Hannah J. Dawson – författare

This volume brings together established scholars and early-career researchers to foreground African contributions to labour studies. Spanning historical and contemporary developments, it examines youth employment, gendered labour, migration, informality, labour politics and emerging forms of work across the continent. Through rich case studies and comparative analysis, contributors interrogate how concepts such as class, labour market segmentation, power resources and worker agency have been deployed and contested in African contexts. In doing so, the book demonstrates how African empirical realities invite a rethinking of labour studies and its theoretical foundations.

Making a Life explores the dynamic everyday life-making strategies of young men in Zandspruit, a sprawling informal settlement on the outskirts of Johannesburg. In many ways Zandspruit typifies the precariousness of life within South Africa, where two-thirds of young people lack waged employment. However, rather than seeing Zandspruit as dumping ground, Hannah Dawson calls for an integrated understanding of the complex linkages between people's lives and livelihoods, and the multifaceted socio-political landscape of urban settlements. Based on 14 months of ethnographic research, Dawson investigates how social belonging, identity and economic realities intertwine in places such as Zandspruit. This approach not only challenges conventional approaches to studying work; it also questions the increasingly prevalent perspective that romanticises the adaptive survival strategies of the urban poor. By exploring the intricate connections between those with and without wages, the author shows how young men manage complex social, political and economic conditions. Making a Life offers insights into issues such as urban work, citizenship, un(der)employment and inequality in South Africa. At the same time, it contributes to a global understanding of how young people – men especially – manage economic uncertainty.