Teacher and Comrade
Richard Dudley and the Fight for Democracy in South Africa
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A biographical/narrative study of oppression, racism, and resistance in twentieth-century South Africa through the life of Richard Dudley, a teacher/politico.
Description
Teacher and Comrade explores South African resistance in the twentieth century, before and during apartheid, through the life of Richard Dudley, a teacher/politico who spent thirty-nine years in the classroom and his entire life fighting for democracy. Dudley has given his life to teaching and politics, and touched and influenced many people who continue to work for democracy in South Africa and abroad. Whether it was students, comrades, or opposition, life was always teaching and relational for Dudley. He challenged power throughout the apartheid era, and his foundational beliefs in anti-imperialism and nonracialism compel him to continue to talk, teach, and speak to power. Through Dudley's story, Teacher and Comrade provides a rare portrait of both Cape Town and South Africa, as well as the struggle against racism and apartheid.
Alan Wieder is Professor and Chair of Educational Studies at the University of South Carolina. He is the author of Voices from Cape Town Classrooms: Oral Histories of Teachers Who Fought Apartheid and Race and Education: Narrative Essays, Oral Histories, and Documentary Photography.
Reviews
"…the book has filled an important gap in South Africa's intellectual history. " — African Studies Review
"This volume is incredibly relevant for American teachers and teacher unionists. The struggles, failures, and triumphs of Dudley and his comrades are instructive for American teachers and political activists. " — Wayne J. Urban, author of Black Scholar: Horace Mann Bond, 1904–1972