Description
Book SynopsisA fascinating ethnography of the democratic organisation of shack settlements in South Africa
Trade Review'One of the most exciting and provocative books that I've read in a long time, 'Amakomiti' challenges the stereotype of shanty-dwellers as a powerless underclass without social power. Ngwane unveils instead a defiant working-class world with rich traditions of resistance and a genius for self-organization'
-- Mike Davis, author of 'Planet of the Slums' (Verso, 2007)
'A remarkable book - Ngwane's great achievement is he once more rescues the amakomiti from academic condescension and historical obliteration. Here, he says, is a vision of another world made, run, and governed by working people. 'Amakomiti' is a book everyone should read'
-- Leo Zelig, author of 'An Ounce of Practice' (Hoperoad, 2017), and an editor of the 'Review of African Political Economy'
'A powerfully compelling account of grassroots democracy and forms of self-organisation in shack settlements [that] makes vividly clear the diversity, dynamism, and significance of these committees. Wonderfully illuminating'
-- Gillian Hart, Distinguished Professor at Witwatersrand University and author of 'Rethinking the South African Crisis' (University of Georgia Press, 2013)
'A work of great erudition and elegance, it writes shack dwellers and their committees into the history of the working class movements and democratic theory'
-- Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South, University of Bayreuth, Germany
'Compelling ... beats powerfully with an urgency for radical social change and democracy from below, fuelled and informed by the hard, daily struggles for housing, land, dignity and justice it makes visible'
-- Aziz Choudry, editor of 'The University and Social Justice Struggles Across the Globe' (Pluto, 2020)
'A rich and illuminating exploration of how working-class people organise to advance their interests that, thanks to Ngwane's flair for storytelling, is a pleasure to read'
-- Alex Callinicos, Emeritus Professor of European Studies, King's College London
Table of ContentsPreface 1. Introduction: Disrupting private land ownership? 2. 'The people cannot live in the air': History of the squatter movement in South Africa 3. Amakomiti are everywhere 4. Fatal embrace by the ANC in Duncan Village 5. Iinkundla of Nkaneng: The rural in the urban dialectic 6. Thembelihle settlement: A vision of hope 7. Amakomiti: A vision of alternatives Postscript: COVID-19 and the shacks
