South Africa's Alternative Press
Voices of Protest and Resistance, 1880–1960

Collection of essays on the South African alternative press from the 1880s to the 1960s.

Les Switzer (Edited by)

9780521108553, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 April 2009

420 pages, 62 b/w illus. 1 map 32 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.61 kg

This is the first full-length study of the protest-cum-resistance press and its role in the struggle for a democratic South Africa between the 1880s and 1960s. South Africa's alternative press played a crucial, but still largely undocumented, role in the making of modern South Africa. Projecting the point of view of intermediary social groups, who saw themselves as a modernising, upwardly mobile non-ethnic force in the struggle to create a black middle-class culture in South Africa, these presses mirrored political realities that differed substantially from those projected by South Africa's established commercial press, which was owned and controlled by whites, and concerned almost exclusively with the political, economic and social life of the white population. An important venue for an emerging black literary tradition, these alternative presses also constitute a unique political and social archive.

Introduction: South Africa's alternative press in perspective Les Switzer
Part I. An Independent Protest Press, 1880s–1930s: 1. The beginnings of African protest journalism at the cape Les Switzer
2. Qude maniki! John L. Dube, Pioneer Editor of Ilanga Lase Natal R. Hunt Davis Jr
3. From advocacy to mobilisation: Indian opinion, 1903–1914 Uma Shaskikant Mesthrie
4. Voice of the coloured élite: APO, 1919–1923 Mohamed Adhikari
5. Moderate and militant voices in the African nationalist press during the 1920s Les Switzer
6. Bantu world and the origins of a captive African commercial press Les Switzer
Part II. From Protest to Resistance, 1940s–1960s: 7. Under seige: Inkundla Ya Bantu and the African nationalist movement, 1938–1951 Les Switzer and Ime Ukpanah
8. The Sophiatown generation: black literary journalism during the 1950s R. Neville Choonoo
9. Socialism and the resistance movement: the life and times of The Guardian, 1937–1952 Les Switzer
10. Writing left: the journalism of Ruth First and The Guardian in the 1950s Don Pinnock
11. Inkululeko: organ of the communist party of South Africa, 1939–1950 Elizabeth Ceiriog Jones.

Subject Areas: Communication studies [GTC]