South Africa - The Present as History

From Mrs Ples to Mandela and Marikana

Bibliographic Data

ID19945846
EditorsJohn S Saul, Patrick Bond (0000-0001-6657-7898)
Year2014
Pages312
Publication date2014-12-31
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueSouth Africa - the Present As History (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherBoydell and Brewer (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1515/9781782042433
OpenAlexW4392335045
Open LibraryOL34500704M
ISBN9781782042433
LanguageEN
Citations received26

Analyses the roots of power, patriarchy, ecological destruction and capitalist dynamics, of anti-apartheid resistance and of on-going movements against inequality and injustice in contemporary South Africa, to show how its contemporary realities are rooted in its past history and earlier struggles for independence. Short-listed for the Deutscher Prize 2014 In 1994, the first non-racial elections in South Africa brought Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress to office; elections since have confirmed the ANC's hold, both popular and legitimate, on power. Yet, at the same time, South Africa has one of the highest rates of protest and dissent in the world - underscored by the police shooting of 34 striking miners at Marikana in 2012 - regions of deep poverty and environmental degradation, rising inequality and high unemployment rates. This book looks at this paradox by examining the precise character of the post-apartheid state, and the roots of the hope that something better than the semi-liberation that the ANC has presided over must not be long delayed - both within the ANC itself and within the broader society of South Africa. The authors present a history of South Africa from earliest times, with today's post-apartheid society interpreted andunderstood in the context of and through the lens of its earlier history. Following the introduction, which offers an analytical background to the narrative that follows, they track the course of South African history: from its origins to apartheid in the 1970; through the crisis and transition of the 1970s and 1980s to the historic deal-making of 1994 that ended apartheid; to its recent history from Mandela to Marikana, with increasing signs of social unrest and class conflict. Finally, the authors reflect on the present situation in South Africa with reference to the historical patterns that have shaped contemporary realities and the possibility of a 'next liberation struggle'. John S. Saul is Professor Emeritus at York University (Canada). Patrick Bond is Senior Professor of Development Studies and Director of the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Durban). Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland & Botswana): Jacana

Geography · History · Legal Issues in South Africa · South African History and Culture · Entwicklung · Gesellschaft · Political science · politics and government · Politischer Wandel · Post-apartheid era · Prognose · Social change · Social conditions · Social history · South Africa · Sozioökonomischer Wandel · Zukunft

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