Foregrounding ‘Fallism’ and its Praxis Within the Context of Decolonial and Critical Theory
Corresponding Author(s) : Wandile Goozen Kasibe
Journal of Higher Education in Africa,
Vol. 23 No. 1 (2025): Journal of Higher Education in Africa: Special Issue on Decolonising Knowledge Production in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts
Abstract
This article places the #RhodesMustFall movement in its proper context as a pivotal moment that sharpened societal contradictions around power relations. It unpacks what has been termed ‘Fallism’ within its political tradition, framing it as a decolonial response to colonial continuities and enduring matrices of power that sustain the structural asymmetries underpinning the current socio-political order. In doing so, this essay argues for the dismantling (‘falling’) of these oppressive systems to enable the birth of a new political order grounded in egalitarian values. In its overarching argument, this essay navigates the complexities of race relations and what it means to be Black in South Africa today. It draws on thinkers such as Frantz Omar Fanon, Jean-Paul Sartre, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and other scholars to foreground the view that the oppressed peoples’ cry for freedom cannot be understood outside the imperative to dismantle oppressive structures and to demand that these systems fall. It is when the oppressed master the courage to call boldly for such structures to fall that the inevitability of freedom becomes a foreseeable reality. Within this realm of possibility, this essay presents ‘Fallism’ as a resuscitation of the decolonising project, laying a foundation that enabled the oppressed to demand the fall of oppressive systems, both within and beyond the university. In so doing, it argues that this ‘Fallist’ logic is central to the #RhodesMustFall movement’s scholarly contribution to the academy.
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- "Ahmed, A.K., 2019, ‘The rise of Fallism: #RhodesMustFall and the movement to decolonise the university’ (Unpublished thesis, University of Cape Town).
- Anunobi, F., 2002, ‘Women and development in Africa: From marginalization to gender inequality’, African Social Science Review, 2(2).
- Baraka, A., 2017, ‘Malcolm X and human rights in the time of Trumpism: Transcending the masters tools’, Blog, 22 February. Available at: https://www. ajamubaraka.com/blog/2017/2/22/malcolm-x-and-human-rights-in-the-time-of-trumpism-transcending-the-masters-tools (Accessed 8 September 2018)."
- "Barker, A.J., and Lowman, E.B., 2015, Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21stCentury Canada, Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
- Barker, A., and Lowman, E.B., 2015, ‘Settler colonialism’, Global Social Theory. Available at: https://globalsocialtheory.org/concepts/settler-colonialism/ (Accessed 4 September 2018).
- British Library, Marx reader at the British Library. Available at: (Accessed 13 October 2018).
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- Gender and Bodies Out of Place, London: Berg Publishers.
- Balibar, E., 1995, The Philosophy of Marx, London: Verso.
- Bhabha, K.H., 1986, ‘Foreword’ in F. Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, London: Pluto Press.
- Cabral, A., 1969, Revolution in Guinea: An African People’s Struggle: Selected Texts 1924–1973, London: Stage 1.
- DuBois, W.E.B., 1903, The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, Chicago, IL: AC McClurg & Co.
- Davis, Y.A., 1988, ‘Foreword’, in A. Shakur, Assata: An Autobiography, London: Zed Books.
- Dyer, R., 2004, White: Essays on Race and Culture, London: Routledge,1997)
- p. 10 in N. Puwar, 2004, Space Invaders: Race, Gender and Bodies Out of Place, London: Berg Publishers.
- Distiller, N., and Steyn, M., 2004, Under Construction, CapeTown: Heinemann Publishers. Engels, F., 1893, ‘Preface’, Das Kapital: Kritik der politischen Oekonomie, Hamburg:
- Verlag von Otto Meissner.
- Fanon, F., 1963, The Wretched of the Earth, English transl. by C. Farrington, (French edition, 1961, Paris: François Maspero éditeur S.A.R.L.), New York: Grove Press. Fanon, F., 1986, Black Skin, White Masks, transl. by C.L. Markmann, London:
- Pluto Press.
- Fuchs, C., 2015, ‘Critical theory’, in G. Mazzoleni (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication, London: John Wiley & Sons.
- Kasibe, G.W., 2006, ‘Malundeness, personal memory and the diaspora: Politics of the skin’ (unpublished thesis).
- Kasibe, G.W., 2019, ‘No middle ground on genocidal Rhodes’. Available at: https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/opinion/no-middle-ground-on-genocidal-rhodes-1833325 (Accessed 2 May 2020).
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- Marx, K., 1845, Theses on Feuerbach, Moscow: Progress Publishers.
- Marx, K., and Engels, F., 1848, Manifesto of the Communist Party. Available at: https:// www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm (Accessed 20 August 2019)."
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- McKittrick, K., 2014, ‘Yours in the intellectual struggle: Sylvia Wynter and the realization of the living’, in K. McKittrick (ed). Sylvia Wynter: On Being Human as Praxis, Durham, NC.: Duke University.
- Mignolo, W.D., 2000a. Local Histories/Global Designs: Coloniality, Subaltern Knowl-edges, and Border Thinking, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
- Monbiot, G., 2016, How Did We Get Into This Mess: Politics, Equality, Nature, London: Verso.
- Nakayama K.T., and Martin, N.J., 1999, Whiteness: The Communication of Social,
- London and New Delhi: Sage Publications.
- Pagden, A., 1982, The Fall of Natural Man: The American Indian and the Origins of Comparative Ethnology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Pearson, K., 1901, National Life from the Standpoint of Science, pp. 47–8, in P. Brantlinger, 1985, ‘Victorians and Africans: The Genealogy of the Myth of the Dark Continent’, Critical Inquiry, 12(1).
- Piketty, T., 2014, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Pugh C., 2017, in N. Fandos et al., ‘Baltimore Mayor had statues removed in ‘best interest of my city’. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/us/ baltimore-confederate-statues.html (Accessed 2 November 2018).
- Puwar, N., 2004, Space Invaders: Race, Gender and Bodies Out of Place, London: Berg Publishers.
- Quijano, A., 2000, ‘Qué tal Raza!’ Paper prepared for the Conference of Coloniality Working Group, at SUNY-Binghamton.
- Sartre, J-P., 1961, ‘Preface’ in F. Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, Paris, François Maspero éditeur.
- Sartre, J-P., 1964, transl. J. MacCombie, ‘Black Orpheus’, Massachusetts Review, 6(1):
- 13. www.jstor.org/stable/25087216
- Sartre, J-P., ‘Black Orpheus’, in P.H. Coetzee and A.P.J. Roux, 2002, Philosophy from Africa, 2nd edition, Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
- Seiler, R.M., 2008, ‘Human communication in the Critical Theory tradition’,
- pp. 6–8. Available at: http://www. ucalgary. ca/~ rseiler/critical. htm (Accessed 20 August 2018).
- Shakur, O.A., 2015, ‘Pull down the statue’, Former Black Panther Assata Shakur’s Open Letter to UCT Students. Available at: http://hsrcpress.bookslive.co.za/ blog/2015/04/07/pull-down-the-statue-former-Black-panther-assata-shakurs-open-letter-to-uct-students/ (Accessed 8 September 2018).
- Smith, T.L., 1999, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, London: Zed Books.
- South African History Online, A History of Apartheid in South Africa. Available
- at: https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa (Accessed 20 August 2018)."
- "Theal, G.M., 1890, A Short History of South Africa, 1486–1826, Cape Town: Darter Brothers & Walton.
- Vindex (Verschoyle, F.), 1900, Cecil Rhodes: His Political Life and Speeches: 1881–1900, London: Chapman and Hall.
- Ware, V., and Back, L., 2002, Out of Whiteness: Color, Politics and Culture, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- Wilson, C., 2001, ‘Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples’. Available at: https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/journals-and-magazines/social-poli-cy-journal/spj17/17_pages214_217.pdf > (Accessed 20 June 2017).
- Wynter, S., 2003, ‘Unsettling the coloniality of being/power/truth/freedom: Towards the human, after man, its overrepresentation – An argument’, The New Centennial Review, 3(3): 257–337.
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- 1 April 2022)."
References
"Ahmed, A.K., 2019, ‘The rise of Fallism: #RhodesMustFall and the movement to decolonise the university’ (Unpublished thesis, University of Cape Town).
Anunobi, F., 2002, ‘Women and development in Africa: From marginalization to gender inequality’, African Social Science Review, 2(2).
Baraka, A., 2017, ‘Malcolm X and human rights in the time of Trumpism: Transcending the masters tools’, Blog, 22 February. Available at: https://www. ajamubaraka.com/blog/2017/2/22/malcolm-x-and-human-rights-in-the-time-of-trumpism-transcending-the-masters-tools (Accessed 8 September 2018)."
"Barker, A.J., and Lowman, E.B., 2015, Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21stCentury Canada, Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
Barker, A., and Lowman, E.B., 2015, ‘Settler colonialism’, Global Social Theory. Available at: https://globalsocialtheory.org/concepts/settler-colonialism/ (Accessed 4 September 2018).
British Library, Marx reader at the British Library. Available at: (Accessed 13 October 2018).
Bronner, E. S., 1994, Critical Theory and its Theorists, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Burgin V., 1996, In/Different Spaces: Place and Memory in Visual Culture, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, in N. Puwar, 2004, Space Invaders: Race,
Gender and Bodies Out of Place, London: Berg Publishers.
Balibar, E., 1995, The Philosophy of Marx, London: Verso.
Bhabha, K.H., 1986, ‘Foreword’ in F. Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, London: Pluto Press.
Cabral, A., 1969, Revolution in Guinea: An African People’s Struggle: Selected Texts 1924–1973, London: Stage 1.
DuBois, W.E.B., 1903, The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, Chicago, IL: AC McClurg & Co.
Davis, Y.A., 1988, ‘Foreword’, in A. Shakur, Assata: An Autobiography, London: Zed Books.
Dyer, R., 2004, White: Essays on Race and Culture, London: Routledge,1997)
p. 10 in N. Puwar, 2004, Space Invaders: Race, Gender and Bodies Out of Place, London: Berg Publishers.
Distiller, N., and Steyn, M., 2004, Under Construction, CapeTown: Heinemann Publishers. Engels, F., 1893, ‘Preface’, Das Kapital: Kritik der politischen Oekonomie, Hamburg:
Verlag von Otto Meissner.
Fanon, F., 1963, The Wretched of the Earth, English transl. by C. Farrington, (French edition, 1961, Paris: François Maspero éditeur S.A.R.L.), New York: Grove Press. Fanon, F., 1986, Black Skin, White Masks, transl. by C.L. Markmann, London:
Pluto Press.
Fuchs, C., 2015, ‘Critical theory’, in G. Mazzoleni (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication, London: John Wiley & Sons.
Kasibe, G.W., 2006, ‘Malundeness, personal memory and the diaspora: Politics of the skin’ (unpublished thesis).
Kasibe, G.W., 2019, ‘No middle ground on genocidal Rhodes’. Available at: https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/opinion/no-middle-ground-on-genocidal-rhodes-1833325 (Accessed 2 May 2020).
Mahlangu, V., 2016, Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/vemahlangu/posts/ pfbid0e8ziTagew1d8WxA3RPHVVbzh23MCurty2qKCYSHHBX1gm7Pzfx-oJzpCZhourtPhpl (15 December 2016).
Marx, K., 1845, Theses on Feuerbach, Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Marx, K., and Engels, F., 1848, Manifesto of the Communist Party. Available at: https:// www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm (Accessed 20 August 2019)."
"Matebeni, Z., 2018, ‘#RhodesMustFall – It was never just about the statue’. Available at: https://za.boell.org/en/2018/02/19/rhodesmustfall-it-was-never-just-about-statue (Accessed 2 May 2020).
McKittrick, K., 2014, ‘Yours in the intellectual struggle: Sylvia Wynter and the realization of the living’, in K. McKittrick (ed). Sylvia Wynter: On Being Human as Praxis, Durham, NC.: Duke University.
Mignolo, W.D., 2000a. Local Histories/Global Designs: Coloniality, Subaltern Knowl-edges, and Border Thinking, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Monbiot, G., 2016, How Did We Get Into This Mess: Politics, Equality, Nature, London: Verso.
Nakayama K.T., and Martin, N.J., 1999, Whiteness: The Communication of Social,
London and New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Pagden, A., 1982, The Fall of Natural Man: The American Indian and the Origins of Comparative Ethnology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pearson, K., 1901, National Life from the Standpoint of Science, pp. 47–8, in P. Brantlinger, 1985, ‘Victorians and Africans: The Genealogy of the Myth of the Dark Continent’, Critical Inquiry, 12(1).
Piketty, T., 2014, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pugh C., 2017, in N. Fandos et al., ‘Baltimore Mayor had statues removed in ‘best interest of my city’. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/us/ baltimore-confederate-statues.html (Accessed 2 November 2018).
Puwar, N., 2004, Space Invaders: Race, Gender and Bodies Out of Place, London: Berg Publishers.
Quijano, A., 2000, ‘Qué tal Raza!’ Paper prepared for the Conference of Coloniality Working Group, at SUNY-Binghamton.
Sartre, J-P., 1961, ‘Preface’ in F. Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, Paris, François Maspero éditeur.
Sartre, J-P., 1964, transl. J. MacCombie, ‘Black Orpheus’, Massachusetts Review, 6(1):
13. www.jstor.org/stable/25087216
Sartre, J-P., ‘Black Orpheus’, in P.H. Coetzee and A.P.J. Roux, 2002, Philosophy from Africa, 2nd edition, Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
Seiler, R.M., 2008, ‘Human communication in the Critical Theory tradition’,
pp. 6–8. Available at: http://www. ucalgary. ca/~ rseiler/critical. htm (Accessed 20 August 2018).
Shakur, O.A., 2015, ‘Pull down the statue’, Former Black Panther Assata Shakur’s Open Letter to UCT Students. Available at: http://hsrcpress.bookslive.co.za/ blog/2015/04/07/pull-down-the-statue-former-Black-panther-assata-shakurs-open-letter-to-uct-students/ (Accessed 8 September 2018).
Smith, T.L., 1999, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, London: Zed Books.
South African History Online, A History of Apartheid in South Africa. Available
at: https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa (Accessed 20 August 2018)."
"Theal, G.M., 1890, A Short History of South Africa, 1486–1826, Cape Town: Darter Brothers & Walton.
Vindex (Verschoyle, F.), 1900, Cecil Rhodes: His Political Life and Speeches: 1881–1900, London: Chapman and Hall.
Ware, V., and Back, L., 2002, Out of Whiteness: Color, Politics and Culture, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Wilson, C., 2001, ‘Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples’. Available at: https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/journals-and-magazines/social-poli-cy-journal/spj17/17_pages214_217.pdf > (Accessed 20 June 2017).
Wynter, S., 2003, ‘Unsettling the coloniality of being/power/truth/freedom: Towards the human, after man, its overrepresentation – An argument’, The New Centennial Review, 3(3): 257–337.
Zikalala, T., Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/elaseKhuzeni (Accessed
1 April 2022)."