Who Sits at the Table? A female farm activist’s experience during the De Doorns farm workers strike, South Africa

Kara Grace Mackay

doi:10.20873/uft.2525-4863.2018v3n3p937

Authors

Kara Grace Mackay University of Pretoria - South Africa http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4381-8024

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20873/uft.2525-4863.2018v3n3p937

Abstract

Quem se senta à mesa? A experiência de uma ativista agrícola feminina durante a greve de trabalhadores rurais De Doorns, na África do Sul

Este artigo conta a história de uma ativista agrícola e uma líder da greve dos fazendeiros De Doorns no período de 2012 a 2013. Nessa pequena cidade agrícola no Cabo Ocidental, na África do Sul, trabalhadores abatiam ferramentas na colheita de uvas e impediam a sua exportação, junto com vinhos, e exigiam um salário mínimo de R150 por dia. Nesse estudo, dados etnográficos - entrevistas, observação participante e documentos de arquivo - são usados para documentar a jornada de uma trabalhadora feminina e ativista, a sua evolução e consciência de si através do trabalho político e como participante da greve. A teoria de Rancière (1999) sobre a “presunção de igualdade” é usada para entender os ganhos e perdas ocorridos dos trabalhadores agrícolas durante e após essa greve.

Palavras-chave: Trabalhadores Agrícolas, Agricultoras, África do Sul, De Doorns, Ativismo, Educação Popular e Presunção de Igualdade.

Who Sits at the Table? A female farm activist’s experience during the De Doorns farm workers strike, South Africa

ABSTRACT. This journal article tells the story of a female farm activist and a leader in the De Doorns 2012/2013 farm workers’ strike. In this small agricultural town in the Western Cape, South Africa, workers downed tools, disrupting the harvest of export grapes and demanded a minimum wage of R150 per day. Ethnographic data – interviews, participant observation and archival documents – is used to document the female farm worker’s journey into activism, her evolution and new consciousness of self through political work and participating in the strike. Rancière’s (1999) theory of the presumption of equality is used to understand the gains made and losses incurred by the farm workers during and after the strike.

Keywords: Farm Workers, Farmwomen, South Africa, De Doorns, Activism, Popular Education and Presumption of Equality.

¿Quién se sienta en la mesa? La experiencia de una activista agrícola durante la huelga de trabajadores agrícolas de De Doorns, Sudáfrica.

RESUMEN. Este artigo conta a história de uma ativista agrícola e uma líder da greve dos fazendeiros De Doorns no período de 2012 a 2013. Nessa pequena cidade agrícola no Cabo Ocidental, na África do Sul, trabalhadores abatiam ferramentas na colheita de uvas e impediam a sua exportação, junto com vinhos, e exigiam um salário mínimo de R150 por dia. Nesse estudo, dados etnográficos - entrevistas, observação participante e documentos de arquivo - são usados para documentar a jornada de uma trabalhadora feminina e ativista, a sua evolução e consciência de si através do trabalho político e como participante da greve. A teoria de Rancière (1999) sobre a “presunção de igualdade” é usada para entender os ganhos e perdas ocorridos dos trabalhadores agrícolas durante e após essa greve.

Palabras clave: Trabajadoras Agrícolas, Agricultoras, Sudáfrica, De Doorns, Activismo, Educación Popular y Presunción de Igualdad.

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Author Biography

Kara Grace Mackay, University of Pretoria - South Africa

Kara Mackay is a Human Economy Programme doctorate fellow in the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Her PhD explored the education process that engendered activism amongst female farm activists that live and/or work on commercial farms in the Western Cape, South Africa. She has been involved in activist-driven processes since 2003 and is driven by her passion for social change and justice.

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