This collection of essays contextualises the discourse on Ubuntu within the wider historical framework of postcolonial attempts to re-articulate African humanism as a substantial philosophy and emancipatory ideology. As such, the emergence of Ubuntu as a postcolonial philosophy is posited as both a function of and a critical response to Western modernity. The central question addressed in this book is: Was Ubuntu's emancipatory potential confined to and perhaps exhausted by South Africa's transition to democracy or does the notion of our 'shared humanity', as theorised in Ubuntu discourse, still have relevance for our urgent need to imagine South Africa's post-nationalist and post-neoliberal future? The contributions in this volume address this question from the perspective of a wide range of disciplines, including political philosophy, African history, gender studies, philosophy of law and cultural studies. Leonhard Praeg is associate professor and Siphokazi Magadla is a lecturer and PhD candidate, both in the Department of Political and International Studies at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. Contributors: Danielle Bowler, Ama Biney, Ezra Chitando, Drucilla Cornell, Katherine Furman, Lewis R. Gordon, Ilze Keevy, Siphokazi Magadla, Leonhard Praeg, Mogobe B. Ramose, Issa Shivji

Guerrillas and Combative Mothers is a narrative of women participating in the armed struggle against apartheid from 1961 to 1994 and their lives in a democratic South Africa. Focusing on their agency, commitment, beliefs and actions, it describes how women got politicised and the decisions and circumstances that led them to join the armed struggle in South Africa and exile. Siphokazi Magadla discusses the forms of military training they received, the combat activities and their transformation as women and soldiers. Magadla also talks about their participation in the South African National Defence Force-led demobilisation process and their contributions to the democratic revolution of the SANDF. By illuminating the different eras and arenas of their participation, this book shows the broadness of the armed struggle against apartheid as a historical truth and as a matter of gender equality and justice for an inclusive and more democratic future. Print edition not for sale in Sub Saharan Africa.