Transforming Settlement in Southern Africa


Book Description

This volume examines the ways in which changing political and economic processes impact upon patterns of population movement and settlement. It focuses on the southern African region as it has moved from the experiments of the early independence era, through civil war and refugee flight, into the current era characterised by globalization and the demise of apartheid. Focused case studies from across the region deal with specific aspects of these transformations and their policy implications.




Reworking Citizenship


Book Description

In scenes reminiscent of the apartheid era, 2021 saw South Africa's streets filled with mass protests. While the country is lauded for its peaceful transition to democracy with citizenship for all, those previously disenfranchised, particularly women, remain outraged by their continued poverty and marginalization. As one black woman protester told a reporter, reflecting on the end of apartheid: "We didn't get freedom. We only got democracy." What obligations do states have to support their citizens? What meaning does citizenship itself hold? Blending archival and ethnographic methods, Brady G'sell tracks how historic resistance to racial and gendered marginalization in South Africa animate present-day contentions that regardless of voting rights, without jobs to support their families, the poor majority remain excluded from the nation. Through long-term fieldwork with impoverished black African, Indian, and coloured (mixed race) women living in the city of Durban, she reveals women's everyday efforts to rework political institutions that exclude them. Informed by her interlocutors, G'sell retheorizes citizenship as not solely tied to individual rights, but dependent on the security of social (often kinship) relations. She forwards the concept of relational citizenship as a means to reimagine political belonging amidst a world of declining wage labor and eroding state-citizen covenants.




Achebe, Head, Marechera


Book Description

Concentrating on issues of power and change, this analysis of texts by Chinua Achbe, Bessie Head and Dambudzi Marechera teases out each author's view of how colonialism affected Africa, the contributions of Africans to their malaise, and how many reacted in creative, progressive, pragmatic ways.




Theatres of Struggle and the End of Apartheid


Book Description

This is a compelling study of the origins and trajectory of a legendary black uprising against apartheid - the Alexandra Rebellion of 1986. Using insights from the literature on collective action and social movements, it delves deep into the rebellion's inner workings. It examines how the residents of Alexandra - a poverty-stricken, segregated township in Johannesburg - manipulated and overturned the meanings of space, time and power in their sequestered world; how they used political theatre to convey, stage and dramatise their struggle; and how young and old residents generated differing ideologies and tactics, giving rise to a distinct form of generational politics. Theatres of Struggle asks the reader to enter into the world of the rebels, and to confront the moral complexity and social duress they experienced as they invented new social forms and violently attacked old ones.







Yours for the Union


Book Description

Yours for the Union stands as a landmark history of the making of the black working class in South Africa. Drawing on a wide range of sources, it covers the crucial period of 1930–47, when South Africa's rapid industrialisation led to the dramatic growth of the working class, and uncontrolled urbanisation resulted in vast shanty towns which became a focal point for resistance and protest. Importantly, Hirson was one of the first historians to go beyond the traditional focus on the mines and factory workplaces, broadening his account to include the lesser known community struggles of the urban ghettoes and rural reserves. Written by an author with first-hand involvement in South African labour struggles, Yours for the Union broke new ground with its account of the effort to mobilise urban squatters, domestic workers and rural peasants, and remains an indispensable resource for the study of the South African labour movement.




The Ghetto in Global History


Book Description

The Ghetto in Global History explores the stubborn tenacity of ‘the ghetto’ over time. As a concept, policy, and experience, the ghetto has served to maintain social, religious, and racial hierarchies over the past five centuries. Transnational in scope, this book allows readers to draw thought-provoking comparisons across time and space among ghettos that are not usually studied alongside one another. The volume is structured around four main case studies, covering the first ghettos created for Jews in early modern Europe, the Nazis' use of ghettos, the enclosure of African Americans in segregated areas in the United States, and the extreme segregation of blacks in South Africa. The contributors explore issues of discourse, power, and control; examine the internal structures of authority that prevailed; and document the lived experiences of ghetto inhabitants. By discussing ghettos as both tools of control and as sites of resistance, this book offers an unprecedented and fascinating range of interpretations of the meanings of the "ghetto" throughout history. It allows us to trace the circulation of the idea and practice over time and across continents, revealing new linkages between widely disparate settings. Geographically and chronologically wide-ranging, The Ghetto in Global History will prove indispensable reading for all those interested in the history of spatial segregation, power dynamics, and racial and religious relations across the globe.




Annual Review of Sociology


Book Description




The Rough Guide to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (Travel Guide eBook)


Book Description

Discover South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland with themost incisive and entertaining guidebook on the market. Whether you plan tosafari in Kruger National Park, savour the fine wines of the Western Cape orexplore the village where Nelson Mandela grew up, The Rough Guide to South Africa, Lesotho & Swaziland will showyou ideal places to sleep, eat, drink and shop along the way. Inside The Rough Guide to South Africa,Lesotho & Swaziland - Independent, trusted reviewswritten in Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and insight,to help you get the most out of your visit, with options to suit everybudget. - Full-colour maps throughout -navigate Johannesburg's downtown shopping streets or the beachfrontof Port Elizabeth without needing to get online. - Detailed regional coverage -whether off the beaten track or in more mainstream tourist destinations,this travel guide has in-depth practical advice for every step of the way.Areas covered include: Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula; The Western Cape;The Northern Cape; The Eastern Cape; the Garden Route; KwaZulu-Natal; Durban;Free State; Gauteng; Johannesburg; North West Province; Mpumalanga; Limpopo;Lesotho; Swaziland. Attractions include: Table Mountain; RobbenIsland; Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden; Stellenbosch; the WildCoast; Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park; the Drakensberg mountains; Joburg'sApartheid Museum; Blyde River Canyon; Kruger National Park. - Stunning, inspirational images Itineraries - carefully plannedroutes to help you organize your trip. - Basics - essential pre-departurepractical information including getting there, local transport, accommodation, foodand drink, health, the media, festivals, sports and outdoor activities, crimeand personal safety, and more. - Background information - aContexts chapter devoted to history, music and books, plus a handy languagesection and glossary. Make the Most of Your Time on Earth with theRough Guide to South Africa, Lesotho & Swaziland.