Description
Book SynopsisThis ethnographic analysis of violence that broke out in a South African gold mine soon after apartheid ended in 1994 shows how violence comes to be blamed on ethnic differences retrospectively—and often wrongly.
Trade Review“
Violence in a Time of Liberation is an absorbing and exceptionally clear-sighted analysis of violence and ethnic consciousness in South Africa. Focused on a specific set of events that occurred at a gold mine in the mid-1990s, Donald L. Donham brings vivid ethnographic description and analysis to bear on some of the thorniest questions faced by social analysts of violence. His book is lucidly written and cunningly constructed, with a substantial narrative pull. It is a very significant contribution both to scholarly understandings of contemporary South African society and to theoretical debates around ethnic violence.”—
James Ferguson, author of
Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order“Taking off from a single episode, Donald L. Donham provides readers with a rich account that makes an important point: ethnic identification is often more the consequence of violence than the cause. Since people involved may, in retrospect, interpret an event using ethnic categories, understanding the complexity of the processes leading up to violence requires peeling away layers of backward projection and reconstructing the flow of events, tasks Donham performs here with sensitivity and insight.”—
Frederick Cooper, author of
Colonialism in Question: Theory, Knowledge, History“A prescient narrative of mine violence. Based on a study of a mine called Cinderella, it provides a piercing and lucid exposition of the path to this violence in a post-1994 moment. . . .
Violence in a Time of Liberation offers an exemplary example of how historical ethnography can be used to study violence. It probes us to give time and labour to understand better what has happened, even if its meanings remain elusive. For violence, too, is a way of remembering our disappointed hope.“ -- Matthew Willhelm-Solomon * Mail & Guardian *
“This is a beautifully produced book…. It is also beautifully written, thoughtful, intelligent, meticulous in making arguments, and humble in making its case and in acknowledgement of others’ work. For those who are interested in debates about the often violent ambiguities of “liberation” (in South Africa and elsewhere), this is a must read. It is also a masterpiece of anthropological narrative in its own right. Like any engaging detective story, it will be widely read.” -- T. Dunbar Moodie * Anthropos *
“This is a carefully analyzed, clearly written, and beautifully produced book. Donham’s careful attention to detail is nicely enhanced by South African photographer Santu Mofokeng’s work ....[It] is an important book with implications for analysis of many conflicts in the world that are all too easily dismissed as ethnic or religious. Donham leads us to see that these labels are not completely wrong but that they fail to incorporate the multiple dimensions in which the conflicts are embedded.” -- Thomas V. McClendon * International Journal of African Historical Studies *
“What is particularly enjoyable about this book is the way in which Donham brings together multiple scales of analysis and discourses to demonstrate how ethnicity came to legitimate violence in the moment and explain the murders in retrospect…In sum, Donham’s monograph is an excellent example of ethnographic work on ethnicity that would provide excellent fodder for courses on nationalism, ethnicity, ethnic violence, and South Africa.” -- David M. Hoffman * Journal of Anthropological Research *
“Working with an award-winning photographer Santu Mofokeng, Donham was able to capture in both word and image the grittiness and hardships of compound life. In truth, the use of image and text is powerful. . . . This book represents a kind of “reckoning” with a world in transition, with violence, with capitalism that surely extends far beyond South African studies to entice readers concerned with such questions almost anywhere.” -- Anne Maria Makhulu * American Ethnologist *
Table of ContentsPreface ix
Groups at Cinderella in 1994 xi
Local Timeline in Relation to National Liberation xiii
Introduction 1
1. Picturing a South African Gold Mine 11
Photo gallery by Santu Mofokeng 25
2. White Stories 45
3. Ways of Dying 69
4. Good Friday at Cinderella 88
5. Freeing Workers and Erasing History 110
6. Unionization from Above 125
7. Motives for Murder 151
8. The Aftermath. "They Were Enjoying Our Freedom" 174
Conclusion 186
Postscript. Doing Fieldwork at the End of Apartheid 189
Notes 197
Bibliography 217
Index 231
