One Hundred Years Of The Anc

(This title is available on demand : expected date of dispatch will be 4-7 working days once ordered)
On 8 January 2012, the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, the oldest African nationalist organisation on the continent, celebrated its one hundredth anniversary. This historic event has been cause for celebration and has generated significant public debate both within the ANC and South African society at large.

This centennial anniversary of the ANC is an opportune moment for critical reflection on the ANC's historical trajectory on the struggle against colonialism and apartheid. This edited collection brings together new work by a number of South African and international scholars and seeks to open up debate around various aspects of the ANC's past.

Covering a broad chronological and geographical spectrum, using a diverse range of sources and multiple theoretical frameworks, the chapters in this anthology both build upon and extend the historiography of the ANC by offering new perspectives on a variety of themes. These include the relationship between Christianity and African nationalism; political biography; language and the politics of performance; the production of ideas; popular movements; exile politics; and the complex transformation of the ANC from liberation movement to state-governing party.

By moving away from utilitarian approaches to the history of the ANC that have dominated contemporary discussions around the centenary, the contributions published in this volume suggest that the relationship between the histories of earlier struggles and the present needs to be rethought in more complex terms.

This timely contribution will certainly challenge hegemonic narratives of liberation that have become an established part of the national discourse since 1994.