In this seminar I will zoom into a case study from my ongoing research to discuss the rich aesthetics of the shack dweller's

movement Abahlali baseMjondolo. Founded in 2005, Abahlali baseMjondolo has become one of the largest social movements in
postapartheid South Africa. Despite enormous repression and the loss of 24 activists at the hands of police and hitmen in their
struggle for land, housing and dignity, the movement continues to grow in the spirit of social change from below, by building
more and more communities committed to Ubuntu and the socialist idea. Abahlali baseMjondolo comes with an abundant
repertoire of symbols, music, dance, colour codes, narratives and slogans. These aesthetic forms are inseparably tied to the
movement's socio-political demands, convictions and values. My work in progress sheds light on the entanglements of political
and aesthetic power to open perspectives on protest as an emphatically sensory experience. This line of thought speaks to
Abahlali baseMjondolo's concept of a "living politics" at the core of their compelling philosophy which argues for the immediate
embeddedness of politics in tangible lifeworlds.