Democracy and Protest: Children, Parents, Storytelling Political History

• In Event: Globalizing Political Theory

Abstract

There is much to observe, explore, and analyze about the ways that elders and community members shape the conditions of possibility for political consciousness. In racial democracies global whiteness has shaped dynamic contests over history and knowledge production. This paper uses the political biography of South African feminist sociologist Fatima Meer (1928-2010) in conversation with the history of the anti-apartheid political activism of the Indian South African community and the newspaper founded by her parents to understand the origins of protest and the ways in which this community navigated racial identities, gender, empire, and colonialism. Further, cross-generational political activism helps us understand the commitments of lifelong social movement activists and the development of their political ideas and practices. I seek to make contributions to the existing scholarship on: childhood studies; student and youth led politics; Black girl studies; and abolitionist education and pedagogy.

Author

• Tiffany J. Willoughby-Herard, University of California-Irvine