Bøger udgivet af Wits University Press

Previous ways of conceiving the universal emancipation of humanity have in practice ended in failure. Marxism, anti-colonial nationalism and neo-liberalism all understand the achievement of universal emancipation through a form of state politics. Marxism, which had encapsulated the idea of freedom for most of the twentieth century, was found wanting when it came to thinking emancipation because social interests and identities were understood as simply reflected in political subjectivity which could only lead to statist authoritarianism. Neo-liberalism and anti-colonial nationalism have also both assumed that freedom is realisable through the state, and have been equally authoritarian in their relations to those they have excluded on the African continent and elsewhere. Thinking Freedom in Africa then conceives emancipatory politics beginning from the axiom that people think'. In other words, the idea that anyone is capable of engaging in a collective thought-practice which exceeds social place, interests and identities and which thus begins to think a politics of universal humanity. Using the work of thinkers such as Alain Badiou, Jacques Ranciere, Sylvain Lazarus, Frantz Fanon and many others, along with the inventive thought of people themselves in their experiences of struggle, the author proceeds to analyse how Africans themselves - with agency of their own - have thought emancipation during various historical political sequences and to show how emancipation may be thought today in a manner appropriate to twenty-first century conditions and concerns.

Shortly after the statue of Cecil John Rhodes came down at the University of Cape Town, protestors called for the decolonisation of universities. What exactly is decolonisation? This book brings together some of the most innovative thinking on curriculum theory to address this important question.

Presents the stories of South Africans, some Gauteng-born, others from neighbouring provinces, striving to realise the promises of democracy. They are also the stories of newcomers, from neighbouring countries and from as far afield as Pakistan and Rwanda, seeking a secure future.

Capitalism's addiction to fossil fuels is heating our planet at a pace and scale never before experienced. Political leaders across the world are failing to provide systemic solutions to the climate crisis. The Climate Crisis investigates ecosocialist alternatives that are emerging.

Shaping markets through competition and economic regulation is at the heart of addressing the development challenges facing countries in southern Africa. The contributors to Competition Law and Economic Regulation critically assess the efficacy of the competition and economic regulation frameworks, including the impact of a number of the regional competition authorities.

Despite the transition from apartheid to democracy, South Africa is the most unequal country in the world. This collection of essays demonstrate how the consequences of inequality extend throughout society and the political economy, crippling the quest for social justice, polarising the politics, skewing economic outcomes and bringing devastating environmental consequences in their wake.

Presents surveys of the opinions, attitudes and lifestyles of members of trade unions affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). In its analysis, Labour Beyond Cosatu shows that Cosatu, fragmented and weakened through fissures in its alliance with the African National Congress, is no longer the only dominant force influencing South Africa's labour landscape.

Explores the effects of addiction not only on those who suffer from it but on communities, families and the police, both those who try to control the murderous trade and those who benefit from it. This book shares "people's real-life stories, with the intention to inspire and develop a greater empathy and kindness".

What does friendship have to do with racial difference, settler colonialism and post-apartheid South Africa? While histories of apartheid and colonialism in South Africa have often focused on the ideologies of segregation and white supremacy, Ties that Bind explores how the intimacies of friendship create vital spaces for practices of power and resistance.

The Soweto Student Uprising of 1976 was a decisive moment in the struggle against apartheid. Drawing on research and writing by leading scholars and prominent activists, Students Must Rise takes Soweto `76 as its pivot point, but looks at student and youth activism in South Africa more broadly by considering what happened before and beyond the Soweto moment.

Examines the way in which various strands of left thought have addressed the National Question, especially during the apartheid years, and goes on to discuss its relevance for South Africa today and in the future. Contributors have defined the question as they believe appropriate, which has resulted in a rich tapestry of interweaving perceptions about the unresolved National Question.

The global economic crisis is far from over and has been considered the worst in the history of modern capitalism.

Siyakha Mguni narrates his personal journey, over many years, to discover the significance of a hitherto enigmatic theme in San rock paintings known as "formlings". This book offers an innovative methodological approach for understanding subject matter in San rock art that is not easily recognisable, and will be an invaluable reference book to students and scholars.

As the dynamo of South Africa's economy, Johannesburg commands a central position in the nation's imagination, and scholars throughout the world monitor the city as an exemplar of urbanity in the global South.

This takes the reader on a journey through the sensitive and often painful realities of contemporary South African life. Offering a fresh and innovative perspective on psychodynamic psychotherapy, it captures the possibilities of using psychodynamic theory in service of progressive and socially relevant application.

Percival Kirby was one of the greatest South African musicologists and ethnomusicologists. Born in Scotland in 1887, after completing his studies at the Royal College of Music in London he came out to South Africa as the Music Organiser to the Natal Education Department.

This is the first publication in the Democratic Marxism Series , which seeks to elaborate the social theorising and politics of Democratic Marxism. This edited volume introduces some contemporary approaches to Marxism and explores some of the ways in which Marxism has been used in Africa.

Notions of land and agrarian reform are now well entrenched in post-apartheid South Africa. But what this reform actually means for everyday life is not clearly understood, nor the way it will impact on the political economy.

The chapters in this volume are written by experts in their fields and address issues of politics, power and social class; economy, ecology and labour; public policy and social practice; and South Africa beyond its borders. The third volume of the New South African Review continues the series by providing in-depth analyses of the key issues facing South Africa today.

Provides an overview of the research related to psychological assessment across South Africa. The thirty-six chapters provide a combination of psychometric theory and practical assessment applications in order to combine the currently disparate research that has been conducted locally in this field.

This much-awaited volume uncovers the long-lost pages of the major African multi-lingual newspaper, Abantu-Batho.

Somewhere on the Border was written in exile and was intercepted in the post and banned by the apartheid censors. This one-act version of the play brings the South African Border War back into public discourse and pierces through the armour of silence, secrecy and shame that still surrounds it.

Through five colourful characters, three of them living out their very individual lives in an unnamed public park in Johannesburg, Zakes Mda explores the plight of women and children in a patriarchal and male-dominated twenty-first century world.

Contains cutting edge contributions that consider new approaches to three areas: the documentation of rock art; its interpretation using indigenous knowledge; and the presentation of rock art. Working with Rock Art is the first edited volume to consider each of these areas in a theoretical rather than a technical fashion, and makes a significant contribution to the discipline.

Drawing on interviews with mothers who have been diagnosed HIV-positive, this title provides a perspective of motherhood from the mother's point of view. It explores the situation in which two very powerful identities, those of motherhood and of being HIV-positive, collide in the same moment.

The management of South Africa's elephants is a lightning-rod for a whole range of associated values-based policy issues pertaining to elephant in South Africa. The results of this comprehensive work will pave a way to better resolution of these controversial issues.

Analyses texts drawn from the Bleek and Lloyd Archive - one of the important collections for the understanding of South African cultural heritage and in particular the traditions of the /Xam, South Africa's 'first people'. This book offers an analysis of the corpus of /Xam narratives found in the Bleek and Lloyd collection.

Tells the story of two brothers, of sibling rivalry, of exile, of memory and reconciliation, and of perplexities of freedom.

'Why bother to rob a bank, when you can own a bank?' asked Bertold Brecht. The question is reiterated in the very Brechtian Love, Crime and Johannesburg, the story of Jimmy 'Long Legs' Mangane, a people's poet involved in the struggle, who is accused of robbing a bank.

This collection of three plays and one cine poem captures the essence of Zakes Mda's method as a dramatist. Included is the story of two women who meet during a long wait to buy subsidized rice and discover they have more in common than their poverty.