Catalogue
65 Titles
Land, power & custom: Controversies generated by South Africa’s Communal Land Rights Act
5 July 2022
Land is a burning issue in South Africa, as in Africa more widely. Land, power & custom: Controversies generated by South Africa’s Communal Land Rights Act deals with tenure reform in the former homelands, and the implications for power and gender relations.
It aims to contribute to public debate about land reform and controversial new legislation. The book is relevant... Read more
In search of equality: Women, law and society in Africa
5 July 2022
Over the past half century several African countries have drawn up new constitutions, many of which have included a commitment to advancing women’s equality. Decades later, has constitutional reform brought gender equality to women in Africa? And what does gender equality mean in the everyday lives of women on the continent?
The contributors to this volume provide insights into... Read more
Multilingualism in the classroom: Teaching and learning in a challenging context
5 July 2022
Most education settings in South Africa and other post-colonial emerging economies are multilingual and diverse. Indeed, this is true of classrooms in developed countries as well. Yet English continues to be the language of instruction from the early grades. The authors of this book draw attention to the negative effects of this practice on achievement, retention and dropout rates,... Read more
Informal settlements: A perpetual challenge?
5 July 2022
This is an open, enlightening and useful book for scholars, activists, citizens and decision makers who consider that forced or market-driven evictions should stop and that the situation of slum dwellers must be improved, even beyond the limited Millennium Development Goals. – Professor Yves Cabannes, Development Planning Unit, University College London and Convenor, UN Advisory Group on... Read more
Nadine Gordimer: Weaving together fiction, women and politics
5 July 2022
Renowned French scholar Denise Brahimi critiqued the works of Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer in her book, Nadine Gordimer: La femme, la politique, le roman. This translation, by Vanessa Everson and Cara Shapiro, brings to an English readership a new perspective and a greater understanding of Gordimer’s writing. With its nuanced philosophical interpretation, it traces Gordimer’s... Read more
Domains of freedom: Justice, citizenship and social change in South Africa
27 June 2022
Freedom ... Justice ... Citizenship ... What do they mean in South Africa today? In striving for them, have historical inequalities been recognised? Have political changes over the last 20 years translated into economic redistribution? Have the struggles for social change enhanced the project of decolonisation? Examining a wide range of social issues, from economic policy, land reform, gender... Read more
HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa: Understanding the implications of culture & context
27 June 2022
Popular understanding of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa is riddled with contradiction and speculation. This is revealed in HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, which explores the various contexts in which debate about HIV/AIDS takes place and examines how the pandemic is perceived by scholars, religious leaders and traditional healers, among others – in communities in and... Read more
A Dictionary of South African Indian English
27 June 2022
Bunny chow, larney, lakker, roti-ou, thanni, Satyagraha, Kavady ... these are all terms from South African Indian English, an important dialect in South Africa, particularly KwaZulu-Natal, and one of the better-known varieties of English in the Linguistics literature. It arose out of the language accommodations that occurred as Indians arriving in South Africa in large numbers in the... Read more
From prohibited immigrants to citizens: The origins of citizenship and nationality in South Africa
27 June 2022
Jonathan Klaaren blends legal and social history in this engaging account of early conceptions of South African citizenship. He argues that distinctively South African notions of citizenship and nationality come out of the period 1897 to 1937, through legislation and official practices employing the key concept of ‘prohibited immigrant’ and seeking to regulate the mobility of three... Read more
Confronting fragmentation: Housing and urban development in a democratising society
27 June 2022
The fragmentation of South Africa’s cities persists despite the ending of apartheid. New forms of segregation are emerging in the context of globalisation and a largely neo-liberal policy environment. This poses an enormous challenge for policy-making, planning, and community activism. Although there has been an improvement in service infrastructure in certain parts of South African cities... Read more
Cities with ‘Slums’: From informal settlement eradication to a right to the city in Africa
21 June 2022
The UN’s Millennium Development Target to improve the lives of 100 million ‘slum’ dwellers has been inappropriately communicated as a target to free cities of slums. Cities with ‘Slums’: From informal settlement eradication to a right to the city in Africa traces the proliferation of this misunderstanding across several African countries, and explains how current urban... Read more
Child and adolescent development: An expanded focus for public health in Africa
21 June 2022
Global public health has improved vastly over the past 25 years, and especially in the survival of infants and young children. However, many children, particularly in Africa, continue to live in poverty and in unhealthy, unsupportive environments, and will not be able to meet their developmental potential. In other words, they will survive but not thrive. The United Nations Sustainable... Read more
The Anatomy of a South African Genocide: The extermination of the Cape San peoples
20 June 2022
During the 18th and 19th centuries, Dutch-speaking pastoralists who infiltrated the Cape interior dispossessed its aboriginal inhabitants and damaged the environment with their destructive farming and hunting practices. In response to indigenous resistance, colonists formed armed, mounted militia units known as commandos with the express purpose of destroying San bands. Pervasive settler... Read more
Beyond impunity: New directions for governance in Malawi
13 April 2022
"This comprehensive, compelling, accessible and timely volume should be compulsory reading to academics, policy makers, social activists, and the general public in Malawi and elsewhere on the continent. It is the best book I have read recently on the country’s complex, contradictory, messy, and disappointing political and socioeconomic dispensation since the dawn of the era of multiparty... Read more
Just transitions: Explorations of sustainability in an unfair world
11 April 2022
Current economic growth strategies around the world are rapidly depleting natural resources and eco-systems. Just Transitions provides an overview of these challenges from a Global South perspective. How do developing countries eradicate poverty via economic development, while encountering the consequences of global warming and dwindling supplies of clean water, productive soils,... Read more
Making urban places: Principles and guidelines for layout planning
11 April 2022
In recent years there has been a growing consensus among town planners, and other involved professionals, that a change of approach is required. This shift has been fuelled by the demise of apartheid-based town planning and an acceptance that urban reconstruction and development is a priority. An important gap, however, has been the absence of an alternative concept of urban spatial... Read more
South Africa Pushed to the Limit: The political economy of change
8 April 2022
South Africa’s democratic government 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 its wide-ranging, incisive and provocative analysis, South Africa Pushed to the Limit shows that... Read more
Traditional African religions in South African law
8 April 2022
Since colonial times, traditional African religions have been misunderstood and misrepresented. Victims of the prejudice of Christian dogma, they have been said to be nothing more than magic and superstition, or at best mere ancestor worship. South Africa’s new constitutional order, however, with its celebration of diversity and its guarantee of equal treatment, demands a change in thinking.... Read more
Substance use and abuse in South Africa: Insights from brain and behavioural sciences
8 April 2022
South Africa’s high levels of substance abuse represent one of the most pressing health problems afflicting the country. In particular, alcohol, stimulants such as tik (methamphetamine) and opiates such as heroin are devastating communities, aggravating poverty and crime, and contributing to child abuse and gender violence.
Substance Use and Abuse in South Africa emerges... Read more
Towards employment-intensive growth in South Africa
8 April 2022
Since the great triumph of South Africa’s democratic transition, there have been many achievements; but there have also been many disappointments. Without doubt, the greatest failing has been the lack of progress in addressing poverty and inequality. The main culprit has, in turn, been massive and growing unemployment. With an official unemployment rate of 25%, South Africa is a complete... Read more
Rape Unresolved: Policing sexual offences in South Africa
6 April 2022
More than 1 000 women are raped in South Africa every day. Around 150 of those women will report the crime to the police. Fewer than 30 of the cases will be prosecuted and no more than 10 will result in a conviction. This translates into an overall conviction rate of 4–8 per cent of reported cases. What happens to all the other cases?
Rape Unresolved is concerned with... Read more
Primary Healthcare Spending: Striving for equity under fiscal federalism
6 April 2022
The geography of healthcare financing is important in addressing inequities and inequalities in population health. This is particularly true in developing countries where there are significant disparities in socioeconomic and health status between regions. Many countries, however, are adopting a fiscal federal system, in which decision-making about the use of state financial resources is... Read more
Raw Life, New Hope: Decency, housing and everyday life in a post-apartheid community
6 April 2022
Raw Life, New Hope is the story of one community’s efforts to secure a decent life in post-apartheid South Africa. For residents of The Park, a squalid shantytown on the outskirts of Cape Town, life was hard and they described their social world as raw. Their efforts to get on with the messy business of everyday life were often undercut by cruel poverty. Despite their inhospitable... Read more
Public works and social protection in sub-Saharan Africa: Do public works work for the poor?
6 April 2022
Widely implemented throughout Asia, Latin America and Africa, often with funding from major international donor agencies, Public Works Programmes are perceived to present a ‘win-win’ policy option. They respond to growing challenges of long-term under- and unemployment, providing jobs for the chronically poor while also creating assets for the state. As such, PWPs offer a welfare transfer... Read more
Innovation & Intellectual Property: Collaborative Dynamics in Africa
29 March 2022
In the global knowledge economy, intellectual property (IP) rights – and the innovations they are meant to spur – are important determinants of progress. But what does this mean for the nations of Africa? One view is that strong IP protection can facilitate innovation in African settings. Others say that existing IP systems are simply not suited to the realities of African... Read more
