This study is at the forefront of this debate with the aim of arguing that social movement struggles are useful for understanding learning and theorizing within social movements themselves. It draws on existing theories of learning, particularly Communities of Practice theory, to argue that social movements theorize.
Introduction
This thesis attempts to understand how knowledge is produced within Abahlali, and the relationships between action, knowledge produced and the theory of Ubuhlalism.
Rationale
Therefore, in this thesis I argue three points, namely: (a) Abahlali learns, and this corresponds to a critical view of people as producers and not just as consumers of knowledge; (b) Abahlali theory; and (c) this research is necessary to study how learning takes place in Abahlali and what is responsible for it. My interest in this dissertation is to argue that Abahlali's struggle is important to look at when examining learning in social movements.
Background
The current state of shack settlements in Durban
As a result, demand for housing grew rapidly and the city admitted that it could not deal with the backlog (Kockott, 2007). Zikode is the founder of the Abahlali base Mjondolo movement and a former resident of the Kennedy Road settlement.
Abahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali continued to appeal to the city to fulfill its end of the bargain, but this never happened (Own experience). However, it is not entirely clear what led to the cessation of talks between Kennedy Road leaders and Ethekwini Municipality.
Research questions
In May 2014, there were significant shifts in the movement, which are beyond the scope of this research and will therefore not be discussed here. I hope that this research can shed light on critical issues in understanding learning theories within social movements.
Thesis outline
In the context of current social movements, especially Abahlali, the real issue is to understand the form of learning and theory-making that occurs in their struggle, and to understand the relationship of that learning to the growing interest in social movement studies.
Introduction
Social movement theories informing literature
Marxist theory
Theorists in this field argue that the theory of Marxism emerged as a distillation from the beginning. Marxist theory begins with the assumption that the main problem facing people's movements in the present era is the capitalist system.
New Social Movement theory
Resource Mobilization theory
It emphasizes the importance of external contributions and the co-option of institutional resources by contemporary social movements. The above discussion shows that social movements are explained differently depending on the theoretical perspective.
Literature on specific social movements with similarities to Abahlali
Movemento Trabaldos Sem Terra (MST)
The MST is a Brazilian mass social movement, formed by agricultural workers and by all those who want to fight for land reform and against injustice and social inequality in rural areas. This followed a long struggle to organize and mobilize farm workers and peasants to fight for agrarian reform and social justice.
The Zapatistas
The issue of inclusion and recognition of the indigenous people as people was and still is a priority focus for the Zapatistas. International meetings where the Zapatistas periodically invite allies from the rest of the world to meet.
Literature on Abahlali baseMjondolo
Early academic work and reactions to these
One of the key points of difference is the presentation of Abahlali's struggle as a unique and radical political one. This critical examination of the account of Abahlali's struggle is also taken up by Sinwell (2010) in his article Social Movement Defensive Battles: The Need to Engage with Politics.
Current academic work
Perhaps skepticism towards and hostility towards the intellectual work that has arisen as a result of Abahlali's struggle can be addressed by reviewing the issue of proximity. Arguably, the principle of staying close to the suffering and being in Abahlali space is what makes theorizing about Abahlali's struggle an important task.
Learning in social movements
I now turn to Harley (2012a) who undertook research on how social movements struggle with learning. It is clear that many of the theorists discussed above agree that learning in social movements is best led by members of social movements themselves.
Introduction
Experiential Learning theory
Relevance for social movement learning
It is not surprising that experiential learning theory has been used by scholars in studies of social movement learning (eg Govender, 2012). In her thesis, she discusses the value of Experiential Learning theory as it views individuals as actively constructing their own knowledge.
Why it is not useful enough for this research
She also argues that experiential learning theories have been an important source for those writing about learning in informal educational contexts, especially those promoting social transformation. Cooper (2005) draws on several theorists (Usher and Edwards, 1995; Usher and Solomon, 1999) to argue that experiential learning theories have been criticized for failing to recognize the power relations central to pedagogy .
Transformative Learning theory
Relevance for social movement learning
In contrast to experiential learning, transformative learning provides a space to assess the relationship between power and knowledge production. Individuals can work together as a group to create awareness among others, resulting in dominant knowledge systems being challenged and new knowledge being created.
Why it is not useful enough for this research
Communities of Practice
Further developments in Communities of Practice theory
In this work they used Communities of Practice theory to support the view that. For example, communities of practice in the early period exist independently of the formalized world of.
Critiques of Communities of Practice theory
In the middle term, Kimble (2006) states that communities of practice are seen as a means of solving problems and creating meaning within an organization. It is also worrying that the theory is not necessarily a politically radical theory, as it does not go deeply into the discussion of how communities of practice can take action to change the structure or relations of power.
Relevance of the theory to this study
It is not clear how the theory explains the role of women, whether as potential old-timers or as important contributors to knowledge production and learning within communities of practice. From their list it is clear that the theory is useful for understanding informal learning, everyday practice and knowledge production.
Conclusion
Introduction
Research paradigm
However, Cooper (2005) argues against the postmodern paradigm, saying that it is idealist in the sense that it “reduces everything to language, and therefore to the world of ideas) and relativist (maintaining that there are many truths and that all descriptions of reality are only constructions that are all equally valid)” (p. 71). For me, it is crucial to locate this research within a critical paradigm because, as Thapliyal (2006) argues, it articulates the possibilities for 'agency and collective action that occur through the foregrounding of subjugated knowledge and a situated critique of dominant, post-positivist, patriarchal, neoliberal discourses of knowledge and development that regulate and maintain social hierarchies and institutions controlled by a privileged few” (Thapliyal, 2006, p. 82).
Research approach
She argues that particular social and political cultures employ particular systems of meaning based on the forms of knowledge produced in their cultural domains (ibid). Because choosing a research approach must be in line with the research paradigm, this study fits in well with the qualitative research approach, because it has given me tools to gain more depth.
Qualitative research design
Qualitative research, on the other hand, helps provide an in-depth description of the situation using a small number of people by focusing on the contextual imperatives that affect the research subjects (Mouton cited in Endresen, 2010). Cooper (2005) states that this type of research enables researchers to "achieve a deep understanding of particular phenomena (learning processes and forms of pedagogy and knowledge) within a particular context" (p. 72).
Research style
She used the case study method to get a vivid, in-depth description of three organizations that were part of her research. Thapliyal (2006) used an ethnographic case study to research MST (described in Chapter Two) to gain an in-depth understanding of the educational programs offered by MST in their schools.
Data collection methods
Document review
A particularly useful document was Living Learning (Figlan et al, 2009), a booklet which is a record of discussions between six militants who were students undertaking the Certificate in Education Participatory Development (CEPD) course at the Center for Adult Education, University of KwaZulu . -Natal. Living Learning was a monthly reflection meeting through which the militants made connections between their experiences at university and their experiences in the movement.
Semi-structured interviews
Participant observation
Data analysis
I then did an inductive and deductive analysis so that I could draw from the themes that emerged from the interview data and those that came from outside. I began to discover patterns from the participant interview data and then developed themes that I used for analysis.
Trustworthiness
Triangulation
Lather (1986) states that triangulation involves the use of multiple data sources, methods, and theoretical frameworks to ensure the reliability of the data (p. 67). Interestingly, Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2007) describe triangulation as a powerful way to demonstrate concurrent validity, particularly in qualitative research.
Researcher-reflexivity
Babbie and Mouton (2001) agree with this point adding that triangulation as a method minimizes a researcher's biases and uses multiple methods to verify data. In general, this way of guaranteeing the reliability of the data has been used in the field of qualitative social research mainly adapted to a critical paradigm (Cooper, 2005; Endresen, 2010; Harley, 2012a; Thapliyal, 2006).
Face validity
Ethics
Participants must therefore have a guarantee that the research will not be harmful to them and their struggle. I was aware of the sensitivity of the issues that the research could raise, especially since Abahlali is constantly attacked and faces real threats.
Limitations
I was sensitive to the needs of the participants which influenced the negotiations in terms of the time, place and duration of the interviews.
Conclusion
Introduction
I conducted the interviews according to my interview plan (see Appendix 1), but still allowed people to speak freely and asked follow-up questions to ensure my understanding of what they said. I have edited the interviews slightly for grammar and clarity, but have also excluded things said in the interviews that have no bearing on the topic under discussion.
Becoming an Umhlali
One of the reasons for this early start is that you as a community are not on the same page. I had no understanding of the function of the committee and why it was necessary to have the committee in the first place.
Learning from experience, learning from/in Abahlali
One of the things is how one behaves in the movement and how things are done in the movement. And because we were members of the Abahlali movement, they could not touch us.
Ubuhlalism
When city hall tells us, “Go to hell,” we come to the people and give feedback. What we see as the tribe is the movement and the struggle of the movement.
After the 2009 attack
So even when we no longer have night camps, Ubuhlism does not disappear because it is the lifeblood of the movement. It is the same as a political party at the leadership level because it is the people who control the movement.
Conclusion
Introduction
Inductive thematic analysis
- Becoming a member
- Participation
- Leadership
- Learning from the Abahlali experience
- The impact of the 2009 attacks
It is not an -ism derived from some special social movement learning book or commentary, but from the everyday learning experience of the movement. Sbu Zikode agrees with this: "So even when we no longer have night camps, Ubuhlalism does not go away because it is the life of the movement."
Deductive thematic analysis
- The Four Components of Learning
- Legitimate Peripheral Participation
- Stages of development of communities of practice
- Synthesis
The discussion in chapters 1 and 2 about the formation of Abahlali shows what it meant to people in the movement to be Abahlali. In the following table I have tried to synthesize the stages of development of Abahlali's community of practice with the four components of learning - to show how these have changed as the community of practice has changed.
Conclusion
As unpredictable as it is, I think only time will tell where their learning goes from here. Suffice it to say that any subsequent theorizing about their learning experiences must come from a genuine commitment to their struggles and the reality that they are.
Introduction
How is knowledge produced within Abahlali?
How does individual experience and knowledge relate to the collective experience of Abahlali?
How does this collective experience contribute to the theory of Ubuhlalism?
How useful are existing theories about learning in social movements in relation to Abahlali ’ s theory? . 133
34;Communities of learning and action?": a case study of the Human Rights, Democracy and Development project. Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Learning to sleep without sitting: Reflections of activist-educators on social action learning in Ghanaian social movements.
Interview schedule
