Solidarity under quarantine
Nelson Mandela's life teaches us that being quarantined is not the end of politics, but for the regeneration of politics.
South Africa
Out of sight
In South Africa, social distancing to bring down COVID-19 infections takes a decidedly local shape. In a racialized society, it manifests primarily as white melancholia and black Afro-pessimism.
To remember selectively
How partisanship distorts the construction and narration of public memory about historical events, especially the resistance against apartheid.
South Africa’s one-sided lockdown: coercing the poor, coddling the rich?
The Ramaphosa Presidency has been praised for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, but the compensating measures that accompany it are inadequate to protect much of the population.
At the limits of inequality discourse
Race reductionism is stunting the possibility for radical change in an ever unequal South Africa.
The virus of whiteness
COVID-19 has been used to justify xenophobia and anti-Asian racism, but a white South African woman’s hoarding behavior illustrates the global anti-black and anti-poor response to crises.
How COVID-19 reveals the paradoxes of neoliberal logic
Pandemics force even neoliberal thinkers to admit government action and collective solidarity are urgently needed.
Who will watch the watchmen?
Who will watch the police and the army in South Africa as they act on behalf of the state to enforce COVID-19 regulations.
Why xenophobia is bad for the health of all in South Africa
South Africa mustn’t forget the public—and that includes migrants and refugees—in its public health response to COVID-19.
In the back and in the side
South Africa’s Human Rights Day (originally Sharpeville Day) holds a special place in the nation’s history.
The necropolitics of COVID-19
COVID-19 isn’t simply a medical or epidemiological crisis; it is a crisis of sovereignty.
Keep the phones on
COVID-19 presents an unprecedented threat, but a campaign by South Africa's security forces attempting to grind defenseless people into dust does not guarantee success.
Pentecostal promise and a South African dream deferred
Public anxiety grows over “prosperity preachers” who have dominated the religious landscape in South Africa and across the continent.
Homesick: Notes on lockdown
We know what will happen with this new virus, and so I cannot blissfully self-isolate.
What lies ahead?
The coronavirus pandemic places moral, economic, and political questions before us. Only two answers remain: socialism or barbarism.
Reading List: Jill Kelly
The historian of South Africa on books she is reading for a new project on women and anti-apartheid activities in 1950s rural KwaZulu-Natal.
The Blitzboks in America
What the recent World Rugby Sevens Series global championship reveals about national rugby cultures, particularly South Africa's.
The untold story of the making of South Africa
The quest to understand the real cost of gold in our lives and the fate of those trapped in the mining economy’s cage.
The ‘abnormality’ of Cape Town’s traditional carnival
Breaking with the usual media conversation about the carnival that recalls Cape Town’s slave past.
Young South Africans are set up for failure
With 7.9 million young South Africans out of work or with very little education or training opportunities, who looks out for their aspirations?