ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses Botsis Hannah's doctoral research on the language biographies of South African students. The multimodal visual-narrative approach offered up new insights into the intractable language problem in South Africa through a textured, situated account of language experiences. South Africa's history of colonialism and then apartheid, steeped in racialised capitalism, with the black majority treated as a colonial underclass; followed by a negotiated transition to democracy. Fees Must Fall is a student movement concerned with decolonising South African universities that was sparked by student protest against the statue of Cecil John Rhodes at the University of Cape Town. In post-apartheid South Africa the legibility of inherited racial categories is slipping. On a more rhetorical level the South African landscape is replete with anecdotal accounts of the complex, indexical and political nature of language and the voice.
