This unique history highlights South Africa's complex and dynamic attempt to build a developmental state; an attempt that ultimately faltered.

An innovative examination of the forces - both destructive and dynamic - which have shaped twentieth-century South Africa. This book provides a stimulating introduction to the history of South Africa in the twentieth century. It draws on the rich and lively tradition of radical history writing on that country and, to a greater extent than previous accounts, weaves economic and cultural history into the political narrative. Apartheid and industrialization, especially mining, are central theme, as is the rise of nationalism in the Afrikaner and African communities. But the author also emphasizes the neglected significance of rural experiences and local identities in shaping political consciousness. The roles played by such key figure as Smuts, Verwoerd, de Klerk, Plaatje, and Mandela are explored, while recent historiographical trends are reflected in analyses of rural protest, white cultural politics, the vitality of black urban life, and environmental decay. The book assesses the analysis of black reactions to apartheid, the rise of the ANC. The concluding chapter brings this seminal history up-to-date, tackling the issues and events from 1994-1999 - in particular the success of Mandela and the ANC in seeing through the end of apartheid rule. It also looks at the chances of a stable future for the new-found democracy in South Africa.

As South Africa moves towards majority rule, and blacks begin to exercise direct political power, apartheid becomes a thing of the past - but its legacy in South African history will be indelible. this book is designed to introduce students to a range of interpretations of one of South Africa's central social characteristics: racial segregation. It: • brings together eleven articles which span the whole history of segregation from its origins to its final collapse • reviews the new historiography of segregation and the wide variety of intellectual traditions on which it is based • includes a glossary, explanatory notes and further reading.

"The standard of contribution is high . . . the reader gets a good sense of the cutting edge of historical research." – African Affairs

Explores the paradoxical image of African women as exceptionally oppressed, but also as strong, resourceful and rebellious.

This study uses a close reading of a series of major commission reports into the "Native Question" to examine the formation and reproduction of state power in South Africa. Analyzing the framework governing authoritative ways of speaking of, for, and to Blacks (once called "Natives"), Ashforth demonstrates how officially-approved forms of knowledge of "Native Life" substitute for political representation by Africans and continually serve to justify repression. He examines the terms used by those who, acting in the name of the state, strive to represent apartheid as necessary, practical, and just. Tracing the history of official discourse on the political status of African labor, the work illuminates the central contradictions in the politics of this repressive and exploitative regime.