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From early department stores in Cape Town to gendered histories of sartorial success in urban Togo, contestations over expense accounts at an apartheid state enterprise, to elite wealth and political corruption in Angola, this collection of essays explores the ways in which conspicuous consumption is foregrounded in various African contexts.

Argues that domestic worker relations in South Africa were shaped by the institution of slavery at the Cape. This established social hierarchies and patterns of behaviour that persist to the present day. To support her argument, Ena Jansen examines the representation of domestic workers in a diverse range of texts in English and Afrikaans.

What does the lawn want? To be watered, fertilised, mowed, admired, fretted over, ignored? This unusual question serves as a starting point for Civilising Grass: The Art of the Lawn on the South African Highveld, an unexpected and often disconcerting critique of one of the most common and familiar landscapes in South Africa.

In 1937, a group of young Capetonians embarked on a remarkable public education and cultural project called the New Era Fellowship (NEF). By shining a contemporary light on the NEF, Crain Soudien shows how its members were at the forefront of redefining the debate about social difference in a racially divided society.

In this history of more than 3,000 years, beginning with Ancient Egypt, Marcus Byrne and Helen Lunn capture the diversity of dung beetles and their unique behaviour patterns. Outlining the development of science from the point of view of the humble dung beetle makes this charming story of immense interest to general readers and entomologists alike.

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.

This intriguing memoir details in a quiet and restrained manner what it meant to be a committed black intellectual activist during the apartheid years and beyond. Few autobiographies exploring the "life of the mind" and the "history of ideas" have come out of South Africa, and N. Chabani Manganyi's reflections are a refreshing addition to the genre of life writing.

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.

Provides the first in-depth study of one of the leading trade unions in South Africa. Deftly navigating through workerist, social movement and political terrains that shape the South African labour landscape, this book sheds light on the path that led to the unprecedented 2012 Marikana massacre, the dissolution of the Cosatu federation and to fractures within the African National Congress itself.

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.

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.

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.

An illuminating and unusual biography of the Kowie River in the Eastern Cape. As well as being a social history, this is also a natural history of the river and its catchment area, where dinosaurs once roamed and cycads still grow.

Guides the reader from a history of global political secularism through an exploration of the roles played by religion and traditional authority in apartheid South Africa to the position of religion in the post-apartheid state.

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.

In 2013, Edward Snowden leaked secret documents revealing that state agencies had spied on the communications of millions of innocent citizens. Jane Duncan assesses the relevance of Snowden's revelations for South Africa. In doing so she questions the extent to which South Africa is becoming a surveillance society governed by a surveillance state.

The 2017 publication of Betrayal of the Promise, the report that detailed the systematic nature of state capture, marked a key moment in South Africa's most recent struggle for democracy. Shadow State is an updated version of that original, explosive report that changed South Africa's recent history.

The Gordonia region of the Northern Cape Province has received relatively little attention from historians. Martin Legassick explores aspects of the generally unknown "brown" and "black" history of the region. Emphasising the lives of ordinary people, his writing is also in part an exercise in "applied history" - historical writing with a direct application to people's lives in the present.

This collection of essays and talks by activist and former judge Albie Sachs is the culmination of more than 25 years of thought about constitution-making and non-racialism. We, the People offers an intimate insider's view of South Africa's Constitution by a writer who has been deeply entrenched in its historical journey.

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.

This story of an ANC elder is a rigorously researched historical record overlaid with intensely personal reflections which intersect with the political narrative. Above all, it is one man's story, set in the maelstrom of the liberation struggle.

Takes stock of the Zuma-led administration and its impact on the African national Congress (ANC). Combining hard-hitting arguments with astute analysis, Booysen shows how the ANC has become centered on the personage of Zuma, and how defense of his flawed leadership undermines the party's capacity to govern competently and protect its long-term future.

Climate change affects us all, but it can be a confusing business. Three leading South African scientists who have worked on the issue for over two decades help you to make sense of this topic. Climate Change: Briefings from Southern Africa takes the form of 55 "frequently-asked questions", each with a brief, clear scientifically up-to-date reply.

The death of Nelson Mandela on 5 December 2013 was in a sense a wake-up call for South Africans, and a time to reflect on what has been achieved since 'those magnificent days in late April 1994' (as the editors of this volume put it) 'when South Africans of all colours voted for the first time in a democratic election'.

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.

Scholar and writer Leon de Kock offers a lively and wide-ranging analysis of post-apartheid South African writing which, he contends, has morphed into a far more flexible and multifaceted entity than its predecessor.

Nuruddin Farah is widely regarded as one of the most sophisticated voices in contemporary world literature. Michel Foucault is revered as one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century, with his discursive legacy providing inspiration for scholars working in a range of interdisciplinary fields.

The first full-length study of slave memory in the South African context, this examines the relevance and effects of slave memory for contemporary negotiations of South African gendered and racialised identities. It reads memory as one way of processing t