South Africa’s crisis of representation
South Africa has had formal democracy for 30 years, but more of its citizens are tuned out of the democratic process.
South Africa
Reading List: Barbara Boswell
While editing a collection of the writings of South African feminist Lauretta Ngcobo, Barbara Boswell found inspiration in texts that reflected Ngcobo’s sense that writing is an exercise of freedom.
Why Thabo Bester’s grift worked
South African con-artists Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana are not good people. They’re also an outcome of a system that predisposes individuals to avarice, selfishness and deceit.
An annual awakening
In the 1980s, the South African arts collective Vakalisa Art Associates reclaimed time as a tool of social control through their subversive calendars.
More than a building
The film 'No Place But Here' uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.
Reading List: Joel Marie Cabrita
Instead of listing the books that help her write 'Written Out: The Silencing of Regina Gelana Twala,' the author notes five books that shaped Regina Gelana Twala.
One of the last remaining pieces of history
Against Mahikeng’s failure to honor and preserve his legacy, a new Setswana biography examines Plaatje’s years in this South African town, once a regional capital.
The roots of toxic masculinity in South Africa
In South Africa and elsewhere, toxic masculinity is an outcome of modern individualism rather than tradition.
The cricketing phenomenon
The South African bowler, Kagiso Rabada, is arguably one of the best to play test cricket, and could retire as South Africa’s highest wicket-taker if the country plays more red-ball cricket.
The future of South Africa’s Tripartite Alliance
On March 20th there was a national shutdown in South Africa. On that day, we hosted a discussion in Johannesburg on the effectiveness and future of the South African left.
The ways of South Africa’s cricket establishment
In South African cricket, almost three decades after white rule ended, “local talent” means “local white talent,” even if you’re the national team captain.
South Africa’s energy crisis
Why is South Africa suffering from up to 12 hours of blackouts a day? On this podcast, we explain the country’s energy crisis.
Reading List: Zikhona Valela
The author of 'Now You Know How Mapetla Died,' a book on the murder of a leading Black Consciousness leader, writes about her research.
One of the great events in global labor history
2023 marks 50 years since the Durban Strikes. It doesn't fit neatly fit into mainstream accounts of the struggle against South African apartheid.
Multipolarity vs universality
On the one year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, neither the West or Russia can clearly explain how exactly the rest of humanity, especially Africans, wins from their respective preferred outcomes.
Bua Komanisi
Despite its proud history, the South African Communist Party has recently taken a backseat in South African politics. Understanding its roots helps us understand how it got here and what it will take to be rejuvenated.
Forms of woundedness
The intergenerational traumas of an anti-Black world in August Wilson's Fences are only too familiar to South Africans.
Group therapy
South African jazz drummer Tumi Mogorosi’s latest project is a call to black people to share the questions that render our condition one of deep ache.
Reading List: Hugo ka Canham
On the publication of his book on black life on the margins, the South African author reflects on work that expand the meaning of being black on the world.
The influence of the middle class
With the working classes down and out, it is arguably the middle classes that will play the more decisive role in African politics going forward.