Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa

Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa PDF Author: Leslie Bank
Publisher: Hurst Publishers
ISBN: 1787388727
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
This book explores the impact of Covid-19, and the associated state lockdown, on rural lives in a former homeland in South Africa. The 2020 Disaster Management Act saw the state sweep through rural areas, targeting funerals and other customary practices as potential ‘super-spreader’ events. This unprecedented clampdown produced widespread disruption, fear and anxiety. The authors build on path-breaking work concerning local responses to West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, and examine the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to understand the impact of the Covid crisis on these communities, and on rural Africa more broadly. To shed light on the role of custom and ritual in rural social change during the pandemic, Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa applies long-term historical and ethnographic research; theories of people’s science, local knowledge and the human economy; and fieldwork conducted in ten rural South African communities during lockdown. The volume highlights differences between developments in Southern Africa and elsewhere on the continent, while exploring how the former apartheid homelands–commonly, yet problematically, represented as former ‘labour reserves’–have since been reconstituted as new home-spaces. In short, it explains why rural people have been so angered by the state’s assault on their cultural practices and institutions in the time of Covid.

Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa

Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa PDF Author: Leslie Bank
Publisher: Hurst Publishers
ISBN: 1787388727
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 393

Get Book

Book Description
This book explores the impact of Covid-19, and the associated state lockdown, on rural lives in a former homeland in South Africa. The 2020 Disaster Management Act saw the state sweep through rural areas, targeting funerals and other customary practices as potential ‘super-spreader’ events. This unprecedented clampdown produced widespread disruption, fear and anxiety. The authors build on path-breaking work concerning local responses to West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, and examine the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to understand the impact of the Covid crisis on these communities, and on rural Africa more broadly. To shed light on the role of custom and ritual in rural social change during the pandemic, Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa applies long-term historical and ethnographic research; theories of people’s science, local knowledge and the human economy; and fieldwork conducted in ten rural South African communities during lockdown. The volume highlights differences between developments in Southern Africa and elsewhere on the continent, while exploring how the former apartheid homelands–commonly, yet problematically, represented as former ‘labour reserves’–have since been reconstituted as new home-spaces. In short, it explains why rural people have been so angered by the state’s assault on their cultural practices and institutions in the time of Covid.

Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa

Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa PDF Author: LESLIE. SHARPLEY BANK (NELLY.)
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781787385733
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
This book explores the impact of Covid-19, and the associated state lockdown, on rural lives in a former homeland in South Africa. The 2020 Disaster Management Act saw the state sweep through rural areas, targeting funerals and other customary practices as potential 'super-spreader' events. This unprecedented clampdown produced widespread disruption, fear and anxiety. The authors build on path-breaking work concerning local responses to West Africa's Ebola epidemic, and examine the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to understand the impact of the Covid crisis on these communities, and on rural Africa more broadly.To shed light on the role of custom and ritual in rural social change during the pandemic, Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa applies long-term historical and ethnographic research; theories of people's science, local knowledge and the human economy; and fieldwork conducted in ten rural South African communities during lockdown. The volume highlights differences between developments in Southern Africa and elsewhere on the continent, while exploring how the former apartheid homelands-commonly, yet problematically, represented as former 'labour reserves'-have since been reconstituted as new home-spaces. In short, it explains why rural people have been so angered by the state's assault on their cultural practices and institutions in the time of Covid.

Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa

Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa PDF Author: Leslie Bank
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197674534
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
This book explores the impact of Covid-19, and the associated state lockdown, on rural lives in a former homeland in South Africa. The 2020 Disaster Management Act saw the state sweep through rural areas, targeting funerals and other customary practices as potential "super-spreader" events. This unprecedented clampdown produced widespread disruption, fear and anxiety. The authors build on path-breaking work concerning local responses to West Africa's Ebola epidemic, and examine the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to understand the impact of the Covid crisis on these communities, and on rural Africa more broadly. To shed light on the role of custom and ritual in rural social change during the pandemic, Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa applies long-term historical and ethnographic research; theories of people's science, local knowledge and the human economy; and fieldwork conducted in ten rural South African communities during lockdown. The volume highlights differences between developments in Southern Africa and elsewhere on the continent, while exploring how the former apartheid homelands-commonly, yet problematically, represented as former "labor reserves"-have since been reconstituted as new home-spaces. In short, it explains why rural people have been so angered by the state's assault on their cultural practices and institutions in the time of Covid.

One Virus, Two Countries

One Virus, Two Countries PDF Author: Steven Friedman
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1776147464
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
Has South Africa ‘done well’ at limiting illness and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic? Academic and political commentator, Steven Friedman, thinks not. While the country’s mainstream media believes it has, in his view the evidence tells another story. South Africa has experienced by far the most cases and deaths in Africa – at one point as many as the rest of the continent combined. One Virus, Two Countries: What Covid-19 tells us about South Africa offers a searing analysis of government and expert scientists’ responses to the pandemic. Friedman argues that South Africa is two societies in one – a ‘First World’ which resembles Western Europe and North America, and a ‘Third World’ which looks much like the rest of Africa or South Asia. The South African state, the media and the scientific community have largely tried to deal with the virus through a ‘First World’ lens in which much of the country was either invisible or a problem – not a partner. Friedman argues this approach prevented the country from responding in a way which would have protected most citizens. This is why case numbers and deaths are so high: South Africa has done worse than the rest of Africa not despite the fact that it has a ‘more developed’ health system, but because it does. One Virus, Two Countries is a controversial book that will rouse much needed debate about South Africa’s health and economic system in a context of serious inequality.

Religion and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Southern Africa

Religion and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Southern Africa PDF Author: Fortune Sibanda
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000542084
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
This book investigates the role of religion in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Southern Africa. Building on a diverse range of methodologies and disciplinary approaches, the book reflects on how religion, politics and health have interfaced in Southern African contexts, when faced with the sudden public health emergency caused by the pandemic. Religious actors have played a key role on the frontline throughout the pandemic, sometimes posing roadblocks to public health messaging, but more often deploying their resources to help provide effective and timely responses. Drawing on case studies from African indigenous knowledge systems, Islam, Rastafari and various forms of Christianity, this book provides important reflections on the role of religion in crisis response. This book will be of interest to researchers across the fields of African Studies, Health, Politics and Religious Studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Reflections on the Complexities of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Reflections on the Complexities of the Covid-19 Pandemic PDF Author: Shadrack B. Ramokgadi
Publisher: African Sun Media
ISBN: 1991201931
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
This book offers an original and timeous snapshot of contemporary lines of argument from various authors in the Global South on the Covid-19 pandemic as a complex emergency at the height of the pandemic. At the time of writing, there were various levels of uncertainties from different countries, citizens, the public and private sectors, industries and economies who were in disarray. The book traces the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in the province of Wuhan in China, the challenges, and the responses from a multiplicity of countries particularly from the Global South. Of particular importance, the book notes that vaccine uncertainty, limiting the spread of the virus and loss of life and employment, were some of the major challenges that these governments and citizens were confronted with. Also, the sizes of various economies lead to various challenges that the abovementioned governments shouldered. The contributors shed light on various aspects related to the Covid-19 pandemic from various countries in the Global South and include, but were not limited to securitised lockdowns, the use of militaries and complete closures of national (and sometimes fragile) economies, as well as overburdened health systems. These are just some dire consequences of Covid-19 on the public and private sector, industries and economy. The book emphasises that despite myriad challenges reported, there are various lessons that can be learnt in terms of how the countries responded to the pandemic, and in terms of how future pandemics can be handled. Finally, this is an interesting piece of work wherein contributors, as a collective, seek to shed light with regards to the unique perspectives from the Global South and at the same time give some guidance, related to their specific areas of focus.

The Covid Consensus (Updated)

The Covid Consensus (Updated) PDF Author: Toby Green
Publisher: Hurst Publishers
ISBN: 1805260111
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
During the first years of the pandemic, the political mainstream agreed that ‘following the science’ with hard lockdowns and vaccine mandates was the best way to preserve life. But social science reveals the true human cost of this policy. The Covid Consensus provides an internationalist-left perspective on the world’s Covid-19 response, which has had devastating consequences for democratic rights and the poor worldwide. As the fortunes of the richest soared, nationwide shutdowns devastated small businesses, the working classes and the Global South’s informal economies. Gender-based violence surged, and the mental health of young people was severely compromised. Meanwhile, unprecedented health restrictions prevented participation in daily life without proof of vaccination. Toby Green and Thomas Fazi argue that these policies grossly exacerbated existing trends of inequality, mediatisation and surveillance, with grave implications for the future. Rich in human detail, The Covid Consensus tackles head-on the refusal of the global political class and mainstream media to report the true extent of the erosion of democratic processes and the socioeconomic assault on the poor. As the world emerges from the pandemic to confront new modes of monitoring and control, this left-wing reappraisal of global Covid policies exposes the injustices and political failings that have produced the biggest crisis since the Second World War.

Acceleration and Cultural Change

Acceleration and Cultural Change PDF Author: Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031330994
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
This open access book includes socio-anthropological and anthropo-sociological conversations between one of the world’s leading anthropologists, Thomas Hyland Eriksen, and a young scholar, using his groundbreaking "overheating" approach.This book includes socio-anthropological and anthropo-sociological conversations between one of the world’s leading anthropologists, Thomas Hyland Eriksen, and a young scholar, using his groundbreaking "overheating" approach. From the pandemic to the spread of nationalism, from the Anthropocene to the Homogenocene, the authors discuss the most urgent issues of current society: e.g., the loss of biological and cultural diversity owing to the forces of globalisation; and the emergence of new forms of diversity through globalisation and migration; the intersectional dimension of climate change; the incredible rising of anger demonstrations around the world and resentful, overheated identities often linked to right-wing nationalism; the way digital devices have changed the meaning of temporality in people's life-worlds; the regulatory and competitive pressures on universities which are a result of many factors in the intersection of globalisation, massification and marketisation; youth's weakened belief in progress connected to changes in the contemporary world, such as growing inequality, political alienation and environmental destruction; recent pathbreaking research and original theory in sociology and anthropology related to the changes in an overheated world; and what post-Coronavirus social life might become. Highly topical, engaging and written in a conversational style, this book is a must-read for social scientists and discerning lay persons who want a fresh perspective on understanding the critical issues of our time. This is an open access book.

Generation, Gender and Negotiating Custom in South Africa

Generation, Gender and Negotiating Custom in South Africa PDF Author: Elena Moore
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000600211
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
This book investigates how customary practices in South Africa have led to negotiation and contestation over human rights, gender and generational power. Drawing on a range of original empirical studies, this book provides important new insights into the realities of regulating personal relationships in complex social fields in which customary practices are negotiated. This book not only adds to a fuller understanding of how customary practices are experienced in contemporary South Africa, but it also contributes to a large discussion about the experiences, impact and ongoing negotiations around changing structures of gender and generational power and rights in contemporary South Africa. It will be of interest to researchers across the fields of sociology, family/customary law, gender, social policy and African Studies.

Housing the Poor on the African Continent

Housing the Poor on the African Continent PDF Author: Mfundo Mandla Masuku
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527589536
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
This book explores the circumstances surrounding state-provided, low-cost housing for people at the lower end of the housing market in Africa. It deploys Ubuntu philosophy to unpack the provision of housing security to citizens, arguing that interpreting housing rights within Ubuntu philosophy recognises the spirit of reciprocity and collective solidarity as fundamental to meeting the housing needs of low-income groups. In essence, the volume reflects on the values of Ubuntu and informs both policy and practice by guiding policymakers, researchers, and practitioners with the episteme of basic human rights and the Ubuntu philosophy. It pointedly grapples with issues that resonate with efforts by African governments to protect vulnerable citizens from multidimensional poverty, homelessness, gender-neutral policies, and self-help housing schemes. The book’s insights raise red flags concerning the realisation of Ubuntu as a vehicle earmarked to deliver adequate and sustainable housing delivery outcomes. The volume is a must-read for academics, researchers, practitioners, government officials, and leaders from various sectors.