Multi-layered inequalities and a sense of insecurity has long been the hallmark of South African life. Recently, however, the uncertainties of Covid-19 have led to greater shared experiences of vulnerability among South Africans. This volume of State of the Nation offers perspectives that may help us navigate our way through the ‘new normal’ in which we find ourselves. Foremost among the unavoidable political and socioeconomic interventions that will be required are interventions based on an ethics of care. Care as an essential attribute must be inserted into all of the diverse contexts that structure needs, desires and relations of power. An ethics of care requires us to reconsider relations of domination, oppression, injustice, inequality, or paternalism within the state. In a democratic post-apartheid state that confirms human connectedness, bodies matter and this knowledge must be driven by active citizenship. We are all caught up in webs of power that require of us, as individuals and as communities, the will and understanding to combat and counter poverty and inequality and thus to improve the state of the nation. The effects of poverty and inequality are as insidious as Covid-19 and render the most vulnerable even more powerless in the face of this and similar ravages. Now, more than ever, we need to prioritise an ethics of care.

Who or what is a public intellectual and how are they created? What is the role of the public intellectual in social, cultural, political and academic contexts? What are the kinds of questions they raise? What compels intellectuals to put forward their ideas? The Fabric of Dissent: Public Intellectuals in South Africa is a pioneering volume, representing a rich tapestry of South Africans who were able to rise beyond narrow formulations of identity into a larger sense of what it means to be human. Each brief portrait provides readers with an opportunity to consider the context, influences and unique tensions that shaped the people assembled here. In its entirety, the book showcases an astonishing array of achievements and bears testimony to the deep imprint of these public intellectuals. As South Africans continue to grapple with their past, present and future, it is clear that the insights of these remarkable people into reimagining an inclusive society continue to be relevant today.

Those featured in The Texture of Dissent were shaped and preoccupied by the issues facing South Africans after the Nationalist Party election victory in 1948 and most of the academics included in this volume only became prominent from the late 1990s. This volume draws on the ways in which public intellectuals are involved in the ‘political work of social change’ through defiant thought and action. Those assembled in this volume are, in the view of the writers, people who ultimately leave deep imprints on what it means to be human in a very complex and divided society.

The publication of this book forms part of a civil society programme of action for the African Women's Decade, co-ordinated by South African Women in Dialogue (SAWID). It reports on the main issues facing South African women, namely: 1) poverty eradication in the context of gender; 2) early childhood development (ECD) in the context of gender; 3) violence against women; and 4) co-ordination of civil society initiatives. A fifth theme which cuts across all the others is employment creation.

The South African government has prioritized a reduction of poverty and increased food security in rural parts of South Africa through agrarian transformation. As the bearers and beneficiaries of rural development initiatives, smallholder farmers, including those keeping livestock, loom large in this arena. Likewise, on international development agendas steered by bodies such as the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), smallholders are prioritized as the engines of national economies. This book, based on a pilot study of two livestock keeping communities along the Mpumalanga-Limpopo border, explores smallholder households in order to paint a picture of the challenges faced by smallholder livestock farmers, the practices and knowledge of primary animal healthcare (PAHC) among these farmers, relationships between the state and the smallholders, gendered issues, and the relationship between poor socioeconomic conditions and the keeping of livestock. This book opens up a variety of research and policy questions that encourage further exploration and study.

What makes kinship queer? This collection from leading and emerging thinkers in gender and sexualities interrogates the politics of belonging, shining a light on the outcasts, rebels, and pioneers. Queer Kinship brings together an array of thought-provoking perspectives on what it means to love and be loved, to 'do family' and to belong in the South African context. The collection includes a number of different topic areas, disciplinary approaches, and theoretical lenses on familial relations, reproduction, and citizenship. The text amplifies the voices of those who are bending, breaking, and remaking the rules of being and belonging. Photo-essays and artworks offer moving glimpses into the new life worlds being created in and among the 'normal' and the mundane. Taken as a whole, this text offers a critical and intersectional perspective that addresses some important gaps in the scholarship on kinship and families. Queer Kinship makes an innovative contribution to international studies in kinship, gender, and sexualities. It will be a valuable resource to scholars, students, and activists working in these areas.

African sexualities are dynamic, multi-faceted and resilient. However, people with non-heterosexual sexualities and gender variant identities are often involved in struggles for survival, self-definition, and erotic rights. Queer in Africa forms an entry point for understanding the vulnerabilities of queer Africans as shaped by social, cultural and political processes, aiming to provide innovative insights about contentious disagreements over their lives. The volume mediates Southern and Northern scholarship, directing attention toward African-centred beliefs made accessible to a wide audience. Key concerns such as identity construction and the intersections between different social forces (such as nationalist traditionalism and sexualities) are addressed via engaging chapters; some empirically based and others providing critical cultural analysis. Highly interdisciplinary in nature, Queer in Africa provides a key resource for students, academics, and activists concerned with the international support of sex and gender diversity. It will appeal to those interested in fields such as anthropology, film studies, literary studies, political science, public health, sociology, and socio-legal studies.

Care in context is a thought-provoking book that looks at gender inequalities in the context of care. Drawing in part from unique transnational perspectives and gripping interviews, this book focuses on key questions that intellectuals, policy makers and all of us who care and need care have to ask, such as: What is good care? Who should be involved in providing it? And how should care be arranged and organized so that that the interests of both care givers and care recipients are equally provided for? Care is indispensable to human flourishing. Without it we cannot survive. It is vital to the development of all individuals and to that of the broader society. Increasing economic and health problems have also contributed to mounting care crises in different parts of the world. With this view, the book offers fresh and nuanced perspectives and is a definite must read for all those affected by issues of care.

What makes kinship queer? This collection from leading and emerging thinkers in gender and sexualities interrogates the politics of belonging, shining a light on the outcasts, rebels, and pioneers. Queer Kinship brings together an array of thought-provoking perspectives on what it means to love and be loved, to 'do family' and to belong in the South African context. The collection includes a number of different topic areas, disciplinary approaches, and theoretical lenses on familial relations, reproduction, and citizenship. The text amplifies the voices of those who are bending, breaking, and remaking the rules of being and belonging. Photo-essays and artworks offer moving glimpses into the new life worlds being created in and among the 'normal' and the mundane. Taken as a whole, this text offers a critical and intersectional perspective that addresses some important gaps in the scholarship on kinship and families. Queer Kinship makes an innovative contribution to international studies in kinship, gender, and sexualities. It will be a valuable resource to scholars, students, and activists working in these areas.

African sexualities are dynamic, multi-faceted and resilient. However, people with non-heterosexual sexualities and gender variant identities are often involved in struggles for survival, self-definition, and erotic rights. Queer in Africa forms an entry point for understanding the vulnerabilities of queer Africans as shaped by social, cultural and political processes, aiming to provide innovative insights about contentious disagreements over their lives. The volume mediates Southern and Northern scholarship, directing attention toward African-centred beliefs made accessible to a wide audience. Key concerns such as identity construction and the intersections between different social forces (such as nationalist traditionalism and sexualities) are addressed via engaging chapters; some empirically based and others providing critical cultural analysis. Highly interdisciplinary in nature, Queer in Africa provides a key resource for students, academics, and activists concerned with the international support of sex and gender diversity. It will appeal to those interested in fields such as anthropology, film studies, literary studies, political science, public health, sociology, and socio-legal studies.

my book is useful for medicine students and also MLTstudents

From social silence to social science: same-sex sexuality, HIV & AIDS and gender in South Africa presents a unique and innovative effort to examine what we know about homosexual transmission of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. It reverses the trend whereby categories of same sex sexual practice are almost always excluded from research of HIV and AIDS, as well as from care and intervention programmes. The varied contributors (academics, activists and programme planners) draw attention to the risk behaviours and treatment needs of people who engage in homosexual sex, and explain why same-sex sexuality has to be seen as key within South African efforts to study, test and prevent HIV infection. Relevant to scholarly debates about HIV and AIDS, it is also essential reading for anyone involved in research, policymaking, advocacy and community development.