Rethinking Marginality in South Africa
Rethinking Marginality in South Africa

Author: Crystal Powell

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2014-07-17

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9956792519

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

What does it mean to be marginal? For residents of Cape Towns Langa Township, being considered marginal is subject to a host of social, physical and sometimes materialistic qualifications not least of which is owning a mobile phone. Through various presentations of unique aspects of township life revealed through ethnographic snapshots, this book reveals the complex realities of marginalization experienced by some residents in Langa Township, located in Cape Town, South Africa. Mobile phones have been embraced and accommodated by both local South Africans and African immigrant residents living and working in Langa. Among other things, the technology has become a way of challenging (real and imagined) marginalities within the township in particular and South Africa in general. The book provides empirical data on the role of technology in regards to migration and notions of belonging; specifically the ways that technology has mitigated distance for residents, provided opportunities for development, facilitated the negotiation of various marginalities, and offered new ways of belonging for Langa residents.

Rethinking Life at the Margins
Rethinking Life at the Margins

Author: Michele Lancione

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-20

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 1317063996

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Experimenting with new ways of looking at the contexts, subjects, processes and multiple political stances that make up life at the margins, this book provides a novel source for a critical rethinking of marginalisation. Drawing on post-colonialism and critical assemblage thinking, the rich ethnographic works presented in the book trace the assemblage of marginality in multiple case-studies encompassing the Global North and South. These works are united by the approach developed in the book, characterised by the refusal of a priori definitions and by a post-human and grounded take on the assemblage of life. The result is a nuanced attention to the potential expressed by everyday articulations and a commitment to produce a processual, vitalist and non-normative cultural politics of the margins. The reader will find in this book unique challenges to accepted and authoritative thinking, and provides new insights into researching life at the margins.

South African Autobiography as Subjective History
South African Autobiography as Subjective History

Author: Lena Englund

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-09-14

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 3030832325

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book examines 21st-century South African autobiographical writing that addresses the nation’s socio-political realities, both past and present. The texts in focus represent and depict a South Africa caught in the midst of contradictory and competing images of the ‘Rainbow Nation’. Arguing that recent memoirs question and criticize the illusion of a united nation, the study shows how these texts reveal the flaws and shortcomings not only of the apartheid past but of contemporary South Africa. It encompasses a broad range of autobiographical works, largely published since 2009, that engage with South Africa’s past, present and future. At its centre is the quest for space and belonging, and this book investigates who can comfortably ‘belong’ in South Africa in its post-apartheid, post-Truth and Reconciliation, post-Mbkei and post-Zuma state.

Re-imagining Communication in Africa and the Caribbean
Re-imagining Communication in Africa and the Caribbean

Author: Hopeton S. Dunn

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-01-30

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13: 303054169X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book advances alternative approaches to understanding media, culture and technology in two vibrant regions of the Global South. Bringing together scholars from Africa and the Caribbean, it traverses the domains of communication theory, digital technology strategy, media practice reforms, and corporate and cultural renewal. The first section tackles research and technology with new conceptual thinking from the South. The book then looks at emerging approaches to community digital networks, online diaspora entertainment, and video gaming strategies. The volume then explores reforms in policy and professional practice, including in broadcast television, online newspapers, media philanthropy, and business news reporting. Its final section examines the role of village-based folk media, the power of popular music in political opposition, and new approaches to overcoming neo-colonial propaganda and external corporate hegemony. This book therefore engages critically with the central issues of how we communicate, produce, entertain, and build communities in 21st-century Africa and the Caribbean.

Africa's Development Impasse
Africa's Development Impasse

Author: Doctor Stefan Andreasson

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.

Published: 2013-07-04

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 184813603X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Orthodox strategies for socio-economic development have failed spectacularly in Southern Africa. Neither the developmental state nor neoliberal reform seems able to provide a solution to Africa's problems. In Africa's Development Impasse, Stefan Andreasson analyses this failure and explores the potential for post-development alternatives. Examining the post-independence trajectories of Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, the book shows three different examples of this failure to overcome a debilitating colonial legacy. Andreasson then argues that it is now time to resuscitate post-development theory's challenge to conventional development. In doing this, he claims, we face the enormous challenge of translating post-development into actual politics for a socially and politically sustainable future and using it as a dialogue about what the aims and aspirations of post-colonial societies might become. This important fusion of theory with empirical case studies will be essential reading for students of development politics and Africa.

Exploring the Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Exploring the Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author: Usha Rana

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2022-06-08

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13: 1000565297

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This unique and topical book assesses the impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on a multitude of different aspects of human life. With chapters from researchers from a diverse selection of countries, this new volume, Exploring the Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Social, Cultural, Economic, and Psychological Insights and Perspectives, provides an insightful understanding of the challenges and impacts of COVID-19 on mental health, health care, gender issues, education, social institutions, and more. The diverse studies in this volume look at community responses and social challenges during COVID-19, covering topics such as social protection challenges and measures, the responsibility of the state to its citizens, and human rights and inhuman wrongs. The volume also examines health challenges and consequences of COVID-19, such as the impact on maternal and reproductive health, on mental health, the psychological effects of isolation, and more. The volume also includes studies on gender issues such as the plight of women migrant workers during the pandemic, feminist activism during quarantine, the impact on vulnerable groups of society, and how the pandemic affected interpersonal relations and behavior. The volume also takes a look at the roles of different organizations and professions and their reactions to the health crisis, including police, journalists and the media, and educators. The issues of the closure of schools and colleges and remote learning are also addressed. There is even a mathematical study of optimum budget allocation for social projects to control the COVID-19 pandemic. The enlightening volume provides an in-depth understanding of sociocultural responses to the COVID-19 and its consequences on society and will be of value to many sectors of society, including government and nongovernment organizations, policymakers and policy analysts, medical research organizations, schools and universities, healthcare practitioners, sociologists, and many others.

South and North
South and North

Author: Kerry Bystrom

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2018-03-28

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1351047027

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book explores urban life and realities in the cities of the Global South and North. Through literature, film and other forms of media that constitute shared social imaginaries, the essays in the volume interrogate the modes of production that make up the fabric of urban spaces and the lives of their inhabitants. They also rethink practices that engender ‘cityness’ in diverse but increasingly interlinked conglomerations. Probing ‘orientations’ of and within major urban spaces of the South –Jakarta, Rio de Janeiro, Tijuana, Delhi, Kolkata, Luanda and Johannesburg –the book reveals the shared dynamics of urbanity built on and through the ruins of imperialism, Cold War geopolitics, global neoliberalism and the recent resurgence of nationalism. Completing a kind of arc, the volume then turns to cities located in the North such as Paris, Munich, Dresden, London and New York to map their coordinates in relation to the South. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of media and culture studies, city studies, development studies, Global South studies, urban geography, built environment and literature.

Rethinking Marginality in South Africa
Rethinking Marginality in South Africa

Author: Powell, Crystal

Publisher: Langaa RPCIG

Published: 2014-07-19

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9956792020

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

What does it mean to be marginal? For residents of Cape Town's Langa Township, being considered marginal is subject to a host of social, physical and sometimes materialistic qualifications - not least of which is owning a mobile phone. Through various presentations of unique aspects of township life revealed through ethnographic snapshots, this book reveals the complex realities of marginalization experienced by some residents in Langa Township, located in Cape Town, South Africa. Mobile phones have been embraced and accommodated by both local South Africans and African immigrant residents living and working in Langa. Among other things, the technology has become a way of challenging (real and imagined) marginalities within the township in particular and South Africa in general. The book provides empirical data on the role of technology in regards to migration and notions of belonging; specifically the ways that technology has mitigated distance for residents, provided opportunities for development, facilitated the negotiation of various marginalities, and offered new ways of belonging for Langa residents.

Childcare Workers, Global Migration and Digital Media
Childcare Workers, Global Migration and Digital Media

Author: Youna Kim

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-20

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1351606662

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book explores the transnational mobility, everyday life and digital media use of childcare workers living and working abroad. Focusing specifically on Filipina, Indonesian, and Sri Lankan nannies in Europe, it offers insights as to the causes and implications of women’s mobility, using data drawn from ethnographic research examining transnational migration, work experiences, family, and relationships. While drawing attention to the hidden, largely invisible and marginalized lives of these women, this research reveals the ways in which digital media, especially the use of mobile phones and the Internet, empower them but also continue to reinforce existing power relations and inequalities. Drawing on a wide range of perspectives from media and communications, sociology, cultural studies and anthropology, the book combines theoretical perspectives with grounded case studies.

Voluntary and Involuntary Childlessness
Voluntary and Involuntary Childlessness

Author: Natalie Sappleton

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing

Published: 2018-08-23

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 1787543625

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

While interest in the drivers, consequences, nature and manifestations of voluntary and involuntary childlessness increases, knowledge progress is hampered by poor linkages across disjointed research fields. The book brings together theoretical insights and empirical investigations into the phenomenon, united within a feminist conceptual framework.