Books published by Wits University Press

Brings together life stories from LGBT migrants, refugees and asylum seekers living in Johannesburg and their battle to reconcile faith with their sexual identity.

Offers a deeply felt account of the relationship between a mother and son, and an exploration of what care for the dying means in contemporary society. The book is emotionally complex - funny, sad and angry - but above all, heartfelt and honest. It speaks boldly of challenges faced by all of us.

The first collection of essays dedicated to contemporary Black South African feminist perspectives. Leading feminist theorist, Desiree Lewis, and poet and feminist scholar, Gabeba Baderoon, have curated contributions by some of the finest writers and thought leaders.

Who controls the land and minerals in the former Bantustans of South Africa - chiefs, the state or landholders? The contributors to Land, Law and Chiefs in Rural South Africa capture some of the intense contestations over land, law and political authority, focussing on threats to the rights of ordinary people.

#FeesMustFall, the student revolt that began in October 2015, was an uprising against lack of access to, and financial exclusion from, higher education in South Africa. More broadly, it radically questioned the socio-political dispensation resulting from the 1994 social pact between big business, the ruling elite and the liberation movement. The 2015 revolt links to national and international youth struggles of the recent past and is informed by black consciousness politics and social movements of the international left. Yet, its objectives are more complex than those of earlier struggles. The student movement has challenged the hierarchical, top-down leadership system of university management and it's 'double speak' of professing to act in workers' and students' interests yet entrenching a regressive system for control and governance. University managements, while on one level amenable to change, have also co-opted students into their ranks to create co-responsibility for the highly bureaucratised university financial aid that stands in the way of their social revolution. This book maps the contours of student discontent a year after the start of the #FeesMustFall revolt. Student voices dissect colonialism, improper compromises by the founders of democratic South Africa, feminism, worker rights and meaningful education. In-depth assessments by prominent scholars reflect on the complexities of student activism, its impact on national and university governance, and offer provocative analyses of the power of the revolt.

Critically examines influential novels in English by eminent black female writers. Studying these writers' key engagements with nationalism, race and gender during apartheid and the transition to democracy, Barbara Boswell traces the ways in which black women's fiction critically interrogates narrow ideas of nationalism.

Focuses on Johannesburg, the largest and wealthiest city in South Africa, as a case study for the contemporary global South city. Anxious Joburg invites readers to consider an intimate perspective of living inside such a city.

Drawing primarily on insights and materials from Africa for their capacity to speak to global developments, the authors in this volume propose new concepts and methodologies to analyse how public engagements work in society. The cases examined show how issues of public discussion circulate in unpredictable ways.

Investigates the problem of disproportionate media representation and offers a hands-on demonstration of listening journalism and research in practice to promote a more active engagement between journalists and local communities.

Social scientist Archie Mafeje, who was born in the Eastern Cape but lived most of his scholarly life in exile, was one of Africa's most prominent intellectuals. This groundbreaking book is the first to consider the entire body of Mafeje's oeuvre and offers much-needed engagement with his ideas.

Patrick van Rensburg (1931-2017) was an anti-apartheid activist and self-made "alternative educationist". Van Rensburg was an innovative and charismatic visionary who captured the zeitgeist of the late twentieth century, and whose work and vision still have resonance for debates in educational policy today.

This timely collection of essays analyses the crisis of journalism in contemporary South Africa at a period when the media and their role are frequently at the centre of public debate. A valuable introduction to the confusion that confronts journalism students, this book has much to offer practising media professionals.

Presents a selection of monologues from a series of one-person satirical revues. Using the 2010 FIFA World Cup as an entry point for satirical commentary, the sketches focus on various issues facing democratic South Africa: state "vanity" projects, land issues, abuse of women and state capture.

Tells the story of 32 boys from Alexandra, one of Johannesburg's largest townships, over a period of twelve seminal years in which they negotiate manhood and masculinity. Psychologist and academic Malose Langa documents in close detail what it means to be a young black man in contemporary South Africa.

Exploring in detail the twists and turns of the African National Congress' economic and social policy-making during the transition era of the 1990s, this book focuses on the primary question of how and why the ANC, given its historical redistributive stance, did such a dramatic about-face and moved towards an essentially market-dominated approach.

BRICS is a grouping of the five major emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Volume five in the Democratic Marxism series, BRICS and the New American Imperialism challenges the mainstream understanding of BRICS and US dominance to situate the new global rivalries engulfing capitalism.

D.D.T. Jabavu's account of his journey to India in 1949, in the original isiXhosa and with an English translation by Cecil Wele Manona. Chapters by the volume editors provide biographical context for the travelogue, and commentary on its contribution to the archive of African-language literature and thought.

Offers a critical account of the role of art and visual culture in the construction of a unified Afrikaner imaginary. This volume examines the implications of metaphors and styles deployed in visual culture, and considers how the design of objects, images and architecture were informed by Afrikaner nationalist ideals.

A tragic play adapted from Sotho folk narrative. The play is regarded as a classic of Sesotho literature. Seen as one of the greatest essayists and dramatists writing in Southern Sotho, Senkatana was S. Machabe Mofokeng's first book.

Shortly after the statue of Cecil John Rhodes came down at the University of Cape Town, protestors called for the decolonisation of universities. What exactly is decolonisation? This book brings together some of the most innovative thinking on curriculum theory to address this important question.