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Multimodality, cultural production, and the protest event: Considerations of space, politics, and affect in South Africa

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dc.contributor.author Ngwenya, Nomagugu
dc.contributor.author Malherbe, Nick
dc.contributor.author Seedat, Mohamed
dc.date.accessioned 2022-08-19T09:42:48Z
dc.date.available 2022-08-19T09:42:48Z
dc.date.issued 2022-05-05
dc.identifier.uri https://doi.org/10.1177/26349795221099903
dc.identifier.uri https://hdl.handle.net/10500/29283
dc.description.abstract The high levels of protest in South Africa have produced varied academic literature on the subject. Although political and structural determinants of protest are readily acknowledged, social actors who comprise protest events are rarely centralised within scholarly inquiry. The particularities of protests are thus less considered than the structural issues underlying protests. We therefore argue that studying the multimodality of cultural production within protests affords researchers insight into the socially embedded nature of protest from the perspective of protester as a social actor. When we understand culture as continually being remade with and against different semiotic repertoires, then protest comes to signify a series of dynamic moments wherein cultural meanings are deployed for political purposes. Accordingly, we explore protest in South Africa by examining how the cultural practices of stick-fighting, dance, and song are navigated within the protest as a politico-affective space. Our analysis of cultural production within this space does not diminish the fundamentally political nature of protest, but instead uses cultural registers to expand how we engage the political. We conclude by reflecting on how multimodal considerations push protest research to explore the internal dynamics of protests and what this means for the understanding of protests more generally. en
dc.language.iso en en
dc.publisher SAGE Journals en
dc.subject performance en
dc.subject politico-affective space en
dc.subject protest en
dc.subject resistance en
dc.subject syncretic culture en
dc.title Multimodality, cultural production, and the protest event: Considerations of space, politics, and affect in South Africa en
dc.type Article en
dc.description.department Institute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS) en


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