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"Africa-Economic conditions"
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South Africa pushed to the limit
Since 1994, the democratic government in South Africa has worked hard at improving the lives of the black majority, yet close to half the population lives in poverty, jobs are scarce, and the country is more unequal than ever. For millions, the colour of people's skin still decides their destiny. In his wide-ranging, incisive and provocative analysis, Hein Marais shows that although the legacies of apartheid and colonialism weigh heavy, many of the strategic choices made since the early 1990s have compounded those handicaps. Marais explains why those choices were made, where they went awry, and why South Africa's vaunted formations of the left -- old and new -- have failed to prevent or alter them. From the real reasons behind President Jacob Zuma's rise and the purging of his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, to a devastating critique of the country's continuing AIDS crisis, its economic path and its approach to the rights and entitlements of citizens, South Africa Pushed to the Limit presents a riveting benchmark analysis of the incomplete journey beyond apartheid.
eBook
Africa in transformation : economic development in the age of doubt
\"Lopes delivers an overview of the critical development issues facing the African continent today. He offers readers a blueprint of policies to address issues, and an intense, heartfelt meditation on the meaning of economic development in the age of democratic doubts, identity crises, global fears and threatening issues of sustainability\"-- Page [4] of cover.
Book
Empire, global coloniality and African subjectivity
Global imperial designs, which have been in place since conquest by western powers, did not suddenly evaporate after decolonization. Global coloniality as a leitmotif of the empire became the order of the day, with its invisible technologies of subjugation continuing to reproduce Africa's subaltern position, a position characterized by perceived deficits ranging from a lack of civilization, a lack of writing and a lack of history to a lack of development, a lack of human rights and a lack of democracy. The author's sharply critical perspective reveals how this epistemology of alterity has kept Africa ensnared within colonial matrices of power, serving to justify external interventions in African affairs, including the interference with liberation struggles and disregard for African positions. Evaluating the quality of African responses and available options, the author opens up a new horizon that includes cognitive justice and new humanism.
eBook
Pastoralism and Development in Africa
Once again, the Horn of Africa has been in the headlines. And once again the news has been bad: drought, famine, conflict, hunger, suffering and death. The finger of blame has been pointed in numerous directions: to the changing climate, to environmental degradation, to overpopulation, to geopolitics and conflict, to aid agency failures, and more. But it is not all disaster and catastrophe. Many successful development efforts at ‘the margins’ often remain hidden, informal, sometimes illegal; and rarely in line with standard development prescriptions. If we shift our gaze from the capital cities to the regional centres and their hinterlands, then a very different perspective emerges. These are the places where pastoralists live. They have for centuries struggled with drought, conflict and famine. They are resourceful, entrepreneurial and innovative peoples. Yet they have been ignored and marginalised by the states that control their territory and the development agencies who are supposed to help them. This book argues that, while we should not ignore the profound difficulties of creating secure livelihoods in the Greater Horn of Africa, there is much to be learned from development successes, large and small. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars with an interest in development studies and human geography, with a particular emphasis on Africa. It will also appeal to development policy-makers and practitioners.
eBook
Displacement economies in Africa
‘Based on empirical case studies from across sub-Saharan Africa, the contributions in this volume look to provide fresh insights into the unexpected changes, complex agency and persistent dynamism entailed in displacement processes.’ Africa at LSE ‘This book provocatively asks “what does displacement produce?” Juxtaposing the experiences of different actors, drawing on rich ethnographic material, this important new volume strikes a careful balance between highlighting the agency of those often cast as victims and drawing attention to the emergence of vested interests that may perpetuate displacement.’ Oliver Bakewell, University of Oxford ‘Displacement economies are the drivers of the world’s economies! The contributors’ innovative and creative analysis of displacement through the lens of “agency”, relationality and its transformative power is a welcome addition to theories of displacement, which have previously focused on victimhood. This book provides the basis for an alternative reading of the economics and politics of Africa and beyond.’ Mirjam de Bruijn, Leiden University ‘This superb new book brings together a range of deeply experienced contributors to offer new ways of seeing and thinking about “displacement economies”. At the heart of this ambitious, useful book is the insistence that those living in displaced economies are not just living out the effects but engaged in activities that show how displacement is not only disruptive, but productive.’ Christopher Cramer, SOAS, University of London ‘Displacement Economies in Africa offers a fresh analytic perspective on the multiple dislocations brought about by war and crisis in Africa. By theorizing a “relational” rather than “operational” approach, the volume diverges from the conventional perspectives of forced migration studies. With up-to-date examples drawn from across the continent, this collection should be essential reading for students of development, migration and conflict in Africa.’ JoAnn McGregor, Sussex University ‘In a new era of displacement of people from multiple rural and urban sites in Africa, this extremely timely, important and well-crafted collection of detailed field studies takes up both the intended and unexpected material and symbolic effects produced by displacement. Crucial reading!’ Jane I. Guyer, Johns Hopkins University.
eBook
Rick Turner's Politics as the Art of the Impossible
Revisits the work of Rick Turner, a South African political theorist, and addresses contemporary debates Rick Turner was a South African academic and anti-apartheid activist who rebelled against the apartheid state at the height of its power. For this he was assassinated in 1978, at just 32 years of age, but his life and work are testimony to the power of philosophical thinking for humans everywhere. Turner chose to live freely in an unfree time and argued for a non-racial, socialist future in a context where this seemed unimaginable.This book takes seriously Rick Turner's challenge that political theorising requires thinking in a utopian way. Turner's seminal book The Eye of the Need: Towards a Participatory Democracy laid out some of his most potent ideas on a radically different political and economic system. His demand was that we work to escape the limiting ideas of the present, carefully design a just future based on shared human values, and act to make it a reality, both politically and in our daily lives.The contributors to this volume engage critically with Turner's work on race relations, his relationship with Steve Biko, his views on religion, education and gender oppression, his participatory model of democracy, and his critique of enduring forms of poverty and economic inequality. They show how, in his life and work, Turner modeled how we can dare to be free and how hope can return, as the future always remains open to human construction. This book makes an important contribution to contemporary thinking and activism where the need for South Africans to define their understanding of their greater common good is of crucial importance.
eBook