 Living with risk is part of living in South Africa now. Violent crime and AIDS pose bodily threats. Dizzying shifts in race and class rock one’s sense of identity. Ethically, one is daily challenged by rampant need in the face of plenty. In fact, society as a whole feels as if it is a giant experiment that could very well go wrong. But it could also succeed.
In each of these narratives, something, or someone, is at risk. Written in registers of the unexpected – surprise, shock, bewilderment as well as uncertainty, scepticism and doubt – the pieces form a second wave of South African writing. They cut loose from the grand narratives of apartheid and the themes of confession and redemption born of the fledgling democracy. These personal, intimate accounts blow the lid off our South African age.
Contributors:
Jonny Steinberg, Graeme Reid, Liz McGregor, Sarah Nuttall, Justice Malala, Deborah Posel, Jonathan Hyslop, Achille Mbembe, Makhosazana Xaba, Njabulo S Ndebele, Lara Allen, Fred Khumalo, Tom Odhiambo.
All of the contributors is associated with WISER (Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research), which produces cutting-edge work on contemporary South Africa and hosts journalists, writers and public intellectuals.
<p.‘There is something immediate and unforgettable about the experience of reading these stories.’
– Njabulo S Ndebele
Title: At Risk
Writing on and over the edge of South Africa
Edited by: Liz McGregor and Sarah Nuttall
ISBN: 978-1-86842-271-5
F ormat: Paperback
Pub Date: August 2007
RRP: R130,00 |
