HSRC Catalogue

African research that changes global thinking

• How do citizens in poor communities benefit from and perceive state interventions?
• How do citizens in poor communities interact with others in the community to promote the well-being of themselves and their families?
• What are the implications of the above for community based research, policy and practice?

Development, Social Policy and Community Action: Lessons from Below addresses these questions based on rigorous and multi-faceted research conducted in the poor, urban area of Doornkop, Soweto, using a range of different methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives that all broaden our understanding of citizen-community-state interactions in disadvantaged, urban communities in South Africa.

Solutions to poverty and inequality are often designed, implemented and evaluated in a top-down manner, thereby disregarding the views and agency of the poor citizens themselves. Addressing this gap, the authors explore how government assistance, through social grants and services, as well as community support mechanisms provide solutions to citizens in poor communities and the ways that the citizens perceive and make use of such interventions.

This research study points to the need for more nuanced policy strategies and interventions pertinent to local challenges which also resonate with the global search for solutions in similar contexts. With a fresh perspective that addresses the interconnections between state interventions, community and citizens in sustainable social development, this book provides a case for the importance of conducting community-based research that effectively encourages research findings to support communities to effect positive change.

Postcolonial African Anthropologies showcases some postcolonial ethnographies and aims to figure out how and why anthropology has engaged with conversations on decolonisation and postcolonialism.
The postcolonial ethnographies in this book show that Africans may not necessarily interpret and communicate their experiences in the ways that anthropologists trained in Western institutions and disciplines do, but they are multi-vocal and are ever present to speak with authority on their experience.
This book then, deepens and diversifies conversations on Africa and in particular, a ‘postcolonial’ Africa to understand the position of anthropologists, the position of Africans and the positioning of the discipline of anthropology in Africa.

The main focus of this publication is the link between South Africas grand pan-African ambitions, especially in the area of peace, security and governance, and its own capacity to pursue these objectives. Specifically, the paper examines Pretorias involvement in Africa, and internal capacity to support its mediation, peacekeeping and strengthening the abilities of African institutions for peacemaking. Further, it examines the challenges posed by tension between its pan-African and economic interests as well as power rivalry at the continental level, which have greatly limited its ability to take a more assertive role in regional political and economic developments. It briefly describes South Africas relations within SADC and the AU, as well as with Zimbabwe and examines the challenges posed by the agendas of China and Africas former colonial powers.

Young Families: Gender, Sexuality and Care draws together unique and compelling essays about the contexts of early childbearing, a topic that is now taken for granted. It draws on empirical data, multi-level approaches and inter-disciplinary perspectives on the dynamics that underpin young people’s experiences of being pregnant, having a child and caring for the child.

The book explores the contexts in which young families are constituted and shaped along with the kinds of social relationships and communities of care that early childbearing creates (or in some instances destroys). It shows the entanglement of gender, sexuality, race, age and class in the formation of young families and its effects on caring practices.

This book draws together unique and compelling accounts that address a gap in the existing literature on families in South Africa while also providing an understanding of the diversity of young South African families. Young Families will be of interest and of benefit to those in the fields of Women and Gender studies, Anthropology, Education, Sociology, History and Demography.