RHETORICS OF RESISTANCE – Book Launch & Conversation

Join us for the book launch of Bryan Trabold’s new publication, Rhetorics of Resistance – Opposition Journalism in Apartheid South Africa. Reflecting on modes of resistance employed by opposition newspapers in Apartheid South Africa, Bryan will be in conversation with former Political Editor of the New Nation Enoch Sithole, and joint founder and editor of the Weekly Mail Irwin Manoim.

Presented by VIAD and UJ Arts & Culture, the Book Launch will take place on Thursday the 2nd of August at the UJ Art Gallery, UJ Auckland Park Kingsway Campus, 18h00 for 18h30. Copies of the book will be available at a cost of R300

RHETORICS OF RESISTANCE

Opposition Journalism in Apartheid South Africa

Bryan Trabold

The period of apartheid was a perilous time in South Africa’s history. Rhetorics of Resistance examines the tactics of resistance developed by those working for the Weekly Mail and New Nation, two opposition newspapers published in South Africa in the 1980s. The government, in an attempt to crack down on political resistance, had imposed martial law and even greater restrictions on the press. Bryan Trabold examines the writing, legal, and political strategies developed by those working for these newspapers to challenge the censorship restrictions. Despite the many steps taken by the government to silence them, including detaining the editor of New Nation for two years and temporarily closing both newspapers, the Weekly Mail and New Nation not only continued to publish but also increased their circulations and obtained strong domestic and international support. New Nation ceased publication in 1994 after South Africa made the transition to democracy, but the Weekly Mail, now the Mail & Guardian, continues to publish and remains one of South Africa’s most respected newspapers.

Bryan Trabold

Bryan Trabold is an Associate Professor of English at Suffolk University in Boston, MA, and a Research Associate at the Visual Identities in Art and Design Research Centre, University of Johannesburg.  His recently released book from the University of Pittsburgh Press, Rhetorics of Resistance: Opposition Journalism in Apartheid South Africa, examines the tactics of resistance developed by those working for the Weekly Mail and New Nation published in South Africa in the mid- and late 1980s. Trabold has also published articles in South African Historical Journal, African Journalism Studies, College English, and College Composition and Communication.