The Micropolitics of School Re(segregation) in Post-Apartheid South Africa

• In Event: Educational Policy Discourses: International Perspectives

Abstract

This is a study of the politics of admissions in 30 former white primary schools in South Africa. The research sets out to explain why South Africa still has white-majority schools more than 26 years since the end of apartheid. Using a combination of six different data sources, the study examines the ways in which schools use different policy instruments to manage enrolments by race and class—and with what consequences; this leg of the study gives insight into the micropolitics of admissions in former white schools. Using interviews with politicians and policymakers in South Africa’s social transition, the study explains the persistence of white-dominant schools; this leg of the study gives insight into the micropolitics of social transition.

Authors

• Samantha Kriger, Stellenbosch University

• Jonathan David Jansen, Stellenbosch University