Popular pedagogy and the changing political landscape: a case study of a women's housing movement in South Africa

Abstract

This paper sets out to explore the relationship between popular education and the changing South African political landscape through case study research of the Victoria Mxenge Housing Development Association. The research took place over an extended period of time from 1992–2003 and discusses how popular education was advocated by the South African Homeless People's Federation and its parent NGO (People's Dialogue); how it was implemented, how an increasing disjuncture between teaching and learning occurred, and how pedagogy was shaped by both political and personal factors. The paper discusses the interactions between social movements and NGOs and the limitations of social movements and popular education. It argues for a more nuanced conceptual understanding of learning in social movements within development contexts.

Keywords:

• popular pedagogy
• people-centered development
• social movements
• agency and gender

Acknowledgements

I wish to express my thanks to the interviewees who participated in the study, to Dr Peter Willis from the University of South Australia for the critical perspective he brought to the paper and to the University of Cape Town for supporting the research.

Notes

1. Informal learning is unplanned and incidental, while non-formal learning is short-term, usually planned, but not certified. Formal learning is long-term, planned, certified and takes place in a formal institution. Experiential learning involves knowledge gained from life experiences, political struggles, experience in development projects, from work and schooling, from traditional practices of building in rural areas and from within the family.

2. For more detailed descriptions of the changing pedagogy see Ismail (2006).

3. I have used the terms traditional and local knowledge instead of indigenous. Indigenous knowledge is still widely contested and this area of research is very recent in South Africa.

4. Stokvels are community savings clubs. They sometimes also play the role of social clubs and burial clubs. Most stokvels work as rotating savings clubs. Members contribute a specified monthly sum to the club, with each of them getting to keep all the contributions when their turn in the rotation arrives (www.savingsinstitute.co.za/faq.html).

5. Scaling up delivery meant an expansion in membership, financial resources and building houses.

6. Guilds were building teams similar to emerging contractors. They were mostly men who were trained by the Federation and PD.

7. Federation terminology for those who draw building plans.