Book explores UCT during apartheid

“. . . in the 1960s it was students who, taking full advantage of their university’s location within reach of parliament, set the pace in far more confrontational ways, even to the extent of challenging [the University of Cape Town] UCT itself.”

This extract was taken from the book UCT Under Apartheid, authored by retired academic, Emeritus Professor Howard Philips.

In his book, Phillips provides readers with an accessible and nuanced take on the institution at the onset of apartheid South Africa. The book places a spotlight on the institution’s leaders, lecturers and students, and hones in on critical aspects of UCT’s heterogenous history including teaching and research, social, cultural and sporting life.

The volume also explores UCT’s “chequered relationship” with the apartheid state, ranging from formal opposition and protest, students’ growing defiance culminating in a sit-in in 1968, to uncertainty and willing collaboration.

Phillips is a UCT and University of London alumnus. He lectured in the Department of Historical Studies and the Department of Public Health from 1974 to 2014.

The book is available at bookstores nationwide.