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The book approaches South African politics through a democratic development perspective. The question of what are South Africa's prospects for democratic consolidation forms the underlying thread throughout the book.
It is divided into five parts, namely: Legacies of the past; Negotiating South Africa's transition; Procedural democratisation; Substantive democratisation and South Africa's international relations. The book is written using accessible academic language and covers the theoretical explanations for and practical aspects of politics within the South African context.
South Africa is ready for a new vocabulary than can form the basis
for a national consciousness which recognises racialised identities
while affirming that, as human beings, we are much more than our
racial, sexual, class, religious or national identities. The Colour
of Our Future makes a bold and ambitious contribution to the
discourse on race. It addresses the tension between the promise of
a post-racial society and the persistence of racialised identities
in South Africa, which has historically played itself out in
debates between the 'I don't see race' of non-racialism and the
'I'm proud to be black' of black consciousness. The chapters in
this volume highlight the need for a race-transcendent vision that
moves beyond 'the festival of negatives' embodied in concepts such
as non-racialism, non-sexism, anti-colonialism and anti-apartheid.
Steve Biko's notion of a 'joint culture' is the scaffold on which
this vision rests; it recognises that a race-transcendent society
can only be built by acknowledging the constituent elements of
South Africa's EuroAfricanAsian heritage. The distinguished authors
in this volume have, over the past two decades, used the democratic
space to insert into the public domain new conversations around the
intersections of race and the economy, race and the state, race and
the environment, race and ethnic difference, and race and higher
education. Presented here is some of their most trenchant and yet
still evolving thinking.
The world remains uncertain. Africa is fragile. Many issues remain unresolved and the African, and global, situation is worsening. South Africa has been at the crossroads for long enough. There can be no more delays – the time has come to address the many critical issues.
In Africa’s Wellbeing in an Uncertain World, Vusi Gumede discusses these critical issues about Africa, with specific focus on South Africa. He has revisited opinion articles and blogs he has been writing since the mid-2000s and taken his ideas and arguments, together with his deliberations on the recent changes globally and in Africa, and presented them in this thought-provoking book. While taking into account what
others have said about similar issues, this is an attempt to get us to talk about these challenges, the important issues and fundamental problems, with a view to finding solutions.
The future of the African continent could be bright if all the efforts that are being pursued for the improved wellbeing of Africans succeed. But, as Vusi Gumede reflects in this book, if South Africa is to achieve the society envisaged in the Constitution, then all South Africans – whatever the colour of their skin – have an important role to play.
In 2012, Unisa, as the home of African intellectuals, and the Thabo
Mbeki Foundation, as a premiere think tank on African matters, came
together to host a Colloquium on Mbeki @ 70. The essays presented
on that day have been collected and edited into this book, Building
Blocks Towards an African Century - Essays in Honour of Thabo
Mbeki, Former President of the Republic of South Africa. In
reflecting on the times and life of President Mbeki, the
contributing scholars have had to contend with the challenge that
the person who is the subject matter of the discourse is among us
and will also read and make his own judgement about what is
recorded. The work done by the contributors, both in terms of their
participation at the Colloquium of Mbeki @ 70 and their writings
that constitute this volume of essays, is an exceptional and
outstanding undertaking. What is reflected in these essays goes
beyond the person of Thabo Mbeki to include the identification of
the problems that Africa needs to solve and venturing answers to
some of the difficult questions that they pose. Readers will
navigate through these interesting theses and will ascertain, among
others, the following: A detailed account of Mbeki as a statesman
and intellectual forms a compelling and must-read introduction to
this volume. That includes a critical analysis of the ANC's
performance under President Mbeki, its achievements, and the fault
lines of South Africa's nascent democracy owing to difficult policy
choices; A thorough examination of Thabo Mbeki's contribution to
intellectual engagement about Africa's past, present, and future.
The book offers the current generation of leaders with the tools of
analysis to enable them to respond accurately to the problems
facing Africa's future; While Thabo Mbeki has contributed immensely
to the enhancement of Africa's profile through the AU and other
multinational institutions, the authors express misgivings about
the strengths, relevance, and sustainability of Africa's
institutions, in particular, the AU; The important question of `Who
is an African?' is thoroughly debated, and various permutations are
offered as to whether that should be answered simply as a matter of
colour or identity on the one hand, or a matter of ideas, vision,
and commitment to Africa's agenda on the other; A strong and
reasoned argument is made to assist the reader to look at Africa
from a different and new perspective in terms of the need to focus
on Africa's people rather than simply on the basis of social or
political structures and, in that context, the authors debate the
critical matter of feminism in Africa; An analysis of the fantasy
of the supremacy of the white tribes in South Africa is made, which
leads to the conclusion that that fantasy has the negative effect
of impeding efforts towards the achievement of unity; The essays
would not be complete without an examination of the important issue
of leadership as epitomised by Mbeki's vision, his thinking, and
his works, and that is used to pose the question: what kind of
leadership is required in today's Africa to deal with her
challenges?; In the end, the Colloquium sought to address the
matter of Afrocentricity in the process of knowledge production as
a means of responding to Africa's challenges rather than
positioning Africans as simply the consumers of pre-packaged
information from elsewhere and not Africa.
This comparative book debates migration and regional integration in
the two regional economic blocs, namely the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) and the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS). The book takes a historical and nuanced
citizenship approach to integration by analysing regional
integration from the perspective of non-state actors and how they
negotiate various structures and institutions in their pursuit for
life and livelihood in a contemporary context marked by mobility
and economic fragmentation.
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