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SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND TRANSFORMATION
Student Movements in
Late Neoliberalism
Dynamics of Contention and Their
Consequences
Edited by
Lorenzo Cini · Donatella della Porta
César Guzmán-Concha
Social Movements and Transformation
Series Editor
Berch Berberoglu, Sociology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
This series tackles one of the central issues of our time: the rise of large-
scale social movements and the transformation of society over the last
thirty years. As global capitalism continues to affect broader segments of
the world’s population workers, peasants, the self-employed, the unem-
ployed, the poor, indigenous peoples, women, and minority ethnic groups
there is a growing mass movement by the affected populations to address
the inequities engendered by the globalization process. These popular
mass movements across the globe (such as labor, civil rights, women’s,
environmental, indigenous, and anti-corporate globalization movements)
have come to form a viable and decisive force to address the consequences
of the operations of the transnational corporations and the global capitalist
system. The study of these social movements their nature, social base,
ideology, and strategy and tactics of mass struggle is of paramount impor-
tance if we are to understand the nature of the forces that are struggling
to bring about change in the global economy, polity, and social struc-
ture. This series aims to explore emerging movements and develop viable
explanations for the kind of social transformations that are yet to come.
More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14481
Lorenzo Cini · Donatella della Porta ·
Editors
Student Movements
in Late Neoliberalism
Dynamics of Contention and Their Consequences
Editors
Lorenzo Cini Donatella della Porta
Faculty of Political Faculty of Political
and Social Sciences and Social Sciences
Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
Florence, Italy Florence, Italy
Institute of Citizenship Studies
University of Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland
Social Movements and Transformation

ISBN 978-3-030-75753-3 ISBN 978-3-030-75754-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75754-0
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
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now known or hereafter developed.
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names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for
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This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
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The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To the people who struggle for a free education for all
Acknowledgments
The idea to write this book came during the preparation of the conference
on “The Contentious Politics of Higher Education. Student Movements
in Late Neoliberalism”, that we organized at the Center on Social Move-
ment Studies (Cosmos), Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS), at Palazzo
Strozzi in Florence on November 16 and 17, 2017. The event was
part of a research project on the contentious politics of higher educa-
tion, financed with internal funds by SNS. While our research focused on
Chile, England, Italy, and Quebec, in the conference we were interested
in expanding the reflection on other recent episodes of massive student
protests in countries in Europe, Latin America, and Africa.
From the theoretical point of view, our aim was to bridge the fields
of social movement studies with the research on the politics of higher
education. For sure, all those protests address the neoliberal transforma-
tions of the system of higher education, enacted by governments of all
political leanings, promoting the outsourcing of personnel, the manage-
rialization of governing bodies, the introduction of tuition fees as well
as cuts to public funding. The outburst of the economic crisis in 2008
has represented a decisive watershed in this process of marketization: as
many governments across the world have adopted the neoliberal and pro-
austerity agenda as a way out of the crisis. These measures accelerated
the implementation of neoliberal reforms in countries where they previ-
ously did not exist. Although differences between countries continue to
be pronounced, national higher education systems are becoming more
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
alike in the sense of being more market-oriented, even in countries with

a strong state intervention tradition. Such transformations were not only
aimed at meeting effective and well-structured policy designs, but they
were also triggered by the logic of vested interests, power relations,
and social conflicts. Over the past ten years, students of all around the
world have indeed contested these policies and their implementation with
different degrees of success.
We want to express our gratitude to all those who participated in that
conference. We are particularly grateful to Thierry Luescher and Manja
Klemencic for their very insightful keynote addresses.
As with all our endeavors, we have also enjoyed the stimulating and
supportive environment of the Center on Social Movement Studies. We
are grateful to our colleagues there with whom we had very stimulating
discussions on the topic of the neoliberal university and its challenges. We
are particularly thankful to Lorenzo Bosi, Rossella Ciccia, Riccardo Emilio
Chesta, Daniela Chironi, Marco Deseriis, Andrea Felicetti, Anna Laviz-
zari, Chiara Milan, Mario Pianta, Andrea Pirro, Martin Portos, Lorenzo
Zamponi.
Finally, we want to express our biggest thanks to Liam McLean and
Elizabeth Graber from Palgrave for their constant help and huge patience
in supporting and bearing us!
Contents
1 Student Movements in Late Neoliberalism. Forms

of Organization, Alliances, and Outcomes 1
Lorenzo Cini, Donatella della Porta,
and César Guzmán-Concha
2 What Moves Students? Ritual Versus Reactive Student
Demonstrations in Mexico City 27
María Inclán
3 Contentious Institutionalized Movements: The Case
of the Student Movement in Quebec 55
Luc Chicoine and Marcos Ancelovici
4 Structuring the “Structureless” and Leading
the “Leaderless”: Power and Organization
in the Student Movement at the University
of California 75
Sarah L. Augusto
5 Tweeting #FeesMustFall: The Online Life and Offline
Protests of a Networked Student Movement 103
Thierry M. Luescher, Nkululeko Makhubu,
Thelma Oppelt, Seipati Mokhema,
and Memory Zodwa Radasi
ix
x CONTENTS
6 Movement Leadership in an Era of Connective Action:

A Study of Hong Kong’s Student-Led Umbrella
Movement 133
Chi Shun Fong and Samson Yuen
7 From the Classrooms to the Roofs: The 2010
University Researchers’ Movement in Italy 157
Gianni Piazza
8 Worker–Student Unity Against Outsourcing
at the University of Johannesburg: Disrupting
the Neoliberal Paradigm Through Direct Action
and Alternative Relations 187
Francesco Pontarelli
9 From Revolt to Reform: Student Protests
and the Higher Education Agenda in England
2009–2019 213
Hector Rios-Jara
10 Chile’s Student Movement: Strong, Detached,
Influential—And Declining? 241
Nicolás M. Somma and Sofía Donoso
11 Ever Failed? Fail Again, Fail Better: Tuition Protests
in Germany, Turkey, and the United States 269
Didem Türkoğlu
Index 293
Notes on Contributors
Marcos Ancelovici is a Canada Research Chair in the Sociology of Social

Conflicts and an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology
at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). He has published
numerous articles and chapters on the global justice movement, anti-
austerity protests, and housing struggles, as well as co-edited Un Print-
emps rouge et noir: Regards croisés sur la grève de 2012 (Écosociété,
2014) and Street Politics in the Age of Austerity: From the Indignados to
Occupy (Amsterdam University Press, 2016; available in open access).
Sarah L. Augusto is an Associate Professor in the Department of Soci-
ology and Criminal Justice at Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts.
Her research and teaching interests include social movements, inequali-
ties, sex & gender, and pop culture. Her current research focuses on lead-
ership and organization in diffuse, decentralized, non-hierarchical social
movements.
Luc Chicoine is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at the
Université du Québec à Montréal and a member of the Canada Research
Chair in the Sociology of Social Conflicts. His research focuses on student
movements and its institutional repression.
Lorenzo Cini is a political sociologist in the Faculty of Political and Social
Sciences of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Florence, Italy. His latest
publication is a monograph co-authored with Donatella della Porta and
xi
xii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Cesar Guzman-Concha (Contesting Higher Education. Student Movements

against Neoliberal Universities, 2020).
Donatella della Porta is Professor of Political Science, Dean of the
Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, and Director of the Ph.D.
program in Political Science and Sociology at the Scuola Normale Supe-
riore in Florence, Italy, where she also leads the Center on Social
Movement Studies (Cosmos).
Sofía Donoso (Ph.D., University of Oxford) is Assistant Professor of
sociology at the Universidad de Chile and a Research Fellow at the Centre
for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES). She is the co-editor
(with Marisa von Bülow) of Social Movements in Chile: Organization,
Trajectories and Political Consequences (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). Her
research has been published in the Journal of Latin American Studies,
Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Bulletin of Latin
American Research, as well as in numerous chapters in edited volumes.
Chi Shun Fong is a Ph.D. student at the Pennsylvania State University.
He is pursuing a dual-title Ph.D. in Political Science and Social Data
Analytics. His major field of study is comparative politics. His research
interests are authoritarian politics, contentious politics, politics of Greater
China and international political economy. His current research focuses
on how social media impact on the patterns of both collective action and
repression.
César Guzmán-Concha is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow and Prin-
cipal Investigator of the project “Mobilizing for Basic Incomes: Social
Innovation in Motion” (H2020-MSCA MOBILISE, project no. 839483)
at the University of Geneva.
María Inclán is a Profesora-Investigadora at Centro de Investigación y
Docencia Económicas in Mexico City. She has specialized in the study of
comparative social movements and democratization processes. In partic-
ular, her research has focused on the development of social movements
and cycles of protest within democratic transitions and individual triggers
of protest participation. She is currently developing a research project on
online political and mobilizing campaigns. She has held Visiting Professor
positions at Brown University’s Center of Latin American and Caribbean
Studies and Princeton University’s Program in Latin American Studies
and has been a Visiting Fellow at UCSD’s Center for U.S.-Mexican
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xiii
Studies. Her first book The Zapatista Movement and Mexico’s Demo-
cratic Transition was published in 2018 by Oxford University Press. Other
works have been published in the American Journal of Sociology, Journal
of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Latin American Politics
and Society, and Mobilization.
Thierry M. Luescher is a Research Director for post-schooling in the
Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and associate professor of
higher education affiliated to the University of the Free State (UFS) in
South Africa. He has a Ph.D. in Political Studies from the University of
Cape Town (UCT), a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education Studies
from the UFS, and a B.A. in Politics, History, and African Languages from
UCT. Thierry has a passion for researching, teaching, and publishing on
the politics and policies of higher education, student politics, and student
affairs and their relationship to social justice and their relationship to
social justice and their relationship to social justice. His recent publica-
tions include Student Politics in Africa: Representation and Activism (with
M. Klemenčič and J. O. Jowi; African Minds, 2016) and Reflections of
South African Student Leaders, 1994 to 2017 (with D. Webbstock and N.
Bhengu; African Minds, 2020).
Nkululeko Makhubu is a Master’s Research Intern at the Human
Sciences Research Council, Inclusive Development and Education
program. He is also an M.Com. Information Systems student at the
University of Cape Town. His current research on Information and
Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) is a case study
on the #FeesMustFall student movement to describe the “soft power”
influence that Twitter had on the movement online and offline in South
Africa’s higher education climate. He curated the social media accounts
from the University of the Western Cape during #FMF in 2015 and 2016.
Seipati Mokhema studies toward a master’s degree in Sociology
at North-West University (NWU) Mafikeng campus and works as a
Researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in the
Inclusive Economic Development Division. She attained a B.Soc.Sc. in
Development Studies and B.Soc.Sc. (Hons) in Sociology and completed
two exchange programs during the first year of her master’s degree, as a
DAAD and Erasmus Plus fellow, respectively, in Germany at Justus-Liebig
Universität, Giessen. Her interests lie in projects that contribute to the
xiv NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
development of African youth in education and leadership spaces as well

as the future of work in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Thelma Oppelt is a Researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council
(HSRC). She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Life Sciences
from the University of Stellenbosch, as well as Honours and master’s
degrees in Psychology from the University of South Africa. She is
currently completing a Ph.D. in Psychology in the Faculty of Health
Sciences at Nelson Mandela University. Ms. Oppelt has participated in
a number of important national research projects related to the social
impact of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and, most recently, the impli-
cations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution for the regulation of gambling
in South Africa. Ms. Oppelt’s most recent publications are on the SKA and
Human Development.
Gianni Piazza holds a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of
Florence and is Associate Professor of Political Sociology at the Univer-
sity of Catania. He is member of the Academic Board of the Ph.D. in
Political Science and Sociology of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa,
and Associate Editor of the scientific journal Partecipazione e Conflitto.
He has published books and journal articles on local government and
politics, public policy analysis, social movements, territorial and environ-
mental conflicts, student and squatting movements. He is the author of
La città degli affari (1994) and Sindaci e politiche in Sicilia (1998), the co-
author of Politiche e partecipazione (2004), Voices of the Valley, Voices of
the Straits (2008), Le ragioni del no (2008), the co-editor of Alla ricerca
dell’Onda (2010) and the editor of Il movimento delle occupazioni di
squat e centri sociali in Europa (2012).
Francesco Pontarelli is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Research
Foundation Chair in Community, Adult and Workers Education at the
University of Johannesburg (South Africa). He holds a Ph.D. in Soci-
ology from the University of Johannesburg; a M.Sc. in Labour, Social
Movements and Development at the School of Oriental and African
Studies (SOAS), University of London (UK); and a M.A. in Interna-
tional Relations at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” (Italy). He
serves as the book review editor for Notebooks, the Journal of Studies on
Power. His areas of research embrace fields useful for transformative social
movements, including Gramsci’s political thought, historical materialism,
international political economy, labor studies, and popular education.
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xv
Memory Zodwa Radasi is a Research Specialist (Postdoctoral Fellow) for

education and livelihoods in the division of Inclusive Economic Develop-
ment, Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). Radasi holds under-
graduate degrees and an M.A. from the University of the Western Cape,
South Africa, as well as a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of
Porto, Portugal. Her Ph.D. dissertation was exploring policies made by
the democratic new South African government regarding gender and race
in the context of inequality in the workplace. Her research aimed at trans-
forming inequalities that violate personhood, including gender, racism,
class, xenophobia, and poverty. In addition to her research in the work-
place, she is interested in policies, particularly in the education sector and
human rights. She is currently examining personhood in the revaluation
of children in African societies.
Hector Rios-Jara is a Ph.D. candidate in Social Science at the Institute
of Social Research of University College of London. He is member of
the working group “Social Theory and Latin-American reality” of the
Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO) and a spon-
sored student of the Centro de Estudios de Conflicto y Cohesión Social
(COES).
Nicolás M. Somma (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame, Indiana) is an
Associate Professor and Chair at the Institute of Sociology of the Ponti-
ficia Universidad Católica de Chile, and an Associate Researcher at the
Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES). His research
has appeared in journals such as Party Politics, Social Movement Studies,
American Behavioral Scientist, Latin American Politics and Society and
Comparative Politics, among others. Among other projects, he is leading
a comparative study of labor movements in 17 Latin American countries
since 1990, as well as a large-scale account of power configurations in
human history.
Didem Türkoğlu is a Postdoctoral Associate at New York University—
Abu Dhabi whose research interests focus on political sociology, social
movements, and studies of social inequalities. In her current book project,
she conducts a comparative analysis of higher education policies and the
protests against tuition hikes over the last four decades in 34 OECD coun-
tries with a special focus on England, Germany, Turkey, and the United
States. Her articles have appeared in Mobilization, Current Sociology,
Social Media +Society, Sociology Compass, and Journal of Democracy.
xvi NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Samson Yuen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Govern-

ment and International Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. He
researches contentious politics, public opinion, as well as health and food
politics, with specific focus in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. He has
co-edited An Epoch of Social Movements (Chinese University, 2018) and
has published articles in journals including Political Studies, Geopolitics,
Mobilization, Social Movement Studies, and The China Quarterly.
List of Figures
Fig. 2.1 Participants’ motivations to participate in the annual

commemoration of the 1968 students’ movement
on October 2, 2011 35
Fig. 2.2 Participants’ motivations to participate in the #YoSoy132
protesting march against Enrique Peña Nieto’s
presidential campaign on June 10, 2012 37
Fig. 2.3 Predicted probability of protest participation in students’
demonstrations by education 47
Fig. 2.4 Predicted probability of protest participation in students’
demonstrations by interest in politics 48
Fig. 3.1 Student protest activity in Quebec (2005–2016) (Source
La Presse. Includes street marches, rallies, occupations,
and blockades) 62
Fig. 3.2 Varieties of modes of action used between 2005
and 2016 (Source La Presse. Note These numbers
should not be treated as “hard data” because some
protest eventsreported by newspapers did not contain
information on the modes of action used) 63
Fig. 5.1 Daily Unique #FeesMustFall Tweets in October 2015
(Source HSRC, 2021. Note Data generated by Mecodify
on 11 March 2020; unique tweets only) 114
Fig. 5.2 Top 10 tweeting tweeters (Source HSRC, 2021. Note
Data generated by Mecodify on 11 March 2020; N =
62,191) 117
xvii
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 5.3 Network of degree centrality by mentions

of #FeesMustFall Twitter users (Source HSRC, 2021.
Note Data generated by Mecodify, analysed in Kumu.io,
11 March 2020; N = 62,191) 118
Fig. 5.4 Campus-specific #FeesMustFall-related Tweets in October
2015 (Source HSRC, 2021. Design Dineo Luescher;
Note Data generated by Mecodify between August 2018
to March 2020; Key CPUT = Cape Peninsula University
of Technology; CUT = Central University of Technology;
DUT = Durban University of Technology; NMU
= Nelson Mandela University; NWU = North-West
University; RU = Rhodes University; SMU = Sefako
Makgatho University; SPU = Sol Plaatje University; SU
= Stellenbosch University; TUT = Tshwane University
of Technology; UCT = University of Cape Town;
UFH = University of Fort Hare; UFS = University
of the Free State; UJ = University of Johannesburg;
UKZN = University of KwaZulu Natal; UL = University
of Limpopo; UMP = University of Mpumalanga;
UNISA = University of South Africa; UP = University
of Pretoria; UWC = University of the Western Cape;
UV = University of Venda; VUT = Vaal University
of Technology; WITS = University of the Witwatersrand;
WSU = Walter Sisulu University. No data: Mangosuthu
University of Technology; University of Zululand) 119
Fig. 5.5 Campus-specific protest events vs. campus-specific tweets
(Source HSRC, 2021. Note Tweet data generated
by Mecodify between August 2018 and March 2020;
Total 51,277 tweets; PEA data generated by authors
from 77 sampled news articles. Both databases
range from 14 to 26 October 2015 only. Note Data
from institutions with N < 0.5% in both categories are
omitted) 124
Fig. 5.6 Daily Unique Campus-specific #FeesMustFall-related
Tweets in October 2015 (Source HSRC, 2021. Note Data
generated by Mecodify between August 2018 and March
2020; N = 52,892) 126
LIST OF FIGURES xix
Fig. 10.1 Number of student protests in Chile by year (Source

Data from the Observatory of Conflicts of the Centre
for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies [COES]. The
figure considers protest events reporting the presence
of students of any kind [high school, university,
or non-identified]) 259
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Ideal types of higher education 7

Table 2.1 Surveyed protest participants and nonparticipants
per student event 38
Table 2.2 Descriptive statistics per student demonstration 41
Table 2.3 Correlates of protest participation in ritual and reactive
students’ demonstrations in Mexico City 43
Table 2.4 Adjusted Wald tests for each protest participation
predictor 45
Table 11.1 List of cases based on presence of brokerage,
the influence of collective memory, and perceived threats 275
xxi
CHAPTER 1
Student Movements in Late Neoliberalism.

Forms of Organization, Alliances,
and Outcomes
Lorenzo Cini, Donatella della Porta,

and César Guzmán-Concha
Introduction
Since 2008, the world has witnessed an unprecedented global wave of
student mobilizations. Episodes of massive social unrest in which students
have played leading roles have occurred in several regions: Quebec, Chile,
Hong Kong, South Africa, England, and Italy to cite just a few exam-
ples. This phenomenon can be observed in both advanced and developing
economies. Students have mobilized around a variety of issues, ranging
L. Cini (B) · D. della Porta

Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Piazza degli Strozzi, Italy
e-mail: lorenzo.cini@sns.it
C. Guzmán-Concha
Institute of Citizenship Studies, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2021
L. Cini et al. (eds.), Student Movements in Late Neoliberalism,
Social Movements and Transformation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75754-0_1
2 L. CINI ET AL.
from resistance to authoritarianism to opposition to tuition fees. The

scale and scope of this wave of student mobilizations are impressive and
can only be compared to the global wave of campus activism of the late
1960s. In many cases, these mobilizations went beyond strictly student
issues, addressing austerity cutbacks and/or neoliberalism. While these
episodes of student unrest are closely intertwined with the 2008 financial
crisis, they cannot be reduced to it, especially for countries that were not
significantly hit by this crisis, such as Chile or South Africa.
The present volume investigates such mobilizations in a range of
different socioeconomic and political contexts, focusing on their reper-
toires of action and organizational forms, as well as the political alliances
they engage in while pursuing their goals. This seems all the more impor-
tant as even following the height of the anti-austerity protests, student
politics has maintained center stage. During the “hot autumn” of 2019,
with its global wave of protests, students were driving actors in move-
ments active on national independence (such as in Hong Kong and
Catalonia) and social justice (as in Chile or Lebanon), often combining
the two sets of claims within demands for a deepening of democracy.
While in 2020 contestation in the streets was temporarily halted by the
pandemic, the protest was fueled by issues of citizenship rights, with the
right to public and free education gaining centrality, together with the
right to public health, housing, and an income. Indeed, protests emerged
against the manifest failure of the system of private education to guar-
antee safety and services to staff and students, the visibility of the effects
of years of cuts in state funding for the public system of higher education,
which lacks both infrastructure and personnel, the dismissal of precarious
workers at all levels, and the refusal to reduce fees and the cost of rents
even when teaching was moved online.
This centrality of student politics notwithstanding, recent episodes of
student unrest have not received enough attention from scholars in polit-
ical sociology. While there has been a growing amount of literature on
social conflict in the aftermath of the financial crisis, student movements
have not featured among the empirical phenomena on which scholars in
the field have focused (see, for instance, Brooks, 2016; Klemenčič, 2014).
This is somehow surprising, considering that these protests have achieved
significant levels of mobilization, spreading from university students to
other groups (e.g. trade unions, secondary students, youth organiza-
tions), that students have put forward issues neglected by mainstream
political parties, and that these episodes have often been part of larger
1 STUDENT MOVEMENTS IN LATE NEOLIBERALISM 3
processes of change with wider implications in society (i.e., the corpo-

ratization of universities, the massification of postsecondary education,
the tertiarization of the economy, deindustrialization). Consequently, a
systematic analysis of these episodes of student activism would now seem
all the more necessary, especially given the fact that there are very few
comparative studies of contemporary student protests in the literature (for
a few exceptions, see Cini, 2019a; della Porta et al., 2020).
Aimed at filling such theoretical and empirical gaps, this volume
will provide a fresh analysis of student activism in different regions of
the world by building upon the observation that university students
have historically engaged in politics. New generations of political leaders
have emerged out of the student movement, often associated with
broader hopes of renewal and regeneration. While in some countries the
active role of students in politics and society dates back to the nine-
teenth century, student movements typically represent a contemporary
phenomenon: student movements are often related to the emergence of
the youth as a sociologically relevant category that refers to the transi-
tion between childhood and adulthood—the “impressionable years,” in
the classic definition of Mannheim. Over the course of the last century,
students have played a significant role in the social conflict in most coun-
tries. Major instances of social change, including revolutions (e.g. Iran in
1978, Cuba in the 1950s) and reformist periods (e.g. the Quiet revolu-
tion in Quebec, the various 1968 revolts across the globe), have found
in students a decisive actor. Campuses have been a breeding ground for
new groups that have challenged political elites both on the left and on
the right (Crossley, 2003). The expansion of secondary education, the
secularization of society, and overarching state-led programs of indus-
trialization and modernization run parallel to the growing relevance of
students throughout the twentieth century.
While student movements are not only massive but also quite influen-
tial in both contentious and institutional politics (Cini, 2020), they have,
however, received only limited attention in political sociology. Tradition-
ally, the analysis of student movements has been very sporadic, given the
peculiar characteristics that such movements have displayed in their polit-
ical trajectories and dynamics of contention (see Cini, 2019a; della Porta,
2010). As observed for the political year of global student protestpar
excellence, namely “the 1968 movement” (Gill & De Fronzo, 2009),
student protests are a mix of specific and general demands, radical and
moderate frames, vanguard and mass mobilization. Their ambivalence
4 L. CINI ET AL.
is essentially due to the socially ambiguous and ill-defined location in

which students find themselves, a peculiar socio-existential condition of a
specific age cohort, which is no longer adolescent, but not yet adult (Cini,
2017a). Furthermore, while campuses are dense in networks, the frequent
turnover of students at universities jeopardizes continuity in commitment,
forcing a continuous investment in the political socialization of ever newer
student cohorts.
This unstable reality naturally affects the personal and political experi-
ences of university students, especially when their age cohorts increase in
number in the highly differentiated society of the twentieth century. As a
result, more than any other movement, student movements are an open-
ended and never-ending process of social formation of collective identity,
claims, goals, and action repertoire. It is precisely the dynamic nature of
these movements that presents their leaders and activists with an array
of strategic options related to several issues during mobilizations, multi-
plying their “strategic dilemmas,” resulting in situations where there are
“two or more options, each with a long list of risks, costs, and poten-
tial benefits” (Jasper, 2006, 1). The dilemmas they must face, time and
time again, are especially related to the construction of collective identity,
protest frames, movement goals, action tactics, organizational forms, and
the configuration of allies (Cini, 2017b).
This introduction will map out some of the main elements of
contentious student politics that the various contributors to this edited
collection refer to in their own contributions. In particular, drawing
on social movement studies but also on other subfields in the social
sciences, such as higher education studies, it will look at the specificity of
the neoliberal university, as well as the forms of contentious politicsand
their relations with allies and targets, that contribute to the outcomes of
protests.
The Formation of the Neoliberal

University (and Resistance to it)
Education has traditionally been a contentious issue. The right to attend
educational programs was one of the core demands of unions and
left-wing parties all over the world throughout the nineteenth and twen-
tieth centuries. In emerging nation-states and developing countries, the
creation and growth of state-led educational institutions at all levels can
be seen as a component of the contract of citizenship that political leaders
offered to their people. The origins of the welfare state are closely related
to the expansion of mass education and the increase in minimum levels
of compulsory instruction. From a historical perspective, the granting of
access to higher education to the lower classes (through the so-called
massification of HE) was the culmination of a process by which many
states recognized university education as a social right. Indeed, by the
1960s, most industrial economies had granted free access to university
to their citizens (Garritzmann, 2016). Moreover, student protests in
the 1960s and 1970s addressed some contradictions of mass university
enrolment, calling for more public resources to be invested in order to
implement a “right to study” as well as more critical thinking and teaching
(Guzman-Concha & Cini, forthcoming).
At the beginning of the 1980s, the rise of the neoliberal conception of
the relationship between the state and the market also had a significant
impact on the educational system, challenging the idea of free univer-
sity education. The assumption was that as higher education substantially
increases the future economic returns of students, it follows that the
state can legitimately withdraw from the area and charge the families or
direct beneficiaries. Drawing on the assumption of a higher efficiency of
the private sector in comparison with the public sector, the new higher
education approach has promoted the discipline of the marketplace, the
power of the consumer, and the engine of the competition (McGet-
tingan, 2013). In fact, in the neoliberal conception, universities are in
competition with each other for tuition fees, research funding, and private
endowments.
The neoliberal model brought about changes in the following areas:
(a) the commodification of services, with the introduction of tuition
fees and loans, or the abrupt increase in their rates, (b) privatization,
with an opening up to new, profit-oriented, providers of educational
certificates, (c) managerialization, with mechanisms of competition and
funding allocation conditional on the performance of externally defined
criteria and the introduction of cost–benefit and efficiency principles; (d)
the marketization of curricula; (e) the precarizationof labor relations. In
fact, common trends in the reform of HE started from an increase in
commodification, “with the search for private investment and increasing
tuition fees” (Klemenčič, 2014, 398). As Smelzer and Hearn (2015, 353)
noted, as public funds are drastically reduced, “universities are increas-
ingly operating like businesses and are perpetually in search of monies via
increased tuition fees and private investments.” In order to do this, they
6 L. CINI ET AL.
invest more and more in marketing, brand management, and promotion

(ibid.). Privatization is a related trend, which also implies the prolifer-
ation of private—de facto, for profit—institutions in competition with
public ones. This transforms the function of the state from the provider
of public services (such as education) to the regulator of (quasi)market
competition, with the state contributing to financing higher education
and regulating the quality of the courses offered by the universities. In
this vision, managerialization modifies the internal governance of univer-
sities, with an enhanced role for managers and top-level administrators
in the governing bodies at the expense of academics (Cini, 2016). This
also involves “limiting the role of those instances where students have
a say in the governance” (Forest & Altback, 2006; Ginsberg, 2011, 7).
While up until the 1970s the dominant idea was that universities were
self-governing bodies, in the neoliberal approach, universities must now
respond to numerous stakeholders, and quickly and efficiently adapt to
their requests. An especially relevant example of this is the insistence on
adaptation to the labor market and industry demands, and a claim of
rational administration of resources in a context dominated by austerity.
As manageralization accompanied a marketization of the curricula, the
very conception of the role of the university changed: from the creation
of culture and knowledge to the preparation for market requirements.
Thus, in the “New Managerialism” approach, universities are considered
as producing goods such as teaching, research, and services (Agasisti &
Catalano, 2006, 249). Changes in the courses, curricula, and academic
programs aim to meet the demands of the business sector or to respond
to the requests made by supranational bureaucracies (such as the EU, or
the OECD). As for internal labor relations, a precarization of labor condi-
tions follows the drop in public spending and the increase in competition.
This includes changes in the internal composition of faculties in favor of
less expensive positions, with a decrease in the number of professorial
positions (assistant, associate, and full professors) resulting in the rise of
precarious categories such as adjunct professors, external lecturers, post-
doctoral researchers, and the proliferation of temporary contracts (Cini
& Guzman-Concha, 2017). Moreover, measures such as the extension
of probation periods and the conditionality of renewals or promotions to
the approval of external grants function as mechanisms of precarization of
both teaching and research positions. The outsourcing of various services
also contributes to a decrease in protection for administrative workers and
research positions.
Table 1.1 Ideal types

Dimensions of Market model Statist
of higher education
higher education model
regimes
Funding system Private Public

Field organization Competitive Cooperative
University Managers managers Academics
leadership
Logic of curricula Market-oriented Academic
delivery
Labor relations Precarious Standard
It must be said that university policies are, however, still very differ-
entiated, with high cross-national divergences (Brooks, 2016). Drawing
on the notion of commodification and the making of modern markets
(Polanyi, 1944 [2001]) applied to the higher education sector (Agasisti
and Catalano, 2006; Willemse & de Beer, 2012), two broad ideal types
can be identified: “state-dependent” and “market-dependent” university
systems (see Table 1.1, from della Porta, Cini & Guzman-Concha, 2020:
13).
While these trends toward a neoliberal model have affected all univer-
sity systems, the degree of de-commodification—defined as “the extent to
which commodities are not exclusively exchanged on market principles”
(Willemse & de Beer, 2012, 107)—varies across countries, being lower in
liberal welfare regimes and higher in universal welfare regimes. In liberal,
market-oriented models, “HE institutions (like real companies) set their
own prices for their teaching and research services without public inter-
vention.” In welfare regimes, on the other hand, “the state finances and
centrally controls education production, and regulates university activities
by determining the prices (tuition) and admission to academic courses”
(Agasisti & Catalano, 2006, 248).
How the general trends and varieties in the models of HE impact on
student politics is one of the central questions addressed in this volume.
One of the main consequences of the paradigm shift in the concept of
the university system is the growth in distributional conflicts, currently
taking place in the field of higher education. Policy changes in student
funding, including tuition fees, loans, and the myriad of student aid
programs (ranging from dormitories, meals, and other services) have
direct effects on the disposable income of households and the students
8 L. CINI ET AL.
themselves. It is especially where this shift has been more extreme, that
commodification has represented a significant trigger for student unrest
(e.g., Chile, England, South Africa). More broadly, the announcement
of reforms justified by ideologies of the rationalization of public services
or carried out in the context of broader austerity measures usually leads
to protests in which students often join ranks with public-sector unions.
Protests organized by student unions in Germany and the United States in
recent years have shown that even in the context of advanced economies
and consolidated democracies, students play important roles as carriers
of broader political discontent with governmental policies. Therefore,
economic issues are still central to the dynamics of claim-making and
protests by college students and young people more broadly, which would
seem to contradict the picture provided by the “new social movement”
theories of the 1970s and 1980s (Cini et al., 2017).
However, the economy is clearly not the only source of discontent,
nor is it the only mobilizing trigger. Students have also engaged in
national politics because of the polarizing effect of military coups or
authoritarian turns, as can be seen in the case of recent waves of campus
unrest in Turkey or Hungary, or in the wake of deep-rooted claims for
national sovereignty as in Catalonia of Hong Kong (Macfarlane, 2017),
demanding or resisting changes in the curricula and freedom in teaching
and learning. Furthermore, demands for greater inclusion have prolifer-
ated in campuses in recent years. This can be seen, for example, in the
involvement of students in broader social movements, such as Black Lives
Matter or the Ni una menos movements and more broadly, in antiracist,
pro-gender equality and minorities rights campaigns. The Rhodes Must
Fall student campaign in South Africa, aimed at freeing South African
universities from their colonial legacies (Cini, 2019b), soon resonated in
England and the US, where local campaigns to remove the statues of colo-
nizers or slavers from campuses quickly emerged (Luescher & Klemencis,
2017). The connections between these campaigns and the protests of
black communities in the US, in the context of the killing of George
Floyd by police officers, are apparent in both movements, with protesters
targeting statues of controversial historical figures linked to racism and
oppression. Undoubtedly, struggles for recognition have been significant
in the history of contemporary universities. Women and ethnic minori-
ties have long demanded that their historical exclusion from campuses
be redressed, in a mobilization in which cultural and economic aspects
intertwine. These conflicts can also be observed within the academic
body, as gender, ethnic, and sexual discrimination seem to be entrenched

in long-standing processes that have created privilege for white, male
academics from upper-class backgrounds (Guzman-Concha and Cini
forthcoming). While in many respects the modern-day university is more
socially heterogeneous than ever before, the greater presence of tradi-
tionally disadvantaged groups has amplified their voice within campuses.
Issues of social and racial inequalities have also been central in the envi-
ronmental justice movement, whose recent protest campaigns (such as
those organized by Fridays For Future) have mainly been launched and
carried out by students. It is very likely that these conflicts will remain at
the forefront in the future.
Organizational Forms, Action

Tactics, and Collective Identities
It is essential to take into account the general trend toward a neoliberal
model of HE, as well as its various manifestations, when considering the
specific forms that contentious student politics takes, both on a day-to-
day basis and during waves of protest. The contributions presented in
this volume address organizational forms, action tactics, and collective
identities in different contexts.
As with any other movement, student movements act in ways that
can be described along a continuum between conventional and disrup-
tive forms of collective action (della Porta & Diani, 2006). In colleges,
conventional means of participation are usually predominant in normal
times. On a regular basis, students formally engage in institutional univer-
sity politics, through elected representatives or delegates, at various levels.
Students also act by promoting and launching media campaigns, orga-
nizing public debates with different stakeholders, and taking part in
meetings with public authorities, representatives, and officials. These
conventional activities are generally pursued by small groups, while
rank-and-file students take passive roles.
Occasionally, however, students rely on unconventional repertoires,
that disturb the daily life of communities and institutions by disrupting
the performance of their core functions (Piven, 2006). Blockades and
occupations of buildings, in particular, open up spaces for individuals
and groups to network, assuring the availability of “free time” and “free
space” to think and fight (Lewis, 2013; Ross & Vinson, 2014). Events
such as the occupation of university buildings aim at achieving “the
10 L. CINI ET AL.
social time necessary to articulate the protest and, at the same time, to
break with the faculty daily routine and visualize the conflict inside the
institution” (Fernandez, 2014, 207).
While universities have often been considered as dense spaces, with
students endowed with both free time and critical thinking, which facil-
itate mobilization, neoliberal shifts have challenged this availability, by
forcing many students to work in order to pay their fees as well as
pushing them toward conformist thinking (della Porta et al., 2020). This
notwithstanding, students tend to organize themselves along lines that
include ideology, common interests, shared causes, and various sources
of affinities.
In sum, student participation can take the forms of union politics and
movement politics. While the former refers to the institutions of student
(self) government and the ways they relate to universities and the state,
the latter describes the modes and strength of student activism. As has
been argued elsewhere, “exploring the interplay of these activities helps
to better understand and assess the type of power that students exert to
halt or encourage institutional and systemic transformations in HE across
time and space” (Cini, 2020, 1467).
Associated with this is the choice between different organizational
models: from decentralized, campus-centered ones to models that are
centrally and nationally oriented and/or exhibit a nationwide scope of
intervention by claiming, for instance, to represent the entire student
body. In a coordinated field of student politics (della Porta et al., 2020),
student governments (federations, unions, associations) become arenas
in which groups of students, organized along with ideological, political,
or other common features, attempt to represent and/or mobilize the
student body, exerting attraction over a significant portion of activists,
thus shaping the whole field of student politics. In coordinated fields, an
overlap between formal (federations, unions) and informalorganizations
(politico-ideological groups, affinity groups, even branches of political
parties) is noticeable. Activists often participate in both formal and
informal groups simultaneously, as ideological or affinity groups consider
formal organizations as tools and platforms to pursue their agenda. Partic-
ipation in various organizations sometimes amplifies the effect of activism.
Internal elections, congresses, caucuses, and assemblies set the clock of
internal competitions for the control of these bodies. The institutions
of student government—student associations, federations, or unions—are
important as they offer resources and legitimacy that allow the leading
groups within the bodies to implement their agenda. When these insti-
tutions are well established, they can become the vehicles through which
students attempt to influence higher education or university policies, or
even intervene in national politics or transnational campaigns.
On the other hand, however, when no organization can successfully
claim to represent a significant part of the student body, we refer to frag-
mented fields of student politics. In this variation, there are no established
arenas of political competition, no group can voice student demands
in a coherent, structured manner, and national authorities (university
leaders, politicians, governmental actors) can easily disregard students.
In most cases, this scenario depicts the case of locally based networks of
organizations connecting different subnational geographical areas and/or
university campuses, which sometimes can be accompanied by the pres-
ence of a nationwide organization, which has, however, a low degree of
autonomy vis-à-vis state authorities and with secondary roles in protest
activities. Formal and informal organizations do not overlap, as they tend
to work with different agendas and often pursue divergent goals, and
activists must choose one of them to invest their time and efforts into.
The existence of institutions of student government recognized by
the student base provides incentives for coordinated collective action
among affinity or politico-ideological groups. They tend to facilitate the
building of coalitions within the heterogeneous landscape of campuses.
In contrast to this, in fragmented fields of student politics, the weak-
ness or lack of student governments makes it more difficult for coalitions
to emerge from among the variety of groups. If they are legitimized by
their bases, student governments can become a facilitating factor for the
coordination of the various groups that populate university campuses.
Large protest campaigns are more politically successful when competi-
tion among groups (for leadership, internal resources, support among the
student base) is suspended and movements can voice a relatively coherent
set of demands (these ideas have been further elaborated on in della Porta
et al., 2020).
Finally, the action repertories and organizational models in the
contested field of HE are linked to the collective identities the student
activists develop that shape their mission in society (or goals). Identities
are formed in the interplay between their own actions and those of their
adversaries, during critical junctures or transformative events. The tradi-
tional sociological interpretation of the student uprisings of the 1960s sees
them as a manifestation of generational conflict (Rootes, 2013) in which
12 L. CINI ET AL.
the younger and better-educated cohorts in society demanded radical

democratic changes in various spheres of society, ranging from academia
to politics and family relations (Edmunds and Turner, 2005). However,
more recent studies exploring the causes of student mobilizations have
shown that the picture of student protestis much more complicated and
cannot be so narrowly reduced to the idea of intergenerational conflict
(Cini, 2017a; della Porta, 2010, 2015).
Student protests have constantly formed part of broader cycles of
struggle, such as those associated with nationalist movements, labor
movements, or the so-called “new social movements” (i.e., environ-
mental, urban, feminist, peace movements) (Melucci, 1996; Touraine,
1987). Waves of student protestare always embedded within the social
and political dynamics of the societies in which they have prospered
(Cini, 2017a). In this sense, the specific generational dimension of student
movements, which influences their form and their spread, must be located
within broader societal trends (Brooks, 2016; della Porta, 2010).
As is shown by a number of contributions in this volume, in most
cases of student protests these components are always strongly inter-
woven: students can put forward a certain generational concern related
to their socio-existential condition and, at the same time, convey broader
feelings of social discontent. These movements often deal with the prob-
lems experienced by the generation of their activists and, at the same
time, are part of broader dynamics in society. As mentioned above, it
is precisely due to the structural ambivalence of the student condition
that several strategic dilemmas can arise among activists in the course of
mobilization campaigns (Cini, 2017a). In principle, a larger amount of
“biographical availability” (McAdam, 1986) provides young activists with
more collective freedom and strategic options, compared to other groups
(della Porta, 2010).
The Configuration of Allies

and Political Outcomes
The neoliberal model of HE not only affects the forms of student poli-
tics, but also the potential alliances and potential outcomes of protest
campaigns. The idea that we must look at political contexts to under-
stand the emergence, dynamics, and outcomes of contention dates back
to the first developments of what is now known as “political opportu-
nity structure” theory (Eisinger, 1973; Tilly, 1978). Since then, much
scholarship has adopted the assumption that environments—those factors

in the “world outside” social movements—can explain mobilizing activ-
ities, demands, strategies, alliances, and the influence of social protest
(Meyer, 2004). Taking distance from the rather deterministic character
of such an approach, more recent developments have addressed the rela-
tional dynamics between institutions and protestors, focusing on the
ways in which these interactions shape and influence both sets of actors
(Goldstone, 2003; Jasper, 2015; Tilly & Tarrow, 2015). While there is
agreement that contexts matter for social movements, the specific ques-
tions that scholars must specify are how and to what extent they do so,
which aspects of the political environment are more relevant, and for what
kind of outcomes (Uba, 2009; Bosi et al., 2016). These are questions that
have been addressed by several contributors in this volume.
When studying the policy impact of protest movements, we should
distinguish the policy field from the broader political system. Policy fields
configure the immediate structure of opportunity and constraints of social
movements attempting to advance alternative policy proposals. These
fields usually define the legitimate actors of the relevant policy discussions
and the mechanisms through which these discussions take place. Policy
fields are embedded in the broader political system, which in turn shapes
the constraints and opportunities that protesters face (Kriesi et al., 1995).
Therefore, the contextual factors favor and/or inhibit the potential impact
of social movements (Uba, 2009).
In democratic systems, social movementsmust influence political
partiesto obtain concessions, often by first affecting public opinion.
Protests may be conceived as signals that orient politicians about the pref-
erences of the majority. Therefore, social movements “are highly likely to
succeed if public opinion is both supportive and attentive or fail if the
reverse is true” (Luders, 2016, 189). The political mediation model main-
tains that social movements and protests are necessary, but insufficient
conditions for policy change and their “impact (…) is mediated strongly
by political conditions” (Amenta et al., 1992, 335). Legislative outputs
are more straightforward in some cases, especially where protestors have
swayed public opinion in their favor and politicians see that these events
might have an impact on their electoral options. However, on occasions,
windows of opportunity might open up, making dominant political actors
or powerful institutions vulnerable to external pressures, which increases
the options open to challengers (Moore, 1999). Eventful protests can
create their own opportunities or resources over the course of a protest
14 L. CINI ET AL.
campaign, thus altering initial adverse conditions and increasing their

chances of achieving positive results (della Porta, 2017b).
The combined reactions of institutional actors define an “institutional
sensitivity,” which political struggles can indeed modify by addressing the
disposition of authorities, policy-makers, and bureaucracies. In the short
run, institutional sensitivity might vary in reaction to challenges from
civil society, to drastic changes in public opinion, or to exogenous crises.
In the long run, the responsiveness of institutions might change due to
broader alterations of the balance of power (as a consequence of transfor-
mations in the party system, demographic change, or deep socioeconomic
transitions).
Yet, if one were to focus solely on contextual factors, this may lead to
the agency of actors being overlooked, resulting in an overly static expla-
nation of the process under investigation. To avoid the structuralism bias
that is implicit in the political mediation model—and more generally in
the political process approach—it is therefore important to give actors,
their characteristics, and their mutual relations at least as much analyt-
ical weight as their context of action (Meyer, Jenness and Ingram, 2005).
Opportunities are seized (or lost), vulnerabilities or windows of oppor-
tunity can be created, allies can be persuaded. The literature has shown
how the presence of allies in political institutions, in key decision-making
bodies, in the media, and, more generally, in the public arena, is one of
the main factors that facilitates the impact of movements (Amenta et al.,
1992; Cress & Snow, 2000 della Porta & Rucht, 1995; Kitschelt, 1986;
Kriesi et al., 1995; Kriesi, 2004). Historically, left-wing parties or unions
have been “natural allies” of movements (della Porta & Rucht, 1995,
Kriesi et al., 1995).
It has been shown from our analysis of the dynamics of student protest
campaigns that specific political opportunities are important, not only as
conditions, but also as the effects of protests: as protests unfold they have
been able to forge new political alliances and in turn to obtain conces-
sions. Several contributors to this volume have found that the strategic
capacities of protestors to make alliances within institutions (including
governments and parliaments) or to change the political scenario in such
manner as to create incentives for political actors to offer concessions
are important determinants of policy outcomes (Amenta, 2006; Amenta
et al., 2005; Banaszak, 2005).
Movement activists occasionally build coalitions and make alliances
with insiders, members of the decisional bodies, in order to amplify
their influence in policy-making decisions. These have been referred

to as “mediators” (Moore, 1999), “institutional activists” (Santoro &
McGuire, 1997), or “tempered radicals” (Meyerson & Tompkins, 2007).
Individuals located in the middle ground between institutions and move-
ments can be in a good position to translate the claims of protest groups
into changes in practices, norms, and members (Moore, 1999). However,
protestors or movements can also initiate a journey toward institutions,
in a process that generally takes some time. This joint pressure exerted
over the centers of power seems to be crucial in producing some positive
impacts.
In considering a number of episodes of student protest that have
occurred over the last decades, it can be observed that, to varying degrees,
students distance themselves from political parties, with a mistrust toward
institutional politics being noticeable in various groups. Hence the
appearance of horizontal organizations and movements constituted by
loose, decentered networks, which have been apparent, for example, in
recent protests in Brazil (Alonso & Mische, 2017) and South Africa
(Luescher, Loader, & Mugume, 2017). The origins of this trend could
be traced back to 1968, and was a significant factor in Italy as early as
the second half of the 1970s. However, this phenomenon takes different
forms. In Chile, for instance, left-wing parties (both traditional and
new) continue to enjoy a significant presence on campuses, while former
student leaders contest national elections (Von Bulow & Bidegain, 2015).
These differences speak to a variation in the ways in which these actors
conceive elements of their environment in terms of opportunities or
constraints, and accordingly, on the potential courses of action they are
prepared to follow in pursuing their goals. Specific chapters included in
this collection discuss how student movements strike a balance (or fail to)
between identities, strategies, and goals.
The Structure of the Book

All of the contributors to this volume tackle the aspects outlined above,
dealing with, on the one hand, the forms of student organization and
their action repertoires, and, on the other, their capacity to make alliances
and to bring about various kinds of political consequences. Although
these two aspects are closely interconnected, extant research in the field
has rarely looked at them jointly. Therefore, it can be said that this volume
makes a substantial contribution to the field by integrating these two
16 L. CINI ET AL.
aspects in an original and exhaustive manner. More notably, the various

contributors explore how and to what extent the above aspects are to
be understood as the result of strategic choices made by student activists
during the process of mobilization. In doing so, they offer a relational
and dynamic approach to these episodes of mobilizations by allowing the
reader to better grasp the scope and centrality of the strategic dilemmas
with which student activists and leaders need to cope (see, for instance,
Jasper, 2015; Jasper, Moran, & Tramontano, 2015; Cini, 2017b).
The Chapters included in this volume cover issues such as coalition
building, the role of grievances, interactions with political systems, intra-
movement dynamics of mobilization, and higher education reforms. The
authors attempt to explain the emergence of movements of contestation
and how students have managed to achieve and sustain such significant
levels of mobilization and commitment; how they have built alliances
with other actors (e.g. faculty, civil society organizations, trade unions,and
workers); the impacts of these movements in the political system and the
ways in which institutional settings shape them; the ways in which policy
reforms trigger resistance; and the extent to which these movements have
been able to fight back and re-shape these reforms. One of the main
characteristics of the volume is its geographical diversity: this collection
includes cases from Latin America and North America, Europe, Asia, and
Africa. The comparisons are innovative, as they contrast cases that are not
often systematically compared within this discipline. In addition to this
introduction, the volume comprises a further ten chapters that are listed
and briefly outlined below.
In Chapter 2, “What Moves Students? Ritual versus Reactive Student
Demonstrations in Mexico City,” María Inclán adopts an innovative
protest survey of protest participants and non-participants from two
major student demonstrationsin Mexico City to test the assumption that
protest participation triggers vary across protest events, even for demon-
strating groups that are similar. Building on previous research, the author
compares the motivations, mobilization dynamics, and political attitudes
of students taking part in a ritual demonstration(the annual commemo-
ration of the 1968 student movement) and a reactive protest (a march
organized by the #YoSoy132 movement in response to Enrique Peña
Nieto’s presidential campaign). The results suggest that the level of
students’ political involvement is more influential in their decision to take
part in reactive demonstrations, while for ritual demonstrations, the deci-
sion to participate tends to be driven more by their collective identity as
students. These findings add to the growing literature on contextualized

contestation and debunking the myth of the protester, in this particular
case of the protesting student.
In Chapter 3, Luc Chicoine and Marcos Ancelovici analyze “Con-
tentious Institutionalized Movements: The Case of the Student Move-
mentin Quebec.” As they note, social movement scholars generally
claim that the institutionalization of social movements goes hand in
hand with bureaucratization, professionalization, and normalization or
domestication. Simply put, as social movements institutionalize, they
supposedly become less disruptive. However, in Quebec, the student
movement remains disruptive in spite of a process of institutionalization.
The authors argue that in order to make sense of this relationship between
institutionalization and contentiousness, one needs to unpack the process
of institutionalization and identify internal contradictions and tensions.
The authors contend that in Quebec, a process of fragmented institution-
alization and the existence of an alliance system, which includes influential
non-student actors have allowed radical student associations to reproduce
their contentious repertoire over time. The persistence of contention was
thus made possible not only in spite of institutionalization, but also thanks
to it.
In Chapter 4 Sarah L. Augusto looks at “Structuring the ‘Structure-
less’ and Leading the ‘Leaderless’: Power and Organization in the Student
Movementat the University of California.” She examines the tensions
and challenges experienced by participants in the student movementat
the University of California as they struggled to create new forms of
decentralized organization and horizontal leadership. Focusing on the
internal dynamics of the movement, the author explores how power is
allocated, the process of direct democracy, and why participants prefer
certain organizational forms over others. She found that informal lead-
ership and organization created hidden power dynamics and different
understandings of direct democracy and the purpose of consensus, while
also creating conflicts that often got in the way of solidarity. She also
found that organizational preferences were in part determined by strategy
and the varying goals and tactical preferences of participants, but also
influenced by ideology and symbolic associations.
Chapter 5, authored by Thierry M. Luescher, Nkululeko Makhubu,
Thelma Oppelt, Seipati Mokhema, and Memory Zodwa Radasi focuses
on “Tweeting #FeesMustFall: The OnlineLife and Offline Protests of
a Networked Student Movement.” Over ten days in October 2015,
18 L. CINI ET AL.
students from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and

eventually from across South Africa became engaged in the #FeesMustFall
campaign, shutting down university campuses nationwide and partic-
ipating in intense onlineand offline protest actions. The movement
stopped an increase in tuition fees for 2016 and eventually led to fee-
free higher education for poor and working-class students from 2018
onwards. The extensive use of social media by student activists and
others transformed the South African student movement into a networked
movement. In this chapter, the authors provide systematic evidence for
the online and offline life of #FeesMustFall. They analyze #FeesMustFall-
related online and offline protest actions during the crucial first campaign
from 14 to 23 October 2015. Using a combination of Twitter data,
interviews with student activists, and protest event data, they analyze the
history of #FeesMustFall, the nature and extent of Twitter use, the preva-
lence of protest action across different universities, and the online social
network structure, leadership, and organization structure of the move-
ment. The authors find significant differences between institutions that
signal a social media divide in the movement as well as various organi-
zational and tactical dimensions that may account for the effectiveness of
the 2015 #FeesMustFall campaign.
In Chapter 6, “Organizing Spontaneity: Student Leadership in Hong
Kong’s Umbrella Movement,” Chi-shun Fong and Samson Yuen build
upon the observation that leadership is a crucial factor that influences
the dynamics and outcomes of social movements. This chapter explores
student leadership in Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement and suggests
that trajectories of protest in the contemporary era cannot be explained
simply by the presence or absence of political opportunities but must
be understood through looking at the multifaceted interplay between
movement leadership and its digital and spatial milieus over time. As the
spontaneous eruption of the Umbrella Movement gave rise to a decen-
tralized protest structure, formal protest leaders had to operate within a
connective environment in which participants were no longer simply their
obedient followers. The emergence of many informal leaders blurred the
boundary of leadership and thinned out the authority of formal leaders.
By studying the online and offline interaction of the two student organi-
zations—The Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholarism—with
ordinary protesters, it is demonstrated how such connective dynamics
restrained the leading student organizations to bring together a mass
mandate from various protest sites and online communities in order to
make strategic decisions. The findings show that the formation of move-
ment leadership and their decision-making capacity can be both adversely
and positively affected by digitally networked activism.
Chapter 7, by Gianni Piazza, is entitled “From the Classrooms to the
Roofs: The 2010 University Researchers’ Movement in Italy,” and focuses
on the 2010 researcher movement in Italy and on its main collective
actor, the Rete29Aprile (April29Network). Along with student move-
ments and precarious researchers, they had a decisive role in the protest
campaign against the Gelmini Bill, a neoliberal and private sector-oriented
university reform. This movement of permanent researchers undoubtedly
represented a novelty for Italian academia, because they chose to mobilize
according to a model of “unconventional movement politics” as opposed
to that of “conventional union politics.” Indeed, most researchers who
took part in the protests opted for setting up an informal, networked
participatory organization based on direct and participatory democracy,
and chose mainly unconventional tactics, which were sometimes disrup-
tive, such as “unavailability for teaching” and “climbing on roofs.”
Despite the approval of the Gelmini Bill and the consequent demobiliza-
tion of movement against it, the researcher protest left its mark and the
R29A continues to play an important monitoring and observation role in
Italian academia.
Chapter 8 sees Francesco Pontarelli address “Worker-Student Unity
Against Outsourcing at the University of Johannesburg: Disrupting the
Neoliberal Paradigm Through Direct Action and Alternative Relations.”
In 2015, #FeesMustFall, the largest student movementsince the end of
the apartheid regime, united with outsourced university workers, in reac-
tion to the neoliberal trajectory of the South African higher education
system. Based on data collected through extended participant observa-
tion and interviews, the author explores the process of solidarity that
emerged between students and workers at the University of Johannesburg
and investigates how their unity in action achieved the partial removal
of outsourced labor relations. The processes of solidarity that emerged,
drawing on the progressive aspects of the historical senso comune, had
the potential to question the whole post-apartheid societal structure,
obliging the state and the university management to make remarkable
concessions in order to disarticulate it. This analysis contributes to the
debate about the limits and potential of student and worker movements
and their capacity to question the status quo and imagine de-colonialized
alternatives.
20 L. CINI ET AL.
In Chapter 9, “From Revolt to Reform: Student Protests and the

Higher Education Agenda in England 2009–2019,” Hector Rios-Jara
analyses how the dynamics of cooperation and competition between
student movement organizations and third parties shaped the impact of
student protests in higher education policyin England between 2010 and
2019. More specifically, the author analyzes the wave of higher education
reforms and university student protests of 2009–2014 and 2015–2019.
For each period, he examines the strategy and alliances of leading student
organizations and the impact that protests have on higher education
policy. The author suggests that English student protests have a low
impact on policy due to the existence of competitive relationships between
leading organizations, and the lack of strong connections to third parties.
The chapter concludes by reflecting on strategic tensions that student
activists experienced during the transition from opposition and revolt
against neoliberal policies to reform and influencing higher education
policy through alliances with the Labour Party and the rise of Corbynism.
Chapter 10 by Nicolás M. Somma and Sofía Donoso is on “Chile’s
Student Movement: Strong, Detached, Influential … and Declining?”
Contrary to what is commonly argued in the literature, Chile’s student
movement became influential once it had detached itself from political
parties and the government. Adopting a contentious politics approach,
this chapter analyses this empirical puzzle by highlighting three processes
that the student movement has experienced since the 1990s: growing
strength, political detachment, and an influence on education policy-
making. To support these claims, the authors present a narrative that relies
on the abundant scholarly literature on the Chilean student movement
and on data collected in various research projects they have undertaken.
They emphasize the critical junctures of 2001, 2006, and 2011–2012,
where major student protestcycles took place. Finally, the authors also try
to make sense of the decline of student protests after 2011.
Finally, in Chapter 11, Didem Türkoğlu presents a comparative view
in “Ever Failed? Fail Again, Fail Better: Tuition protests in Germany,
Turkey, and the United States” by exploring student protests against
tuition hikes across three different welfare state types: Germany, Turkey,
and the United States. More notably, she argues that the crucial common-
ality across these cases was the formation of unexpected alliances made
possible by the failures of past movements. The author offers a meso-level
analysis of past “failures” that empowered strategic intentions through
the collective memory work of activists. These positions offered new
possibilities for brokerage, enabled and constrained different alliance

configurations, especially with labor unions and civil society organizations.
The legacy of the 1960s and the 1990s influenced the pathways available
to the student activists in the 2000s.
Overall, the ten chapters of the volume offer a broad understanding of
a variety of struggles in which students have been engaged across widely
different contexts and educational systems during the first two decades
of this century. From different disciplinary angles, ranging from polit-
ical sociology to higher education studies and political economy, the ten
contributions illustrate key episodes of student mobilizations contesting
neoliberal education policies, in both the higher education field and
broader political arena, in a period of manifold crises of global capitalism
in “late neoliberalism” (della Porta et al., 2017).
In mapping this variety of mobilizations in very different regions of the
world, the chapters converge on two common themes: the forms of orga-
nization and action that these movements adopt on the one hand, and
their outcomes on the other. The variation displayed by contemporary
student mobilizations on these two specific dimensions also represents
one of the main empirical contributions that this collection of studies
provides. Today, students are mobilizing on issues related to racism and
ethnic discrimination, gender equality, sexual harassment on campuses,
colonialism in study programs, and aspects pertaining to equality of
access, including movements for free university education and for the
expansion of student aid programs.
As student protests are also still spreading, from Lebanon to Catalonia
to Turkey, bridging the criticism of commodification of education with
calls for democracy, future research is needed. It will be especially impor-
tant to investigate the new ways of practicing student activism, both in
online and offline forms. This is all the more important in a world that
has discovered how vulnerable it is to the impacts of global pandemics
that have a high disruptive capacity and in which universities are already
experiencing new budget constraints and changing demands from both
governments and public opinion. These are compelling issues that chal-
lenge the core mission of the university, something that makes conflict
and struggle all the more relevant in the foreseeable future.
22 L. CINI ET AL.
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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
entzündet worden, der ganze Kerl wäre in Flammen aufgegangen,
so durchtränkt war der Ärmste mit dem Leuchtmaterial des Herrn
Rockefeller.
Entweder muß man es als Beweis höchster Disziplin oder
höchsten Stumpfsinns betrachten, Tatsache ist, daß dieser Träger
sich nicht etwa gleich am ersten Tage, wo er und seine Freunde die
Undichtigkeit eines der beiden Blechgefäße entdeckt hatten, bei mir
meldete, sondern daß er in aller Seelenruhe seine fröhlich
weiterrinnende Petroleumquelle am nächsten Frühmorgen von
neuem aufgenommen und ohne Murren bis zum Halteplatz weiter
getragen hat. Auch jetzt hat er wieder förmlich in Petroleum
geschwommen; dies hätte Kasi Uleia in seiner Gemütsruhe auch
jetzt nicht gestört, hätten sich nicht bereits die ersten Anzeichen
eines Ekzems bemerkbar gemacht, das ihn doch etwas beunruhigte.
So kam er denn endlich an und sagte, was eben jeder Neger sagt,
wenn ihm etwas fehlt und er vom alles vermögenden Weißen Hilfe
erheischt: „Daua, bwana, Medizin, Herr“, und wies mit
bezeichnender, aber keineswegs entrüsteter Gebärde auf seinen
körperlichen Zustand hin. Zu allererst hielt ich hier eine tüchtige
Seifenkur für angebracht, einmal des Petroleums wegen, sodann
auch, um den Schmutzüberzug, der sich während des siebentägigen
Marsches auf dem Körper des sonst außerordentlich reinlichen
Trägers abgelagert hatte, zu entfernen. Später habe ich den Mann
mit Lanolin behandelt, von dem ich zum Glück eine ungeheuer
große Büchse mitgenommen habe. Jetzt ist der Patient allmählich
wieder von seinem Leiden befreit.
Auch die Gelegenheit, von den verheerenden Wirkungen des
Sandflohes einen schwachen Begriff zu bekommen, habe ich bereits
hier in Massassi gehabt. Einer der Askariboys, ein baumlanger
Maaraba aus dem Hinterlande von Ssudi, tritt allmorgendlich an, um
für seine stark angefressene große Zehe die übliche Daua zu
empfangen. Ich bin in der höchst merkwürdigen Lage, einstweilen
nicht einmal Sublimat und Jodoform in meiner Apotheke zu besitzen,
sondern lediglich über Borsäure in Tabletten zu verfügen. Es muß
auch mit dieser gehen, und geht auch, nur müssen sich meine
Patienten wohl oder übel an eine etwas hohe Temperatur meines
schwachen Desinfektionsmittels gewöhnen. Bei solchen
gleichgültigen Patronen wie diesem Maaraba, der den Verlust seines
Zehennagels — dieser ist gänzlich verschwunden; an seiner Stelle
breitet sich eine große, völlig vereiterte Wunde aus — lediglich
seiner negroiden Gleichgültigkeit zuzuschreiben hat, ist übrigens das
heiße Wasser gleichzeitig ein sehr verdientes Strafmittel. Der
Bursche brüllt jedesmal, als wenn er am Spieße stäke, und schwört,
er wolle von nun an aber ganz genau auf den funsa, den Sandfloh,
Obacht geben. Zur Verfestigung seiner löblichen Vorsätze bekommt
er dann von seinem Herrn und Gebieter, den das kindische Gebaren
des Riesen weidlich ärgert, ein paar derbe, aber gutgemeinte Püffe.
Über den Gesundheitszustand der hiesigen Eingeborenen will ich
mich einstweilen lieber noch nicht auslassen; das wenige, was ich in
der kurzen Zeit hier in meiner Morgensprechstunde an hygienischer
Vernachlässigung und hygienischem Unvermögen gesehen habe,
läßt in mir den Entschluß reifen, erst noch andere Bezirke in dieser
Richtung zu studieren, bevor ich mir ein Urteil bilde und es auch
ausspreche. Nur soviel sei bereits hier gesagt: so glänzend wie wir
es uns daheim in unserem überfeinerten Kulturleben gemeiniglich
vorstellen, ist die Widerstandsfähigkeit des Negers gegen die
Angriffe seines heimtückischen Erdteils durchaus nicht, und vor
allem scheint eine Kindersterblichkeit zu herrschen, von deren Höhe
wir uns gar keine Vorstellung machen können. Ach, ihr Ärmsten!
muß man angesichts dieses Elends ausrufen.
Nach der Sprechstunde hebt das eigentliche Tagewerk an; dann
ziehe ich als Diogenes durchs Land. Die ersten Tage bin ich nur mit
einer Schachtel „Schweden“ bewaffnet in die Hütten der
Eingeborenen gekrochen. Das war recht romantisch, doch nicht
zweckentsprechend. Ich habe mir nie einen Begriff von der
ägyptischen Finsternis des Alten Testaments machen können; jetzt
weiß ich, daß die Benennung eines besonders hohen Ausmaßes
von Lichtmangel nach dem Lande der Pharaonen nur ein pars pro
toto ist; sie ist dem ganzen Erdteil eigen und ist hier in der Tiefebene
im Westen des Makondeplateaus in allererster Qualität zu haben.
Die Negerhütten sind nämlich ganz fensterlos. Das mag uns
rückständig erscheinen, ist jedoch der Ausfluß einer langen, langen
Erfahrung. Der Schwarze will sein Haus kühl haben; das kann er nur
erzielen durch den Abschluß jeder Außentemperatur. Deswegen
öffnet er auch so ungern Vorder- und Hintertür seines Heims, und
aus dem gleichen Grunde reicht das schwere Strohdach weit über
die Hauswand hinaus nach außen und unten.
Meine Stallaterne, vom Knaben Moritz morgens oder
nachmittags brennend durchs Land getragen, macht den
Eingeborenen viel Spaß; es ist ja auch etwas Absonderliches, gegen
den Glast der strahlenden Tropensonne mit einem solch
kümmerlichen Beleuchtungsapparat ankämpfen zu wollen. Um so
mehr am Platz ist sie nachher im Dunkel des Hauses. Höflich habe
ich oder Herr Knudsen den Besitzer gefragt, ob er gestattet, sein
Haus zu besichtigen; ebenso höflich ist die Genehmigung erfolgt.
Das ist dann ein lustiges Suchen in den Zimmern und Verschlägen,
aus denen sich zu meiner Überraschung das Heim der hiesigen
Schwarzen zusammensetzt. Die Räume sind nicht elegant, diesen
Begriff kennt der Neger einstweilen noch nicht, aber sie geben ein
unverfälschtes Zeugnis von der Lebensführung ihrer Insassen. In der
Mitte des Hauses, zwischen den beiden Haustüren, die Küche mit
dem Herde und den zum Haushalt zunächst nötigen Gerätschaften
und Vorräten. Der Herd der Inbegriff der Einfachheit: drei kopfgroße
Steine oder wohl gar nur Kugeln von Termitenerde, im Winkel von je
120 Grad zueinander gelagert. Darauf über schwelendem Feuer der
große irdene Topf mit dem unvermeidlichen Ugali; andere Töpfe
ringsum; dazwischen Schöpflöffel, Rührlöffel, Quirle. Über dem
Herde, aber noch im Vollbereich seines Rauches, ein Gerüst von
vier oder sechs gegabelten Stangen. Auf seinen Latten liegen
Hirseähren in dichter, gleichmäßiger Lagerung; unter ihnen hängen,
wie auf der Räucherkammer unserer deutschen Bauern die
Schlack-, Blut- und Leberwürste, zahlreiche Maiskolben von
außergewöhnlicher Größe und Schönheit, die jetzt bereits von einer
glänzend schwarzen Rauchkruste überzogen sind. Wenn diese nicht
vor Insektenfraß schützt, etwas anderes tut’s sicher nicht. Das ist
denn auch der Endzweck dieses ganzen Verfahrens. Bei uns
zulande, im gemäßigten Europa, mag es eine Wissenschaft sein,
das Saatkorn keimfähig bis zur nächsten Saatperiode zu erhalten;
hier im tropischen Afrika mit seiner alles durchdringenden
Luftfeuchtigkeit, seinem alles zerstörenden Reichtum an
Schädlingen, endlich seinem Mangel an geeignetem, dauerhaftem
Baumaterial, ist dieses Hinüberretten der Aussaat eine Kunst. Es
wird nicht meine undankbarste Aufgabe sein, diese Kunst in ihren
Einzelheiten gründlich zu studieren.
Auch über die Wirtschaft meiner Neger, ihren Kampf mit der
widerstrebenden Natur Afrikas und ihre Fürsorge für den morgenden
Tag will ich mich erst später, nachdem ich mehr von Land und
Leuten gesehen habe als bis jetzt, auslassen. In der
völkerkundlichen und auch der nationalökonomischen Literatur gibt
es eine lange Reihe von Werken, die sich mit der Klassifikation der
Menschheit nach ihren Wirtschaftsformen und Wirtschaftsstufen
befassen. Selbstverständlich nehmen wir die alleroberste Stufe ein;
wir haben ja die Vollkultur auf allen Gebieten gepachtet; darin sind
alle Autoren einig. In der Unterbringung der übrigen
Menschenrassen und Völker gehen sie dafür um so weiter
auseinander; es wimmelt von Halbkulturvölkern, seßhaften und
nomadischen, von Jäger-, Hirten- und Fischervölkern, von unsteten
und Sammlervölkern; die eine Gruppe übt ihre Wirtschaftskünste auf
Grund traditioneller Überlieferung aus, eine andere kraft des
angeborenen Instinkts; schließlich erscheint sogar eine tierische
Wirtschaftsstufe auf der Bühne. Wirft man alle diese Einteilungen in
einen gemeinsamen Topf, so entsteht ein Gericht mit vielen Zutaten,
aber von geringem Wohlgeschmack. Sein Grundbestandteil läuft im
großen und ganzen darauf hinaus, gerade die Naturvölker weit zu
unterschätzen. Wenn man jene Bücher liest, so hat man das Gefühl,
daß zum Beispiel der Neger direkt von der Hand in den Mund lebe
und daß er in seinem göttlichen Leichtsinn nicht einmal für den
heutigen Tag sorge, geschweige denn für den anderen Morgen.
In Wirklichkeit ist es ganz anders, anderswo wie auch hier. Und
gerade hier. Für unsere intensive norddeutsche Landwirtschaft
charakteristisch sind die regellos über die Feldmarken verteilten
Feldscheunen und die neuerdings stets gehäuft erscheinenden
Diemen oder Mieten; beide haben seit dem Aufkommen der
freibeweglichen Dreschmaschine die alte Hofscheune stark
entlastet, ja beinahe überflüssig gemacht. Das Wirtschaftsbild
meiner hiesigen Neger unterscheidet sich von jenem deutschen nur
dem Grade nach, nicht im Prinzip; auch hier Scheunen en miniature
regellos über die Schamben, die Felder, verteilt, und andere
Vorratsbehälter in meist erstaunlicher Anzahl und Größe neben und
im Gehöft. Und leuchtet man das Innere des Hauses selbst ab: auch
dort in allen Räumen große, mittels Lehm dicht und hermetisch
geschlossene Tongefäße für Erdnüsse, Erbsen, Bohnen und
dergleichen, und sauber gearbeitete, meterhohe Zylinder aus
Baumrinde, ebenfalls lehmüberzogen und gut gedichtet, für
Maiskolben, Hirseähren und andere Getreidesorten. Alle diese
Vorratsbehälter, die draußen im Freien stehenden wie die im Hause
selbst untergebrachten, stehen zum Schutz gegen Insektenfraß,
Nagetiere und Nässe auf Pfahlrosten, Plattformen von 40 bis 60
Zentimeter Höhe, die aus Holz und Bambus gefertigt und mit Lehm
bestrichen sind. Das Ganze ruht auf gegabelten, kräftigen Pfählen.
Die freistehenden Vorratsbehälter sind oft von sehr erheblichen
Dimensionen. Sie gleichen mit ihrem weitausladenden Strohdach
riesigen Pilzen, sind entweder aus Bambus oder aus Stroh
hergestellt und innen und außen stets mit Erde ausgestrichen.
Einige besitzen in der Peripherie eine Tür, ganz in der Art unserer
Kanonenöfen; bei anderen fehlt dieser Zugang. Will der Herr von
ihrem Inhalt entnehmen, so muß er zu dem Zweck das Dach lupfen.
Dazu dient ihm eine Leiter primitivster Konstruktion. Ich habe manch
eine von ihnen skizziert, doch hat mir jede ein stilles Lächeln
entlockt: ein paar ästige, krumm und schief gewachsene Stangen als
Längsbäume; in meterweitem Abstand darangebunden ein paar
Bambusriegel — das ist das Beförderungsmittel des Negers zu
seinem Wirtschaftsfundament. Trotz seiner Ursprünglichkeit ist es
indessen doch der Beweis einer gewissen technischen
Erfindungsgabe.
Ein uns Europäer sehr anheimelnder Zug in der Wirtschaft der
hiesigen Neger ist die Taubenzucht; kaum ein Gehöft betritt der
Besucher, ohne auf einen oder mehrere Taubenschläge zu stoßen.
Sie sind anders als in Uleia, doch auch sie sind durchaus praktisch.
Im einfachsten Falle nisten die Tiere in einer einzelnen Röhre aus
Baumrinde. Diese ist der Rindenmantel eines mittelstarken Baumes,
den man ablöst, an den Enden mit Stäben oder platten Steinen
verkeilt und anderthalb bis zwei Meter über dem Boden anbringt,
nachdem man in der Mitte der Peripherie erst noch das Flugloch
ausgespart hat. Meist ruht die Röhre auf Pfählen, seltener hängt sie,
einem schwebenden Reck gleich, an einem besonderen Gestell.
Diese Anlage ist dann besonders günstig, denn das Raubzeug findet
keinen Zugang. Und mehrt sich dann der Bestand der Tierchen, so
schichtet der Hausherr Röhre auf Röhre, daß eine förmliche Wand
entsteht. Neigt sich die Sonne, so tritt er oder seine Hausgenossin
heran an die luftige Behausung; ein freundliches Gurren begrüßt den
Nahenden aus dem Innern der Zylinder; behutsam hebt der Züchter
einen bearbeiteten Klotz vom Boden auf; sacht verschließt er mit ihm
das Flugloch des untersten Rohres; der zweite folgt, dann der dritte
und so fort. Beruhigt verläßt der Mensch den Ort; so sind die
Tierchen vor allem Raubzeug gesichert.
Seit einigen Tagen weiß ich auch, warum bei meinen Rundtouren
so wenig Männer sichtbar sind. Die Negersiedelungen hierzulande
verdienen kaum den Namen Dörfer; dazu sind sie zu weitläufig
gebaut; von einem Hause aus sieht man nur ganz vereinzelt das
nächste herüberwinken, so weit liegt es abseits. Gehindert wird der
Ausblick zudem durch die zwar sehr sperrigen, aber doch saftig
grünen und darum sehr undurchsichtigen Mhogofelder, die jetzt,
nach der Einerntung von Hirse und Mais, neben den mit Basi
bestellten Schamben allein noch die Fluren bedecken. So kann es
vorkommen, daß man, um kein Haus zu übergehen, sich lediglich
der Führung der ausgetretenen Feldpfade anvertrauen muß, oder
aber, daß man den Geräuschen und Lauten nachgeht, die von jeder
menschlichen Siedelung unzertrennlich sind. Und wie bedeutend
sind diese Geräusche und Laute, denen ich hier in Massassi so
ziemlich alle Tage habe nachgehen können! Wie eine lustige
Frühschoppengesellschaft hört es sich an, wenn ich mit Nils
Knudsen durch das Gelände streiche. Lauter und lauter werdende
Stimmen, die ohne Beobachtung parlamentarischer Umgangsformen
regellos durcheinanderlärmen. Mit einemmal wendet sich der Pfad,
unversehens stehen wir in einem stattlichen Gehöft, und da haben
wir auch die Bescherung! Es ist wirklich und wahrhaftig ein
Frühschoppen, und ein recht kräftiger dazu, der Stimmung aller
Teilnehmer nach zu urteilen und nach Anzahl und Ausmaß der
bereits ganz oder halb geleerten Pombetöpfe. Wie bei einem
Steinwurf in einen Poggenpfuhl, so verstummt bei unserem
Erscheinen das Getöse. Erst auf unser: „Pombe msuri?, ist der Stoff
gut?“ schallt ein begeistertes „Msuri kabissa, bwana! Ausgezeichnet,
Herr!“ aus rauhen Kehlen zurück.
Taubenschlag und Speicher (s. S. 118).

O diese Pombe! Wie gut wir es im alten Bierlande Deutschland
haben, begreifen wir erst, wenn wir ihm einmal schnöde den Rücken
kehren. Schon in Mtua, unserem zweiten Lagerplatz nach Lindi, war
uns drei Weißen ein gewaltiger Tonkrug mit dem Nationalbräu des
östlichen Afrika als Ehrengabe kredenzt worden. Bei mir hatte die
schmutzig graugelbe Flüssigkeit damals keine Gegenliebe gefunden;
um so größere bei unseren Leuten, die mit den 25 oder 30 Litern im
Nu fertig gewesen waren. Auch hier in Massassi hat die Gattin des
Wanyassagroßen Massekera-Matola, eine nasenpflockbehaftete,
außerordentlich nette Frau von mittleren Jahren, es sich nicht
nehmen lassen, Knudsen und mir gleich an einem der ersten
Abende ebenfalls den Ehrentrunk in Gestalt eines solchen
Riesentopfes zu übersenden. Die Ehrengabe ausschlagen oder sie
vergeuden ging doch nicht, wie wir uns sagen mußten; also deshalb
mit Todesverachtung heran an das Gebräu. Ich bin der glückliche
Besitzer zweier Wassergläser; eins von ihnen senke ich energisch in
die trübe Flut. Es zeigt sich gefüllt mit einem Naß, das der Farbe
nach unserem Lichtenhainer gleicht, der Konsistenz nach aber eine
Million mal dicker ist. Eine kompakte Masse von Hirseschrot und
Hirsemalz füllt das Gefäß bis fast obenhin; nur einen Finger breit
hoch lagert darüber ein wirkliches Lichtenhainer. „Ä, das geht doch
nicht“, knurre ich. „Kibwana, ein Taschentuch,“ rufe ich meinem
„Stubenmädchen“ zu, „aber ein reines.“ Das gute, dumme Tier aus
Pangani kommt nach endlosem Suchen mit dem Wahrzeichen
unseres katarrhalischen Zeitalters heran; ich forme einen Filter aus
dem feinen, weißen Stoff und lasse die Pombe hineinschütten. Ja,
was ist denn das? Kein Tropfen rinnt in das untergestellte Gesäß.
Ich rüttele und schüttele; es nützt alles nichts. „Nun,“ sage ich, „der
Stoff wird zu dicht sein; Lete sanda, Kibwana, bring etwas von dem
Leichentuch.“ Wie? Leichentuch? Verroht denn dieser dunkle Erdteil
selbst deutsche Professoren so fürchterlich, daß sie sogar
Leichentücher zu ihrem Wirtschaftsbetriebe heranziehen? Gemach,
meine Gnädigste! Freilich, ein Leichentuch ist dieses Sanda oder
Bafta, daran läßt sich nicht drehen noch deuteln; aber erstens hat
dieser Stoff den Vorzug, noch nicht gebraucht zu sein, und zweitens
möge es das Schicksal verhüten, daß er jemals seiner eigentlichen
Bestimmung zugeführt werden wird. Wer ins Innere von Afrika geht,
der rechnet wohlweislich mit den Tücken dieses Landes und auch
mit den Sitten seiner Bewohner, indem er sich mit einem Ballen
eines stark appretierten weißen, leichten Stoffes versieht, wie ihn die
Neger bei ihren Begräbnissen gebrauchen. Sie lieben es nicht, auch
im Tode mit der bloßen Mutter Erde in Berührung zu kommen,
sondern lassen ihre Leiber in ein Stück solcher Sanda einnähen.
Und je reiner und weißer der Stoff ist, um so sicherer ist dem
Verblichenen das Paradies.
Warum sollte ich also Sanda nicht als Filter benutzen,
wohlgemerkt erst, nachdem durch Herauswaschen der Appretur nur
ein weitmaschiges Netz feiner Fäden zurückgeblieben war! Doch
auch das nützte nichts; ein paar spärliche Tropfen rannen an dem
Beutel herab, das war alles. Ich habe dann mein Teesieb versucht
und mein Kaffeesieb; auch sie waren einem solchen
Aggregatzustande nicht gewachsen. „Prosit, Herr Knudsen!“ rief ich
deshalb, das letzte Sieb dem in der Türe stehenden Koch in hohem
Bogen in die geschickt auffangende Hand werfend. Es ist auch so
gegangen; und nicht einmal schlecht schmeckt das Zeug, ein wenig
nach Mehl zwar, aber sonst doch mit einem merkbaren Anklang an
unseren Studententrank aus dem Bierdorfe von Jena. Ich glaube
sogar, ich könnte mich an ihn gewöhnen.
Diese Angewöhnung scheint bei den Männern von Massassi
leider zu sehr erfolgt zu sein. Gewiß, ich gönne den würdigen
Hausvätern nach der schweren Arbeit der Ernte ihren Bürgertrunk
von Herzen, nur will es mir nicht so recht behagen, daß meine
Studien unter dieser ewigen Fröhlichkeit leiden sollen. Eine größere
Anzahl von Erwachsenen ist überhaupt nicht zusammenzutrommeln,
um sich von mir auf ihr Volkstum, ihre Sitten und Gebräuche
auspressen zu lassen; die wenigen aber, die es mit ihrer Zeit und
ihren Neigungen vereinbaren können, sich für kurze Zeit von ihrem
ambulanten Kneipleben zu trennen, sind sehr wenig geneigt, es mit
der Wahrheit genau zu nehmen. Selbst als ich neulich eine Schar
dieser wackeren Zecher herbestellt hatte, um mir ihre Flechttechnik
anzusehen, hatte das seine Schwierigkeiten; die Männer flochten mir
zwar was vor, aber zu langen Auseinandersetzungen über die
einheimischen Namen der Materialien und des Geräts waren sie
unmöglich zu gebrauchen; ihr Morgentrunk war zu ausgiebig
gewesen.
Die Sitte afrikanischer Völker, nach reichlicher Ernte einen Teil
der Körnerfrüchte in Bier umzuwandeln und in dieser Form rasch
und in großen Massen zu vertilgen, ist bekannt; sie vor allen Dingen
hat wohl zur Stärkung jener Ansicht beigetragen, nach der der
Schwarze im Besitz des Überflusses alles vertut und verpraßt, um
nachher zu darben und zu hungern. Ein Fünkchen oder vielleicht gar
ein ziemlich großer Funken göttlichen Leichtsinns läßt sich unserem
schwarzen Freunde allerdings nicht absprechen, aber man darf ihn
doch noch nicht auf ein einziges Indizium hin verurteilen. Ich habe
vorhin schon betont, wie ungemein schwierig es für den schwarzen
Ackerbauer ist, sein Saatgut zu überwintern. Noch viel schwieriger
würde es für ihn sein, die ungleich größere Menge der zum
Lebensunterhalt der Familie bestimmten Erntevorräte über einen
großen Teil des Jahres hin genießbar aufzubewahren. Daß er es
versucht, bezeugen die zahlreichen Vorratsbehälter bei jedem
größeren Gehöft; daß es ihm nicht immer gelingt und daß er daher
vorzieht, diesen dem Verderben ausgesetzten Teil seiner Ernte in
einer Weise anzulegen, die das Nützliche mit dem Angenehmen
verbindet, indem er ihn in der Form seines ganz annehmbaren
Bieres vertilgt, beweisen dagegen die bei aller Fröhlichkeit doch
harmlosen Früh- und Abendsitzungen. Sie weichen übrigens von
unserem europäischen Schankbetrieb insofern ab, als sie reihum
gehen; es kommt jeder als Wirt an die Reihe, und jeder ist auch
Gast; im ganzen eine herrliche Einrichtung.
Marschbereit vor Massassi.

Der gelinde chronische Alkoholdusel der Männerwelt ist es nicht
allein, was mir Schwierigkeiten bereitet. Zunächst die Not mit dem
Photographieren. Im fernen Europa ist man froh, wenn die liebe
Sonne dem Amateur das Handwerk erleichtert; und meint sie es ein
wenig zu gut, nun, so hat man hohe, dichtbelaubte Bäume,
grünendes Buschwerk, hochragende schattige Häuser. Nichts von
alledem in Afrika. Zwar hat man Bäume, aber sie sind weder hoch,
noch schattig; Büsche, aber sie sind nicht grün; Häuser, aber sie
sind im besten Fall höchstens von doppelter Mannshöhe, und dann
auch nur in der Firstlinie. Dazu der unheimlich hohe Sonnenstand
schon von 9 Uhr morgens an und bis über 3 Uhr nachmittags hinaus,
und eine Lichtstärke, von der man sich am besten dann einen Begriff
machen kann, wenn man einmal versucht, die Hautfarben der Neger
an der Hand der Luschanschen Farbentafel festzustellen. Nichts als
Licht und Glast hier, nichts als schwarzer, tiefer Schatten dort. Und
dabei soll man weiche, stimmungsvolle Bilder machen! Herr, lehre
mich diese Kunst, und ich will dir danken ewiglich.
Rattenfalle.
Auch das Thema Dunkelkammer ist wenig erbaulich. Die
deutsche Regierung ist fürsorglich; sie baut, um Hungersnöten unter
den Eingeborenen vorzubeugen, wohl mehr aber noch, um in einem
etwaigen neuen Aufstande von der Landesbevölkerung unabhängig
zu sein, in der Boma von Massassi augenblicklich ein stolzes Haus.
Es ist der einzige Steinbau im ganzen Lande und bis zur Küste hin,
nur einstöckig zwar, aber mit starken, nur von engen,
schießschartenartigen Löchern durchbrochenen Mauern und festem,
flachem Lehmdach. In diesem Architekturwunder lagern schon jetzt
ungezählte Säcke mit Hirse neuer Ernte und Berge roher
Baumwolle. Ich habe mir beides zunutze gemacht: mit der
Baumwolle habe ich die Luftlöcher verstopft, auf den Säcken aber
sitze ich; auf ihnen ruht gleichzeitig mein Dunkelkammer-
Arbeitstisch. Dieser war bis jetzt der wesentliche Bestandteil einer
Baumwollpresse, die draußen auf dem Hofe einsam über ein
verfehltes Dasein dahintrauert. Den Türverschluß endlich habe ich
durch eine Kombination dicker, von meinen Trägern gefertigter
Strohwände und einiger meiner Schlafdecken hergestellt. Dergestalt
kann ich zur Not sogar am Tage entwickeln, nur herrscht schon jetzt,
nach so kurzer Tätigkeit, eine erstickende Atmosphäre in dem auch
sonst wenig anheimelnden Raum. Gerne entrinne ich ihm daher, um
mich neuen Taten zuzuwenden.
Diese sind denn auch wirklich von viel ansprechenderer Natur.
Bei einem meiner ersten Bummel bin ich inmitten einer Schambe auf
ein zierliches Etwas gestoßen, das mir als Tego ya ngunda, als
Taubenfalle bezeichnet wird; ein System von Stäbchen, Bügeln und
feinen Schnüren, von denen einer mit einem kräftigen,
starkgekrümmten Bügel verbunden ist. Mich interessiert von Jugend
auf alles Technische, um wieviel mehr hier, wo wir in frühere
Entwicklungsphasen des menschlichen Intellekts tiefe Einblicke zu
tun die beste Gelegenheit haben. Also daheim Appell aller meiner
Leute und möglichst zahlreicher Eingeborener, und Ansprache an
alles versammelte Volk des Inhalts, daß der Msungu ein großes
Gewicht darauf legt, alle Arten von Fallen für alle Arten von Tieren zu
sehen und zu besitzen. Versprechen recht annehmbarer Preise bei
Lieferung authentischer, guter Stücke und zum Schluß die höfliche,
aber bestimmte Aufforderung: „Nendeni na tengeneseni sasa, nun
geht los und baut eure Dinger zusammen.“
Wie sind sie geeilt an jenem Tage, und wie eifrig sind alle meine
Mannen seitdem Tag für Tag an der Arbeit! Ich habe meine Träger
bisher für lauter Wanyamwesi gehalten; jetzt ersehe ich an der Hand
der Kommentare, die mir jeder einzelne zu seinem Kunstwerk geben
muß, daß sich unter meinen 30 Mann eine ganze Reihe von
Völkerschaften verbirgt. Zwar das Gros sind Wanyamwesi, doch
daneben gibt es Wassukuma und Manyema und sogar einen echten
Mgoni von Runssewe, also einen Vertreter jenes tapfern
Kaffernvolkes, das vor einigen Jahrzehnten vom fernen Südafrika bis
ins heutige Deutsch-Ostafrika vorgedrungen ist und dabei eine
seiner Gruppen, eben diese Runssewe-Wangoni, bis weit oben an
die Südwestecke des Viktoria-Nyansa vorgeschickt hat. Und nun
meine Askari erst! Es sind zwar nur 13 Mann, aber sie gehören nicht
weniger als einem Dutzend verschiedener Völkerschaften an, vom
fernen Darfor im ägyptischen Sudan bis zu den Yao in Portugiesisch-
Ostafrika. Und alle diese Getreuen zermartern ihr Gehirn und üben
in Busch und Feld von neuem die Künste ihres Knaben- und
Jünglingsalters, und dann kommen sie heran und errichten auf dem
weiten, sonnigen Platz neben meinem Palais die Früchte ihrer
schweren Geistesarbeit.
Antilopenfalle.
Der typische Ackerbauer steht in der Literatur als Jäger und

Fallensteller nicht hoch im Kurse; sein bißchen Geist soll durch die
Sorge um sein Feld völlig absorbiert werden; nur Völker vom
Schlage des Buschmanns, des Pygmäen und des Australiers hält
unsere Schulweisheit für fähig, das flüchtige Wild in Wald und
Steppe mit Geschick zu erlegen und mit List und Geistesschärfe in
schlau ersonnener Falle zur Strecke zu bringen. Und doch, wie weit
schießt auch diese Lehrmeinung am Ziel vorbei! Freilich, unter den
Völkern meines Gebietes gelten die Makua sogar als gute Jäger;
dabei sind sie in der Hauptsache genau wie die anderen Völker
typische Hackbauern, d. h. Leute, die ihre mühselig urbar
gemachten Felder Jahr für Jahr unverdrossen mit der Hacke
beackern. Sind ihre Tierfallen nicht trotz alledem Beweise eines
geradezu bewunderungswürdigen Scharfsinns? Ich gebe einige
meiner Skizzen als Belege bei; die Konstruktion der Fallen und die
Art ihrer Wirksamkeit ergibt sich aus der Zeichnung von selbst. Wer
aber der Kunst technischen Sehens gänzlich ermangeln sollte, für
den füge ich bei, daß alle diese Mordinstrumente auf folgendes
Prinzip hinauslaufen: entweder die Falle ist für einen Vierfüßer
bestimmt; dann ist sie so eingerichtet, daß das Tier beim
Vorwärtsschreiten oder -laufen mit der Nase gegen ein feines Netz
oder mit dem Fuß gegen eine feine Schnur stößt. Netz und Schnur
werden dadurch vorwärts gedrückt; jenes gleitet mit seinem oberen
Rande nach unten, das Ende der Schnur hingegen bewegt sich
etwas seitwärts. In beiden Fällen wird durch diese Gleitbewegung
das Ende eines kleinen Hebels frei, eines Holzstäbchens, das in
einer in der Zeichnung klar ersichtlichen Weise die Falle bisher
gespannt erhalten hat. Es schlägt jetzt blitzschnell um sein
Widerlager herum, bewegt von der Spannkraft eines Baumes oder
eines sonstwie angebrachten Bügels. Dieser schnellt nach oben und
zieht dabei eine geschickt angebrachte Schlinge zu; das Tier ist
gefangen und stirbt eines qualvollen Erstickungstodes. Ratten und
ähnlich lieblichem Getier geht der schwarze Fallensteller zwar nach
ähnlichen Prinzipien, doch noch grausamer zu Leibe, und leider stellt
er auch den Vögeln mit gleicher Gerissenheit nach. Vielleicht finde
ich später noch einmal Gelegenheit, auf diese Seite des hiesigen
Völkerlebens zurückzukommen; verdient hat sie es, denn auf kaum
einem anderen Gebiet zeigt sich die Erfindungsgabe auch des
primitiven Geistes so schön und deutlich ausgeprägt wie in dieser
Art des Kampfes ums Dasein.
Psychologisch interessant ist das Verhalten der Eingeborenen
gegenüber meiner eigenen Tätigkeit bei der Lösung dieses Teils
meiner Forschungsaufgabe. Wenn wir beiden Europäer unser
karges Mittagsmahl verzehrt haben, Nils Knudsen sich zum
wohlverdienten Schlummer niedergelegt hat und das Geschnarch
meiner Krieger zwar rhythmisch, aber nicht harmonisch aus der
Barasa herübertönt, dann sitze ich im sengenden Sonnenbrand,
dem schattenlosen Schlemihl gleich, und nur kümmerlich geschützt
durch den größeren meiner beiden Tropenhelme draußen auf dem
Aufstellungsplatz meiner Tierfallen und zeichne. Bis in mein 30.
Lebensjahr habe ich zum Spott für alle meine in dieser Hinsicht recht
begabten Verwandten als talentlos gegolten; da „entdeckte“ ich mich
als königlich preußischer Hilfsarbeiter im Berliner Museum für
Völkerkunde eines schönen Tags selbst, und wenn einer meiner
Freunde mich dereinst einer Biographie für würdig erachten sollte,
so mag er nur ruhig betonen, daß mir in meiner wissenschaftlichen
Entwicklungszeit meine bescheidenen zeichnerischen Leistungen
eigentlich mehr Freude und Genugtuung bereitet haben als die
schriftstellerischen. Für den ethnographischen Forschungsreisenden
ist die Fähigkeit, von welchem Forschungsobjekt es auch immer sei,
eine genaue Skizze rasch und mit wenigen Strichen entwerfen zu
können, eine Zugabe, die nicht hoch genug eingeschätzt werden
kann. Die Photographie ist gewiß eine wunderbare Erfindung, im
Kleinkram der täglichen Forschungsarbeit versagt sie indessen
häufiger als man glaubt, und nicht nur im Dunkel der Negerhütte,
sondern auch bei tausend anderen Sachen in heller Luft.
Perlhuhnfalle.
Falle für Großwild.

Also ich sitze und zeichne. Kein Lüftchen regt sich; die ganze
Natur scheint zu schlafen. Auch mir wird die Feder müde, da höre
ich unmittelbar hinter meinem Rücken Geräusch. Ein flüchtiger Blick
lehrt mich, daß das Moment allgemein menschlicher Neugier selbst
die Urkraft negroider Faulheit überwunden hat. Meine Träger sind’s,
ein ganzer Haufen; auch Eingeborene dabei. Sie müssen leise
herangetreten sein, was auf dem weichen Sandboden und bei dem
Mangel an Schuhen nicht befremdlich ist. Gespannt schaut die
enggedrängte Schar über meine Schulter hinweg ins Skizzenbuch.
Ich lasse mich nicht stören; Strich folgt auf Strich; das Werk nähert
sich seinem Ende; schließlich ist es fertig. „Sawasawa?“ (wörtlich:
„gleich?“, hier etwa in dem Sinn: „Na, ist das Ding denn getroffen?“)
frage ich gespannt zurück. „Ndio, jawohl“, ertönt es mir unverzüglich
und mit einer Begeisterung in die Ohren, daß die Trommelfelle
platzen möchten. „Kisuri? Ist es schön?“ „Kisuri sana kabissa,
ausgezeichnet!“ gellt es noch stärker und begeisterter in meine
Hörorgane. „Wewe Fundi, du bist ein Meister.“ Es sind meine
Kunstverständigen, die ausübenden Künstler selbst, die hier in für
mich so schmeichelhafter Art das Richteramt üben; die paar
Schensi, die unbeleckten, von der Muse ungeküßten, die nicht zum
Kreis meiner Künstler gehören, haben nur als Herdenvieh
mitgebrüllt.
Und nun kommt der Versuch einer Nutzanwendung. Ich erhebe
mich von meinem Stühlchen, stelle mich in Positur und lege meinen
Kunstjüngern nahe, da sie nun sähen, wie ich, der Fundi, eine
solche Falle zeichne, so wäre es angezeigt, daß nun doch auch sie
sich einmal an einem solchen schwierigeren Gegenstand
versuchten; immer bloß ihre Freunde abzumalen, oder aber Bäume
und Häuser und die Tiere, das sei langweilig; außerdem seien sie
doch so kluge Kerle, daß ihnen eine solche Vogelfalle kaum
Schwierigkeiten bieten würde. Ich habe auf den Ausdruck
verschämter Verlegenheit, wie er mir beim Beginn meiner Studien in
Lindi entgegentrat, schon einmal hingewiesen; hier kam er noch
verstärkter und auch allgemeiner zum Ausdruck. Ich habe dabei das
bestimmte Gefühl gehabt, daß den Leuten jetzt zum erstenmal der
Begriff dessen klar wurde, was wir Perspektive nennen. In ihren
Gegenreden und Gebärden suchten sie sichtlich etwas Derartiges
auszudrücken, sie verfolgten mit den Fingern die merkwürdig
verkürzten Kurven, die doch in Wirklichkeit Kreisbögen waren, kurz
sie standen etwas Neuem, vorher nie Gekanntem und Geahntem
gegenüber, und das brachte ihnen einesteils das Gefühl ihrer
geistigen und künstlerischen Unterlegenheit zum Bewußtsein,
während es sie andererseits wie ein Magnet an mein Skizzenbuch
bannte. Bis jetzt hat noch keiner von ihnen sich an die Wiedergabe
einer solchen Tierfalle herangewagt.
Alle Afrikareisenden früherer Tage oder in weniger gut
erschlossenen Ländern, als Deutsch-Ostafrika es ist, haben durch
nichts mehr zu leiden gehabt als durch die Schwierigkeiten des
Tauschverkehrs. Mit wieviel Hunderten von Lasten der
verschiedenartigsten Zeugstoffe, mit wieviel Perlensorten ist noch
ein Stanley zu seinen Entdeckertaten ausgezogen; wie unsicher war
es bei alledem, ob man gerade den Geschmack der Eingeborenen
seines Forschungsgebietes getroffen hatte; und wie ungeheuer
vergrößerte diese primitive Art des Geldes den Troß jeder
Expedition. Bei uns in Deutsch-Ostafrika mit seiner sooft zu Unrecht
angefeindeten Kolonialregierung reist der Weiße heute fast ebenso
bequem wie daheim im Mutterlande. Zwar sein Kreditbrief reicht nur
bis zur Küste; trägt sein Unternehmen jedoch wie das meinige
amtlichen Charakter, so ist jede Station und jeder Posten, der über
eine Regierungskasse verfügt, angewiesen, dem Reisenden unter
Beachtung sehr einfacher Formalitäten Kredit zu gewähren und ihn
mit Barmitteln auszustatten. Des Rätsels Lösung ist sehr einfach:
unsere Rupienwährung gilt nicht nur an der Küste, sondern zwingt
auch alle Völker des Innern, sich ihr wohl oder übel anzubequemen.
Meine Operationsbasis ist auch in finanzieller Hinsicht das
Städtchen Lindi mit seinem kaiserlichen Bezirksamt; von dort habe
ich mir ein paar große Säcke mit ganzen, halben und Viertelrupien
und für den ersten Bedarf auch einige Kisten mit Hellern
mitgenommen. O dieser unglückliche Heller! Was wird er, sein echt
„afrikanischer“ Name und seine Einführung überhaupt von den
bösen, weißen Küstenmännern bespöttelt, und wie schlecht sind die
Witze, die über ihn gemacht werden! Der billigste ist noch der, daß
der gegenwärtige Zolldirektor in der Landeshauptstadt, der in der Tat
den Namen dieses bei uns längst veralteten Zahlmittels führt, bei der
ostafrikanischen Scheidemünze Gevatter gestanden habe. So viel
merke ich schon jetzt: den Eingeborenen geht es wie bei uns den
alten Leuten vor 30 Jahren; ebenso wie diese sich nicht an die Mark
gewöhnen konnten und ruhig mit dem guten, alten Taler
weiterrechneten, so zählt hier alles höchst despektierlich und illoyal
nach Pesas weiter, der alten Kupfermünze der
vierundsechzigteiligen Rupie. Dies ist auch viel einfacher und
bequemer; ein Ei kostet einen Pesa, und damit basta. Seinen Wert
in Heller umzurechnen fällt niemandem ein.
Doch der Neger müßte nicht Neger sein, wenn er sich nicht trotz
alledem der Tätigkeit des Hellereinnehmens mit Begeisterung
hingäbe. Und sein Geschäft blüht jetzt! Es paßt zu dem Bilde des
Diogenes wie die Faust aufs Auge, wenn hinter dem
laternenschwingenden Moritz der Mgonimann Mambo sasa durch
die sonnige Landschaft zieht, hoch oben auf dem krauswolligen
Haupte ein stattliches Gefäß mit gleißender Münze. Es sind frisch in
Berlin geprägte Kupferheller, mit denen ich die Negerherzen zu
betören ausziehe.
Nach langem, doch durchaus nicht langweiligem Ableuchten aller
Salons der Negerpaläste kehre ich, geblendet von der überhellen
Tropensonne, an das Tageslicht zurück; mit verständnisvollem
Schmunzeln schleppt meine Leibgarde — das sind diejenigen
meiner Leute, die immer um mich sind und die mit der dem
Natursohn eigenen Auffassungsgabe rasch begriffen haben, worum
es sich handelt — einen Haufen Krimskrams hinterher; mit
gemischten Gefühlen, erwartungsvoll und zweifelnd zugleich, folgen
schließlich Hausherr und Hausfrau. Jetzt beginnt das Feilschen.
Einen kleinen Vorgeschmack hat der Ausreisende schon in Neapel
und Port Said, in Aden und Mombassa bekommen; hier spielt sich
das Verfahren nicht wesentlich anders ab. „Kiassi gani? Was kostet
der ganze Plunder?“ fragt man so leichthin, mit einer summarischen
Handbewegung den ganzen Haufen umschließend. Diesem
Verfahren steht der glückliche Besitzer jener Kostbarkeiten gänzlich
ohne Verständnis gegenüber; er sperrt Mund und Nase weit auf und
schweigt. So geht’s also nicht; diese abgekürzte Methode wäre auch
vom wissenschaftlichen Standpunkt aus zu verwerfen. „Nini hii? Was
ist das?“ Und ich halte ihm irgendeins der Stücke unter die Augen.
Dies erst ist der richtige Weg. Jetzt öffnet sich der vordem so
schweigsame Mund, und nun heißt es sich schnell auf die
Kollegbank der seligen Fuchsenzeit zurückversetzt denken und
eifrigst nachschreiben, was zur Abwechselung einmal nicht aus dem
Munde hochwohlweiser Professoren auf das Auditorium
herniederplätschert, sondern dem prachtvollen Zahngehege eines
ganz unbeleckten Schensi entströmt. Und wenn ich dann alles weiß,
den Zweck, den Namen, die Herstellungsart und die Wirkungsweise,
dann endlich ist auch der Schwarze geneigt und imstande, den
Einzelpreis zu fixieren. Bis jetzt habe ich dabei zwei Extreme
feststellen können: die eine Kategorie der Verkäufer fordert ohne
Rücksicht auf die Art des Verkaufsobjektes ganze Rupien, Rupia tatu
oder Rupia nne, 3 oder 4 Rupien; die andere verlangt ebenso
konsequent den Einheitspreis eines Sumni. Dieser Sumni ist im
hiesigen Sprachgebrauch der vierte Teil einer Rupie, gilt also 33⅓
Pfennig. In der Währung Ostafrikas ist er ein bildhübsches, zierliches
Silberstück von etwas kleinerer Größe als unsere halbe Mark.
Vielleicht ist es diese Handlichkeit, verbunden mit dem
ungebrochenen Glanz gerade meiner funkelnagelneuen Stücke, was
dieser Münze seine Bevorzugung sichert.
Eins muß man der hiesigen Bevölkerung im Gegensatz zu der
Schwefelbande von Neapel, Port Said und Aden nachrühmen: keiner
von ihnen zetert und jammert, wenn wir ihm statt des geforderten
Talers den zwanzigsten oder zehnten Teil bieten. In voller
Gemütsruhe geht der Neger in seiner Forderung nach und nach bis
zu einer billigen Einigung herunter, oder aber er sagt gleich beim
ersten Gegenangebot: „Lete, gib’s her.“ In diesem Augenblick
beginnt dann die Glanzrolle des Knaben Moritz und meines
Hellertopfes. Mit raschem Griff hat der Boy das Gefäß vom Haupte
seines Freundes Mambo sasa heruntergeholt; mit Kennerblick
mustert er den Kassenbestand, und dann zahlt er aus mit der
Würde, wenn auch nicht mit der Geschwindigkeit des Kassierers
einer großen Bank.
So oder ähnlich spielt sich das Handelsgeschäft auch um die
übrigen Stücke ab. Es ist viel zeitraubender als mir lieb ist, jedoch

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Student Movements in Late

Neoliberalism: Dynamics of Contention

More information about this series at

Social Movements and Transformation

Cover illustration: A-Digit, Getty Images.

alike in the sense of being more market-oriented, even in countries with

1 Student Movements in Late Neoliberalism. Forms

6 Movement Leadership in an Era of Connective Action:

Marcos Ancelovici is a Canada Research Chair in the Sociology of Social

Cesar Guzman-Concha (Contesting Higher Education. Student Movements

development of African youth in education and leadership spaces as well

Memory Zodwa Radasi is a Research Specialist (Postdoctoral Fellow) for

Samson Yuen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Govern-

Fig. 2.1 Participants’ motivations to participate in the annual

Fig. 5.3 Network of degree centrality by mentions

Fig. 10.1 Number of student protests in Chile by year (Source

Table 1.1 Ideal types of higher education 7

Student Movements in Late Neoliberalism.

Lorenzo Cini, Donatella della Porta,

L. Cini (B) · D. della Porta

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

from resistance to authoritarianism to opposition to tuition fees. The

processes of change with wider implications in society (i.e., the corpo-

is essentially due to the socially ambiguous and ill-defined location in

The Formation of the Neoliberal

invest more and more in marketing, brand management, and promotion

Table 1.1 Ideal types

Funding system Private Public

body, as gender, ethnic, and sexual discrimination seem to be entrenched

Organizational Forms, Action

the younger and better-educated cohorts in society demanded radical

The Configuration of Allies

scholarship has adopted the assumption that environments—those factors

campaign, thus altering initial adverse conditions and increasing their

their influence in policy-making decisions. These have been referred

The Structure of the Book

aspects in an original and exhaustive manner. More notably, the various

students. These findings add to the growing literature on contextualized

students from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and

In Chapter 9, “From Revolt to Reform: Student Protests and the

possibilities for brokerage, enabled and constrained different alliance

Crossley, N. (2003). From reproduction to transformation: Social movement

Meyerson, D., & Tompkins, M. (2007). Tempered radicals as institutional change

Taubenschlag und Speicher (s. S. 118).

Marschbereit vor Massassi.

Der typische Ackerbauer steht in der Literatur als Jäger und

Falle für Großwild.

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