WERE THERE POLITICAL ALTERNATIVES IN THE WAKE OF THE SHARPEVILLE-LANGA VIOLENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1960?

Authors
DUBOW, SAUL 

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Type
Article
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Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pIn many accounts, the Sharpeville emergency of 1960 was a key ‘turning point’ for modern South African history. It persuaded the liberation movements that there was no point in civil rights-style activism and served as the catalyst for the formation of the African National Congress's armed wing, jats:italicUmkhonto we Sizwe</jats:italic>. From the South African government's perspective, the events at Sharpeville made it imperative to crush black resistance so that whites could defend themselves against communist-inspired revolutionary agitation. African and Afrikaner nationalist accounts are thus mutually invested in the idea that, after Sharpeville, there was no alternative. This article challenges such assumptions. By bringing together new research on African and Afrikaner nationalism during this period, and placing them in the same frame of analysis, it draws attention to important political dynamics and possibilities that have for too long been overlooked.</jats:p>

Publication Date
2015-03
Online Publication Date
2015-01-30
Acceptance Date
Keywords
4303 Historical Studies, 43 History, Heritage and Archaeology, 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Journal Title
The Journal of African History
Journal ISSN
0021-8537
1469-5138
Volume Title
56
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)