Design, critical pedagogy and supporting the student-led movement from within

In 2015 and 2016, South Africa witnessed an unprecedented allying of students, academics and University workers in demonstrations countrywide, ultimately bringing much of the higher education sector to a standstill. The co-ordinated protest action, which became known as the ‘Fees Must Fall’ movement, encompassed a broad range of concerns including: the unchecked rise of tuition fees; the ongoing corporatisation of public Universities; the outsourcing of University workers; and critically, the need for the decolonisation of various curricula. Using the Fees Must Fall movement as a case study of student-led, academic-supported rebellion, this paper critically examines the pedagogical opportunities of revolt from ‘within’, and the associated design-led outcomes of projects from the University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Art Design and Architecture