Melancholia Of Freedom - Social Life In An Indian Township In South Africa (Paperback)

The end of apartheid in 1994 signalled a moment of freedom and a promise of a non-racial future. With this promise came an injunction: define yourself as you truly are, as an individual, and as a community. Almost two decades later it is clear that it was less the prospect of that future than the habits and horizons of anxious life in racially defined enclaves that determined post-apartheid freedom. In this book, Thomas Blom Hansen offers an in-depth analysis of the uncertainties, dreams, and anxieties that have accompanied post-apartheid freedoms in Chatsworth, a formerly Indian township in Durban. Exploring five decades of township life, Hansen tells the stories of ordinary Indians whose lives were radicalized and framed by the township, and how these residents domesticated and inhabited this urban space and its institutions, during apartheid and after. Hansen demonstrates the complex and ambivalent nature of ordinary township life. While the ideology of apartheid was widely rejected, its practical institutions, from urban planning to houses, schools, and religious spaces, were embraced in order to remake the community. Hansen describes how the racial segmentation of South African society still informs daily life, notions of race, personhood, morality, and religious ethics. He also demonstrates the force of global religious imaginings that promise a universal and inclusive community amid uncertain lives and futures in the postapartheid nation-state.

General

Imprint:	Wits University Press
Country of origin:	South Africa
Release date:	July 2013
Authors:	Thomas Blom Hansen
Dimensions:	235 x 156 x 20mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	354
ISBN-13:	978-1-86814-589-8
Categories:	Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > General Books > Humanities > History > African history > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > Black studies Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social groups & communities > Rural communities Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political control & freedoms > General Books > History > African history > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history
LSN:	1-86814-589-1
Barcode:	9781868145898

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