South African political thought

Series

South African Political Thought

Abstract
This collection of materials is taken from a semester long course within the UCT Political Studies programme, concerning political thought in South Africa. Students on the course would attend around 4 hour-long lectures and 1 tutorial per week. The materials presented here are selected lecture notes and tutorial plans. Not all lectures in the series have notes; some consisted of discussion sessions. This outline details the readings students would be expected to study prior to attending these lectures. Whilst the actual lectures (and debates) have not been provided, this collection should provide an introduction to the themes of the course and provide the kinds of questions that aid the understanding of political thought in South Africa. Go to South African Political Thought This course provides a survey of the main developments in South African political thought since the beginning of the twentieth century. A twelve-week course cannot cover every significant development in South African political thought in this period; but this course is intended to give students an understanding of the main political traditions in modern South Africa, and how they have interacted and developed. At the same time, the material is organized around themes that are not specific to any one political or ideological tradition, but play a role in defining the politics of specific periods. The three main organizing themes are described briefly in the following section of this outline. Finally, the course is intended to provide a sense of the overall trajectory of political ideas in modern South Africa, its distinctive character and its significance for understanding and assessing contemporary developments. The essays for the course require students to discuss specific questions in such a way as to clarify that larger historical trajectory.
Description

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