Fatima Meer was an intellectual, academic, writer and activist – a tireless fighter for social justice and human rights. Her intellectual work sought to intertwine place, identity, and ethical commitment. In 1994 Fatima declined a parliamentary seat due to her preference to work in the non-governmental sector. She did however serve the ANC government in several capacities. In 2010, at the age of 81, Fatima Meer died after a stroke. In her introductory essay, author Shireen Hassim deftly weaves a narrative in which Meer's distinctive individuality as an academic and activist unfolds. In particular, the reader comes to understand how Meer’s sense of a common humanity critically informed her stance in the world.
Fatima Meer, published by the HSRC Press, is the first book in the Voices of Liberation series that showcases an Indian woman who uniquely straddled the worlds of academia and activism. Each book in the series features an analytical essay by a scholar, a selection from the body of work produced by the eponymous subject, including interviews, as well as short introductions by the editor that contextualize each extract.
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Content
Part 1: The free mind of Fatima Meer
Introduction: The activist sociologist
Race beyond black and white
Indian–African co-operation
Early life
The activist is groomed
University
The activist academic
America, Black Consciousness and Islam
Writer
Prison and bannings
Violence in the 1980s
Negotiations and democracy
Her legacy
Part 2: Her Voice: Selected writings of Fatima Meer
Social research in South Africa and the black academic
Women in the apartheid society
Satyagraha in South Africa
From Portrait of Indian South Africans
NUSAS in the ’70s
Indian people: Current trends and policies
A tragic report
American impressions
The meaning of sociology in southern Africa
Uprooting and resettling
The black woman in South Africa
From Race and suicide in South Africa
From Apartheid: Our picture
South Africa: New constitution, old ideology
From Towards understanding Iran today
Address on disinvestment, tyranny and change
Amaphekula (Terrorist)
From Higher than hope: Rolihlahla, we love you
Statement: Weekly Mail Book Week
Indentured labour and group formations in apartheid society
Negotiated settlement: Pros and cons
Padraig O’Malley interview with Fatima Meer
Gandhi on women: A critique
The (mis)trial of Andrew Zondo
From ummah to ubuntu
The struggle of South African Indians to be South Africans
The campaign to wipe out Third World debt to alleviate poverty
