Student protests in South Africa took the world by storm in 2015, with the Rhodes
Must Fall movement. The prominence of the statue of colonialist Cecil John Rhodes
located at the heart of a South African university campus ignited conversations on
the role of cultural symbols and representations in the collective consciousness and
knowledge production of a postcolonial and post-apartheid society. At the heart of
decolonial, feminist, pan-African thought is a challenge to the erasure of local
stories, histories and identities. This lecture draws on the events of 2015 to explore
how psychological resistance through forms of participation and communitybuilding
can lay the conditions for restoring dignity and well-being, and transforming
institutions; and reflects on the role of decolonial, feminist, and panAfrican theories
for psychology.