, calling the power dynamics at work ‘Uncomfortable Collaborations’ (Walsh 2008). The president of AbM for the majority of its existence, S’bu Zikode, said as much almost 10 years ago:

in C. Mitchell and J. Reid-Walsh (Eds.) Seven to Seventeen: Tween Studies in the Culture of Girlhood. London: Peter Lang., 2005

Gaze Regimes: Film and Feminisms in Africa. J. Mistry and A. Schuhmann (Eds) , 2015

E. Winton and S. Turnin (Eds) Screening Truth to Power: A reader on documentary activism. , 2015

in G. Lean, R. Staif, and E. Waterton (Eds) Travel and Transformation, 2013

in Aziz Choudry and Dip Kapoor (Eds) Learning from the Ground Up: Global Perspectives on Social Movements and Knowledge Production., 2010

In May 2008, South Africa was racked with the worst xenophobic violence since the end of aparthei... more In May 2008, South Africa was racked with the worst xenophobic violence since the end of apartheid. In a few weeks, over 60 people --overwhelmingly migrants from other African countries--were viciously attacked and killed by bands of vigilantes. Tens of thousands of people were displaced, many seeking protection outside local police stations, community and church halls and temporary, precarious camps constructed throughout the country.

Chatsworth: The making of a South African Township, Eds. Ashwin Desai & Goolam Vahed, 2013

in Milne, E-J, et al Handbook of Participatory Video. , 2012

in Kolya Abramsky, George Caffentzis, Sergio Oceransky, Ramon Fernandez Duran and Massimo De Angelis (Eds) Sparking a Worldwide Energy Revolution: Social Struggles in the Transition to a Post-Petrol World. , 2010

in D. Kapoor and S. Jordan (Eds) Education, Participatry Action Research, and Social Change: International Perspectives. , 2009

This chapter unravels the role of ethnography as an aspect of political practice in the context o... more This chapter unravels the role of ethnography as an aspect of political practice in the context of shack dweller struggles in post-apartheid South Africa. Using both macro and micro optics it is possible to examine globalization under late capitalism and its specific conditions and variations manifest in a South African shack settlement in Crossmoor, Chatsworth, with a discussion of how an ethnography-in-motion has been used as a pedagogical and political methodology. I follow Gillian Hart (2002) in hoping to "clarify the slippages, openings, and possibilities for emancipatory social change in this era of neo-liberal capitalisms, as well as the limits and constraints operating at different levels" (p. 45).