The lived experiences and the struggles for visibility of the University of Zululand’s (South Africa) off-campus students: a Fanonian analysis

ABSTRACT

The expansion of student enrollment at the University of Zululand has resulted in the studentification of the host village of KwaDlangezwa, as well as the expansion of off-campus housing. A number of students occupy off-campus housing provided by landlords. The objective of this study was to investigate the lived experiences of students who reside in the village. Using in-depth interviews with off-campus students and Fanon’s concept of the wretched, I argue that the students at the University of Zululand are the wretched of our times, and that the core-periphery geographies conceived during the apartheid era persist in post-apartheid South Africa.

KEYWORDS:

• Studentification
• safety
• landlords
• student accommodation
• rural village
• protests

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nothile Prudence Ndimande

Nothile Ndimande is a lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Zululand. b. She is a doctoral candidate in the Geography and Environmental Studies Department at Stellenbosch University.