Democracy as death : the moral order of anti-liberal politics in South Africa / Jason Hickel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hickel, Jason, 1982- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democracy--South Africa.

Democracy.

South Africa--Politics and government--1994-.

South Africa.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (282 p.)

Place of Publication:

Oakland, California : University of California Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The revolution that brought the African National Congress (ANC) to power in South Africa was fractured by internal conflict. Migrant workers from rural Zululand rejected many of the egalitarian values and policies fundamental to the ANC's liberal democratic platform and organized themselves in an attempt to sabotage the movement. This anti-democracy stance, which persists today as a direct critique of "freedom" in neoliberal South Africa, hinges on an idealized vision of the rural home and a hierarchical social order crafted in part by the technologies of colonial governance over the past century. In analyzing this conflict, Jason Hickel contributes to broad theoretical debates about liberalism and democratization in the postcolonial world. Democracy as Death interrogates the Western ideals of individual freedom and agency from the perspective of those who oppose such ideals, and questions the assumptions underpinning theories of anti-liberal movements. The book argues that both democracy and the political science that attempts to explain resistance to it presuppose a model of personhood native to Western capitalism, which may not operate cross-culturally.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

A Note on Translation and Transcription

Abbreviations

INTRODUCTION. The Question of Freedom

1. A Divided Revolution

2. The Habitus of the Homestead

3. Urban Social Engineering and Revolutionary Consciousness

4. Neoliberalism as Misfortune

5. Death in an Age of Wild Ghosts

6. Colonial Nostalgias and the Reinvention of Culture

CONCLUSION: On the Politics of Culture

Notes

Glossary of IsiZulu Words

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520284234

0520284232

9780520959866

0520959868

OCLC:

902724771