The New South Africa’s original ’State Capture’
The elite compromise of the early 1990s emphatically excluded the possibility of a comprehensive redistribution policy.
South Africa
Hugh Masekela’s musical modernism
Masekela wanted to craft a sound that avoided “world music” caricature while not simply mimicking the American Bebop he was so enamored of.
A Lion Among Men
In praise of the late Keorapetse Kgositsile, who became South Africa's national poet laureate in 2006.
The Cyril Ramaphosa model
The election Monday night of Cyril Ramaphosa as president of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress…
The New Testament
Much of black youth culture in South Africa celebrates constant self-invention, and is built on the gospel of entrepreneurship.
How not to talk about corruption in South Africa
How media and anti-corruption campaigns reinforces, or fail to adequately address, racialized and ahistorical accounts of corruption as a problem in South Africa.
The rise and fall of Mangosuthu Buthelezi
South African public life is rife with revisionism, often opportunistic. Take the case of Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
The roar of the ocean’s many waters
South Africa’s Constitution begins with a bold statement: “We, the people of South Africa, Recognise the injustices of our past …”
The Sons of Africa in World War I
Interview with Fred Khumalo, author of a novel about the sinking of the SS Mendi, a warship carrying hundreds of black South African soldiers.
Populism as politics in Southern Africa
In Southern Africa, former liberation movements reclaim ownership over history and society not by seeking but by remaining in power.
Where township tours don’t go
Who produced that $30 mug you bought at Cape Town International Airport on your way home?
White privilege and hypocrisy in South Africa
Many white South Africans are doing all they can to maintain racial inequalities and white privilege. It's a recipe for disaster. Hopefully they get it before it’s too late.
My Grandmother’s Archive
Faced with the uncertainty of the postapartheid world, my grandmother protects her children the same way she survived Apartheid: by making sure their papers are in order.
The short life and times of Bhele Dlunga of Marikana
Amid the violence of August 2012, one positive feature that stood out was the resilience of the autonomous organization of workers and independent trade unions in Marikana.
Falling into an uneasy sleep
It took the writer, later South Africa's ambassador to Sri Lanka, 30 years to talk to her mother about rape. Her mother's rape.
What intellectuals look and sound like
Reading three contemporary South African women authors: Lindiwe Hani, Pumla Gqola and Redi Tlhabi.
The story is always more important than the picture
I was born during the state of emergency in South Africa in the 1980s and witnessed our country’s difficult birth into relative democracy in the 1990s. My time abroad has shown me that structural injustice is a global phenomenon. I’ve always wanted to use my work to show people that something is deeply wrong with […]
Unequal Scenes
Anthropologist Johnny Miller's aerial photographs chronicles geographic stratifications in South Africa and beyond.
The Youths
When I was a youth, each January 8, the African National Congress, then the dominant liberation movement against apartheid, issued a statement to commemorate its founding and embolden its followers. They were a big deal. Every statement came with a theme in which they dedicated the year to some group (women, the “comrades”, the generic […]
The Worker with a Pen
In his life and books, Alex La Guma struggled for a society in which all people could find their humanity, argues his friend Ngugi wa Thiong'o.