Limits to Liberation After Apartheid

Steven L. Robins is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Stellenbosch.

The ending of apartheid and creation of a new democratic state in 1994 provided the opportunity to establish a new socio-economic and political system that would redress the inequalities of the past and also create a major economic and political player, between the socialist ideal and neo-liberal economic reality in contemporary South Africa. The 12 chapters (divided into three thematic sections) provide examples of this contradiction at various scales and institutions, concluding that solutions to this gap lie in the everyday struggles of both citizens and policymakers. While by no means the first attempt to tackle this issue, this collection successfully grapples with both theoretical and empirical issues underlying this dilemma, exploring the implications of the South African experience for broader theories of liberalism and democracy. ... I highly recommend this book to those concerned with the post-apartheid South African state as well as those with an interest in theories of democracy and citizenship. Indeed, the development of such important theoretical ideas should not be confined to the 'South Africa' library shelves or literature debates. Indeed, the movement away from an emphasis on social equality towards the prominence of socio-cultural group differentiation is a worldwide trend, and perhaps experiences in South Africa can serve as the blueprint for elsewhere.

• Introduction by Steven Robins I CULTURE & THE LIMITS OF LIBERALISM Marginalisation and citizenship in post-apartheid South Africa by Bettina Von Lieres - Reflections on liberalism, politculturalism and ID-ology: citizenship and difference in South Africa by John Comaroff and Jean Comaroff - The demands of recognition and the ambivalence of difference: race, culture and afrikanerness in post-apartheid South Africa by Suren Pillay - Traditional leaders and democracy: cultural politics in the age of globalisation by Thomas A. Koelble and Ed Li Puma II RETHINKNG CITIZENSHIP and GOVERNANCE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA Nodal governance, denizenship and communal space: challenging the Westphalian ideal by Clifford Shearing and Jennifer Wood - Political inventions and interventions: a critical review of the proposed city development strategy partnership in Cape Town by Edgar Pieterse - 'Functional' and 'dysfunctional' communities: the making of ethical citizens by Ivor Chipkin - Mediating Manenberg in the post-apartheid public sphere: media, democracy and citizenship by Sean Jacobs and Ron Krabill III CULTURAL PLURALITY and CULTURAL POLITICS AFTER APARTHEID Negotiating gender and personhood in the new South Africa: adolescent women and gangsters in Manenberg Township on the Cape Flats by Elaine Salo - Refracting an elusive South African urban citizenship: problems with tracking spaza by Andrew Spiegel - Coloureds don't toyi-toyi: gesture, constraint and identity in Cape Town by Shannon Jackson - Palaces of desire: Century City and the ambiguities of development by Rafael Marks.