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Learning through experience : an analysis of student leaders' reflections on the 1985-6 revolt in Western Cape schools

Bibliography: pages 304-324.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Weber, Keith Everard
Other Authors: Gilmour, David
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: School of Education 2015
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access_status_str Open Access
author Weber, Keith Everard
author2 Gilmour, David
author_browse Gilmour, David
Weber, Keith Everard
author_facet Gilmour, David
Weber, Keith Everard
author_sort Weber, Keith Everard
collection Thesis
description Bibliography: pages 304-324.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/15998
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:49:06.963Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2015
publishDateRange 2015
publishDateSort 2015
publisher School of Education
publisherStr School of Education
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/15998 Learning through experience : an analysis of student leaders' reflections on the 1985-6 revolt in Western Cape schools Weber, Keith Everard Gilmour, David Soudien, Crain Students - South Africa - Political activity Government, Resistance to Bibliography: pages 304-324. This thesis explores the inter-relationship between theory and practice in a number of ways. I shall mainly be concerned with analysing the effects of participation in the 1985-6 Western Cape struggles upon the political consciousness of former student leaders. A representative, random sample of the 1985 Student Representative Council members of a certain high school in Cape Town was taken and respondents were then interviewed individually during the last quarter of 1990. The subject of the thesis is closely tied to the particular method used to investigate it. I shall argue and present reasons why the ethnographic interviewing commonly used in cultural anthropology is theoretically appropriate as means to collect empirical material for use in the analysis of the topic. Arising from the methodology, a secondary focus of this study concerns the interaction between the biases (or "theory") which social scientists bring to their research and the actual, raw data collected. This variation of the theory-practice nexus is not examined in detail, only when it is directly relevant to the main analysis. How was all of the foregoing arrived at? I shall show that the interplay between action and thought was central to the events which occurred during the 1985-6 rebellion. It is this fact which justifies the study of the above topic and which led to conceptualizing of the research as outlined. In addition, this same feature of the uprising can be used to examine the political consciousness of the ex-students. In other words, their present-day perceptions in regard to past experiences in mass struggle can be analysed in terms of the boycott seen as action (practice) and the boycott seen as symbolising ideas (thought). The main conclusion reached is that there is both a unity and a disjunction of theory and practice in the political outlook of respondents. On the one hand, interviewees understand and evaluated those events in which they directly participated. This was done in contradictory ways and showed a general move away from militancy towards conservatism. On the other hand, the great majority of respondents are still struggling to make sense of the wider social issues produced during the uprising. These aspects of respondent thinking are viewed in relation to one another and I try to give explanations for them. Finally, I suggest what the contemporary significance of the above conclusions for the struggle for socialism could be. 2015-12-28T06:09:42Z 2015-12-28T06:09:42Z 1992 Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15998 eng application/pdf School of Education Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Students - South Africa - Political activity
Government, Resistance to
Weber, Keith Everard
Learning through experience : an analysis of student leaders' reflections on the 1985-6 revolt in Western Cape schools
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Learning through experience : an analysis of student leaders' reflections on the 1985-6 revolt in Western Cape schools
title_full Learning through experience : an analysis of student leaders' reflections on the 1985-6 revolt in Western Cape schools
title_fullStr Learning through experience : an analysis of student leaders' reflections on the 1985-6 revolt in Western Cape schools
title_full_unstemmed Learning through experience : an analysis of student leaders' reflections on the 1985-6 revolt in Western Cape schools
title_short Learning through experience : an analysis of student leaders' reflections on the 1985-6 revolt in Western Cape schools
title_sort learning through experience an analysis of student leaders reflections on the 1985 6 revolt in western cape schools
topic Students - South Africa - Political activity
Government, Resistance to
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15998
work_keys_str_mv AT weberkeitheverard learningthroughexperienceananalysisofstudentleadersreflectionsonthe19856revoltinwesterncapeschools