Systemic racism and sexism caused one of South Africa’s most important writers to disappear from public consciousness. Is it possible to justly restore her historical presence?

Regina Gelana Twala, a Black South African woman who died in 1968 in Swaziland (now Eswatini), was an extraordinarily prolific writer of books, columns, articles, and letters. Yet today Twala’s name is largely unknown. Her literary achievements are forgotten. Her books are unpublished. Her letters languish in the dusty study of a deceased South African academic. Her articles are buried in discontinued publications. Joel Cabrita argues that Twala’s posthumous obscurity has not developed accidentally as she exposes the ways prejudices around race and gender blocked Black African women like Twala from establishing themselves as successful writers.

Drawing upon Twala’s family papers, interviews, newspapers, and archival records from Pretoria, Uppsala, and Los Angeles, Cabrita argues that an entire cast of characters—censorious editors, territorial White academics, apartheid officials, and male African politicians whose politics were at odds with her own—conspired to erase Twala’s legacy. Through her unique documentary output, Twala marked herself as a radical voice on issues of gender, race, and class. The literary gatekeepers of the racist and sexist society of twentieth-century southern Africa clamped down by literally writing her out of the region’s history.

Written Out also scrutinizes the troubled racial politics of African history as a discipline that has been historically dominated by White academics, a situation that many people within the field are now examining critically. Inspired by this recent movement, Cabrita interrogates what it means for her —a White historian based in the Northern Hemisphere—to tell the story of a Black African woman. Far from a laudable “recovery” of an important lost figure, Cabrita acknowledges that her biography inevitably reproduces old dynamics of White scholarly privilege and dominance. Cabrita’s narration of Twala’s career resurrects it but also reminds us that Twala, tragically, is still not the author of her own life story.

In his latest book, The Africa in Brazil, Mavimbela explores and deals with relations between Africa and Brazil. He intelligently connects global history with dialogues of the present time. With his skill of expression, poetic treatment of words, and mathematical power of synthesis, he navigates the waters of the Atlantic to remind us of the encounters and ruptures that continue to define indelible relations between Brazil and Africa of today. He also uses the positives in the leadership of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula) to illuminate paths that could be followed in reconnecting and integrating the historical, political, cultural and economic synergies between Brazil and the continent of Africa.

The author makes instructive references to relations between South Africa and Brazil to underline historical, colonial and socio-economic vestiges (both parallels and similarities) that continue to define the two countries. He argues that the painful scars left by what he calls ‘Colonialism of a Special Type’, a common and historical feature in the two countries, continue to characterise much of the two societies.

This book is a breathtaking read. Mavimbela’s description of Brazilian Africanness, his treatment of places he visited in the country, the subjects, environments, rhythms, foods, deities and settings, make up a script for a film, with no loose ends.

This is a necessary and timely book for Brazil, Africa and the African Diaspora – it is something that has been missing in the decolonial and South-South literature.

How race and racism shape middle-class families’ decisions to homeschool their children While families of color make up 41 percent of homeschoolers in America, little is known about the racial dimensions of this alternate form of education. In The Color of Homeschooling, Mahala Dyer Stewart explores why this percentage has grown exponentially in the past twenty years, and reveals how families’ schooling decisions are heavily shaped by race, class, and gender. Drawing from almost a hundred interviews with Black and white middle-class homeschooling and nonhomeschooling families, Stewart’s findings contradict many commonly held beliefs about the rationales for homeschooling. Rather than choosing to homeschool based on religious or political beliefs, many middle-class Black mothers explain their schooling choices as motivated by their concerns of racial discrimination in public schools and the school-to-prison pipeline. Indeed, these mothers often voiced concerns that their children would be mistreated by teachers, administrators, or students on account of their race, or that they would be excessively surveilled and policed. Conversely, middle-class white mothers had the privilege of not having to consider race in their decision-making process, opting for homeschooling because of concerns that traditional schools would not adequately cater to their child's behavioral or academic needs. While appearing nonracial, these same decisions often contributed to racial segregation. The Color of Homeschooling is a timely and much-needed study on how homeschooling serves as a canary in the coal mine, highlighting the perils of school choice policies for reproducing, rather than correcting, long-standing race, class, and gender inequalities in America.

From a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian comes the first definitive history of the Western hemisphere, a sweeping five-century narrative of North and South America that redefines our understanding of both continents.

The story of the United States’ unique sense of itself was forged facing south – no less than Latin America’s was indelibly stamped by the looming colossus to the north. In this stunningly original reinterpretation of the New World, Professor Greg Grandin reveals how the Americas emerged from constant, turbulent engagement with each other, shedding new light on well-known historical figures like Bartolomé de las Casas, Simón Bolívar and Woodrow Wilson, as well as lesser-known actors such as the Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda, who almost lost his head in the French Revolution and conspired with Alexander Hamilton to free America from Spain.

America, América traverses half a millennium, from the Spanish Conquest – the greatest mortality event in human history – through the eighteenth-century wars for independence and the Monroe Doctrine, to the coups and revolutions of the twentieth century. This monumental work of scholarship fundamentally changes our understanding of slavery and racism, the rise of universal humanism, and the role of social democracy in staving off extremism. At once comprehensive and accessible, America, América shows how the United States and Latin America together shaped the laws, institutions, and ideals that govern the modern world. Drawing on a vast array of sources, and told with authority and flair, this is a genuinely new history of the New World.

Solving the Mystery of the Model Minority: The Journey of Asian Americans in America introduces students to current debates surrounding the concept of model minority and its relation to the greater Asian American experience. The book defines the term model minority, examines who is against it, who is for it, and why they feel the way they do, all of which brings to light profound disagreements regarding Asian American identity, as well as the meaning and fate of American democracy. The text uses two comparative perspectives to examine Asian American experiences and, in doing so, explores not only the similarities and differences between Asian Americans and other racial groups, but also the similarities and differences within Asian American ethnic groups. The second edition not only updates the introductory chapters, but also features six new chapters on the topics of Asian American women leaders and barriers to entry in leadership; the new journey of Asian Americans in sports; transnational adoption of Asians; Asian Americans and anti-affirmative action attitudes; anti-Asian American hate crimes; and Asian American political participation in the 21st century. Timely and interdisciplinary in subject matter, Solving the Mystery of the Model Minority is well suited for ethnic studies, political science, sociology, cultural studies, and Asian studies courses.

Based on over five years of ethnographic fieldwork in Syria, Exemplary Life focuses on the life of a Damascus woman, Myrna Nazzour, who serves as an aspirational figure in her community. Myrna is regarded by her followers as an exemplary figure, a living saint, and the messages, apparitions, stigmata, and oil that have marked Myrna since 1982 have corroborated her status as chosen by God. Exemplary Life probes the power of examples, the modelling of sainthood around Myrna's figure, and the broader context for Syrian Christians in the changing landscape of the Middle East. The book highlights the social use of examples such as the ones inhabited by Myrna's devout followers and how they reveal the broader structures of illustration, evidence, and persuasion in social and cultural settings. Andreas Bandak argues that the role of the example should incite us to investigate which trains of thought set local worlds in motion. In doing so, Exemplary Life presents a novel frame for examining how religion comes to matter to people and adds a critical dimension to current anthropological engagements with ethics and morality.

Over the past few years, it has become clear that the path of transformation in schools since 1994 has not led South Africa’s education system to where we had hoped it could be. Through tweets, posts and recent protests in schools, it has become apparent that in former Model-C and private schools, children of colour and those who are ‘different’ don’t feel they belong.

Following the astonishing success of How To Fix South Africa’s Schools, the authors sat down with young people who attended former Model-C and private schools, as well as principals and teachers, to reflect on transformation and belonging in South African schools. These filmed reflections, included on DVD in this book, are honest and insightful.

Drawing on the authors’ experiences in supporting schools over the last twenty years, and the insight of those interviewed, A School Where I Belong outlines six areas where true transformation in South African classrooms and schools can begin.

Demise by assimilation or antisemitism is often held to be the inevitable future of Jews in Canada and other diaspora countries. The Ever-Dying People? shows that the Jewish diaspora, while often held to be in decline, is influenced by a range of identifiable sociological and historical forces, some of which breathe life into Jewish communities, including Canada's. Bringing together leading Canadian and international scholars, The Ever-Dying People? provides a landmark report on Canadian Jewry based on recent surveys, censuses, and other contemporary data sources from Canada and around the world. This collection compares Canada's Jews with other Canadian ethnic and religious groups and with Jewish communities in other diaspora countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia. It also sheds light on social divisions within Canadian Jewry: across cities, sub-ethnic groups, denominations, genders, economic strata, and political orientations. These bases of comparison usefully explain variation in a wide range of sociological phenomena, including ethnic identity, religiosity, acculturation, intermarriage, discrimination, economic achievement, and educational attainment.

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou is an uproarious and bighearted satire - alive with sharp edges, immense warmth, and a cast of unforgettable characters - that asks: who gets to tell our stories? And how does the story change when we finally tell it ourselves? Twenty-nine-year-old PhD student Ingrid Yang is desperate to finish her dissertation on the late canonical poet Xiao-Wen Chou and never read about 'Chinese-y' things. When she accidentally stumbles upon a strange and curious note in the Chou archives, she convinces herself it's her ticket out of academic hell. But Ingrid's in much deeper than she thinks. Her clumsy exploits to unravel the note's message lead to an explosive discovery, one that upends her entire life and the lives of those around her. With her trusty friend Eunice Kim by her side and her rival Vivian Vo hot on her tail, together they set off a roller coaster of mishaps and misadventures, from campus protests and over-the-counter drug hallucinations, to book burnings and a movement that stinks of Yellow Peril propaganda. In the aftermath, nothing looks the same, including her gentle and doting fiance . . . As the events Ingrid instigated keep spiraling, she'll have to confront her sticky relationship to white men and white institutions - and, most of all, herself. 'The funniest novel I've read all year' - Aravind Adiga, author of The White Tiger

Contemporary Social Work Practice: Integrating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is designed to educate students about relevant terms and concepts related to racism, oppression, and cultural humility. It provides them with the knowledge and guidance they need to cultivate a social work practice grounded in cultural competency and social justice. The text provides students with a brief history of marginalized groups, real-world examples that speak to the need for culturally responsive practice, and tools for successful assessment, intervention, and evaluation. Chapters and readings examine social work pioneers who have fought for inclusion, critical race theory, America's changing landscape, cultural humility, and theories of prejudice. Students learn how policy impacts practice, social class impacts service provision, and nuances for working with Native Americans, Africans across the diaspora, Latina/o families, and Asian Americans. The final chapter provides students with frameworks for social work rooted in social justice. Self-reflection activities throughout the text help readers better understand the ways in which their personal worldview can influence how they engage with others with different worldviews. An illuminating and essential guide, Contemporary Social Work Practice is well suited for courses and programs in social work, especially those with focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Divided by the Word refutes the assumption that the entrenched ethnic divide between South Africa’s Zulus and Xhosas, a divide that turned deadly in the late 1980s, is elemental to both societies. Jochen Arndt reveals how the current distinction between the two groups emerged from a long and complex interplay of indigenous and foreign born actors, with often diverging ambitions and relationships to the world they shared and the languages they spoke.

The earliest roots of the divide lie in the eras of exploration and colonization, when European officials and naturalists classified South Africa’s indigenous population on the basis of skin color and language. Later, missionaries collaborated with African intermediaries to translate the Bible into the region’s vernaculars, artificially creating distinctions between Zulu and Xhosa speakers. By the twentieth century, these foreign players, along with African intellectuals, designed language-education programs that embedded the Zulu-Xhosa divide in South African consciousness.

Using archival sources from three continents written in multiple languages, Divided by the Word offers a refreshingly new appreciation for the deep historicity of language and ethnic identity in South Africa, while reconstructing the ways in which colonial forces generate and impose ethnic divides with long-lasting and lethal consequences for indigenous populations.

Paradise Lost. Race and Racism in Post-apartheid South Africa is about the continuing salience of race and persistence of racism in post-apartheid South Africa. The chapters in the volume illustrate the multiple ways in which race and racism are manifested and propose various strategies to confront racial inequality, racism and the power structure that underpins it, while exploring, how, through a renewed commitment to a non-racial society, apartheid racial categories can be put under erasure at exactly the time they are being reinforced.

‘It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck, and an even greater miracle of perception and charity not to teach your child to hate’

Told in the form of two intensely personal 'letters', The Fire Next Time is an excoriating condemnation of the terrible legacy of racial injustice, drawn from Baldwin's early life in Harlem and his experience as a prominent cultural figure of the civil rights movement.

A truly original story of life in and after care. The author's own account of being left behind by her mother as a one year old and her life in foster homes and institutions. When eventually traced, 'Call Me Auntie' was the best her mother could offer, but this was just the start of a bizarre sequence of events. Call Me Auntie is a telling account of abandonment, 'Heartbreak House' care homes, family history and survival. It is also one of resilience and personal achievement as the author discovered she also had a brother left behind in the same way, forged a professional career, searched for her long lost relatives in Barbados and eventually came to understand that she 'may be a princess after all'.

Dorothy Fujita-Rony's The Memorykeepers: Gendered Knowledges, Empires, and Indonesian American History examines the importance of women's memorykeeping for two Toba Batak women whose twentieth-century histories span Indonesia and the United States, H.L.Tobing and Minar T. Rony. This book addresses the meanings of family stories and artifacts within a gendered and interimperial context, and demonstrates how these knowledges can produce alternate cartographies of memory and belonging within the diaspora. It thus explores how women's memorykeeping forges integrative possibility, not only physically across islands, oceans, and continents, but also temporally, across decades, empires, and generations. Thirty-five years in the making, The Memorykeepers is the first book on Indonesian Americans written within the fields of US history, American Studies, and Asian American Studies. See inside the book.

In Freedom through Submission Johannes Renders explores Danish-Muslim statements on human freedom. Within a context where public talk of Islam is largely mediated by an incessant succession of controversies, the notion of freedom is weaponized both by and against a growing Muslim community. Danish Muslims take issue with liberal associations of the notion with autonomy and choice, and seek to reconfigure the public debate that pits freedom against Islam. This book brings out a sophisticated and reflective Muslim discourse, in which freedom is something individuals must simultaneously exercise, surrender, and achieve through a cultivated relinquishing of the will to Allah.