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A principled engagement?: non-collaboration and the Teachers' League of South Africa in the Western Cape, 1990-2003

This thesis investigates the Teachers' League of South Africa's (TLSA, League or Teachers' League) ideas and practice of non-collaboration. It seeks to ascertain whether these ideas and practices continued after the organisation merged with several public sector unions in the National Union of Publi...

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Main Author: Hendricks, Paul Ross
Other Authors: Soudien, Crain
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: School of Education 2017
Subjects:
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access_status_str Open Access
author Hendricks, Paul Ross
author2 Soudien, Crain
author_browse Hendricks, Paul Ross
Soudien, Crain
author_facet Soudien, Crain
Hendricks, Paul Ross
author_sort Hendricks, Paul Ross
collection Thesis
description This thesis investigates the Teachers' League of South Africa's (TLSA, League or Teachers' League) ideas and practice of non-collaboration. It seeks to ascertain whether these ideas and practices continued after the organisation merged with several public sector unions in the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW) at the end of the last century. The thesis tracks the emergence and changing dynamics of the TLSA from the early decades of the twentieth century, as it developed and grew in the Western Cape, a region that was its nerve centre and where it was most active. There is a focus on the endeavours of the League to adapt and grow during the political and educational tumult of the 1990s, a period characterised by negotiations, reconciliatory and consensual politics that centred on nation building, and which was unreceptive if not clearly hostile to the organisation's non-collaborationist stance. The thesis employs an historical approach to contextualise the development of the League's non-collaborationism, and to elucidate the impact of South Africa's changing political, economic and educational landscape on the organisation. Extensive interviews were conducted, therewith giving a voice to the writing of history from below, embracing the experiences and perceptions of League members and the teacher activists who interacted with them before, but more so during and even beyond the 1990s. Documentary material of the TLSA and its umbrella body, the Unity Movement, dating back to the 1940s, provides the key primary sources for the study, while secondary information on the development of South Africa's political economy and the liberation movement offers valuable insights and alternative perspectives on the TLSA and Unity Movement. The thesis endorses the notion that appearances are at times intermingled with the opposite of what is being perceived, and thus challenges assumptions that the League's policy of non-collaboration was fixed and timeless. Instead, the thesis seeks to uncover the incongruities, nuances and complexity of this distinctive quality of the organisation, in an attempt finally, to elucidate its transformative potential in the present period.
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/24857 A principled engagement?: non-collaboration and the Teachers' League of South Africa in the Western Cape, 1990-2003 Hendricks, Paul Ross Soudien, Crain Siebörger, Rob Education liberation politics public sector unions This thesis investigates the Teachers' League of South Africa's (TLSA, League or Teachers' League) ideas and practice of non-collaboration. It seeks to ascertain whether these ideas and practices continued after the organisation merged with several public sector unions in the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW) at the end of the last century. The thesis tracks the emergence and changing dynamics of the TLSA from the early decades of the twentieth century, as it developed and grew in the Western Cape, a region that was its nerve centre and where it was most active. There is a focus on the endeavours of the League to adapt and grow during the political and educational tumult of the 1990s, a period characterised by negotiations, reconciliatory and consensual politics that centred on nation building, and which was unreceptive if not clearly hostile to the organisation's non-collaborationist stance. The thesis employs an historical approach to contextualise the development of the League's non-collaborationism, and to elucidate the impact of South Africa's changing political, economic and educational landscape on the organisation. Extensive interviews were conducted, therewith giving a voice to the writing of history from below, embracing the experiences and perceptions of League members and the teacher activists who interacted with them before, but more so during and even beyond the 1990s. Documentary material of the TLSA and its umbrella body, the Unity Movement, dating back to the 1940s, provides the key primary sources for the study, while secondary information on the development of South Africa's political economy and the liberation movement offers valuable insights and alternative perspectives on the TLSA and Unity Movement. The thesis endorses the notion that appearances are at times intermingled with the opposite of what is being perceived, and thus challenges assumptions that the League's policy of non-collaboration was fixed and timeless. Instead, the thesis seeks to uncover the incongruities, nuances and complexity of this distinctive quality of the organisation, in an attempt finally, to elucidate its transformative potential in the present period. 2017-08-08T06:49:42Z 2017-08-08T06:49:42Z 2010 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/24857 eng application/pdf School of Education Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Education
liberation politics
public sector unions
Hendricks, Paul Ross
A principled engagement?: non-collaboration and the Teachers' League of South Africa in the Western Cape, 1990-2003
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title A principled engagement?: non-collaboration and the Teachers' League of South Africa in the Western Cape, 1990-2003
title_full A principled engagement?: non-collaboration and the Teachers' League of South Africa in the Western Cape, 1990-2003
title_fullStr A principled engagement?: non-collaboration and the Teachers' League of South Africa in the Western Cape, 1990-2003
title_full_unstemmed A principled engagement?: non-collaboration and the Teachers' League of South Africa in the Western Cape, 1990-2003
title_short A principled engagement?: non-collaboration and the Teachers' League of South Africa in the Western Cape, 1990-2003
title_sort principled engagement non collaboration and the teachers league of south africa in the western cape 1990 2003
topic Education
liberation politics
public sector unions
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/24857
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