The effectiveness of protests and mobilization for social justice and representation for the marginalised is undermined by the violence often portrayed in protests. While there has been extensive research on the phenomenon of violent protests, this study focused on exploring students' first encounters and conditioning regarding violent protesting. The theoretical framework also interrogates the concept of emancipatory violence postulated by Frantz Fanon as a pathway to understanding the dynamics of violent protesting. Focusing on the selected higher education institution, the thesis asserts the dual negative consequence of violent student protests showing how the phenomenon derails the mandate of higher education and dilutes significant student grievances. Data was collected through one-on-one, online interviews with 12 former student representative council (SRC) members. The thematic analysis was framed around the model of the social learning theory and the role theory. The findings revealed how students first encounter violent protests in their first year of university. The university is identified as the site of socialization, where students are introduced to the violent manner of protesting. In contributing towards addressing the educational crisis of violent student protest the study recommends a model for understanding violent student protests. The model reveals collective identity of disadvantage and grievance as substantial factors within the socialization environment influencing students' protest behaviour.
Keywords: Violence, student protest, socialization, social justice, social behaviour, activism