A bed called home : life in the migrant labour hostels of Cape Town /
Ramphele, Mamphela,
A bed called home : life in the migrant labour hostels of Cape Town / - Cape Town : Athens, Ohio : Edinburgh : David Philip ; Ohio University Press ; Edinburgh University Press in association with the International African Institute, 1993. - vii, 152 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages 141-149) and index.
In the last three years the migrant labour hostels of South Africa, particularly those in the Transvaal, have gained international notoriety as theatres of violence. For many years they were hidden from public view and neglected by the white authorities. Now, it seems, hostel dwellers may have chosen physical violence to draw attention to the structural violence of their appalling conditions of life. Yet we should not lose sight of the fact that the majority of hostel dwellers are peace-loving people who have over the years developed creative strategies to cope with their impoverished and degrading environment. In this challenging study, Dr Mamphela Ramphele documents the life of the hostel dwellers of Cape Town, for whom a bed is literally a home for both themselves and their families. Elaborating the concept of space in its many dimensions - not just physical, but political, ideological, social and economic as well - she emphasises the constraints exerted on hostel dwellers by the limited spaces they inhabit. At the same time she argues that within these constraints people have managed to find room for manoeuvre, and in her book explores the emancipatory possibilities of their environment. The text is illustrated with a number of black and white photographs taken by Roger Meintjes in the townships and hostels.
086486227X 9780864862273 0821410636 9780821410639 0748604480 9780748604487
93019117
GB9354596 bnb
Lodging-houses--South Africa--Cape Town.
Migrant labor--Social conditions.--South Africa--Cape Town
Lodging-houses
South Africa--Cape Town
Kapstadt
Working classes Social conditions Black persons Social conditions Cape Province
A bed called home : life in the migrant labour hostels of Cape Town / - Cape Town : Athens, Ohio : Edinburgh : David Philip ; Ohio University Press ; Edinburgh University Press in association with the International African Institute, 1993. - vii, 152 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages 141-149) and index.
In the last three years the migrant labour hostels of South Africa, particularly those in the Transvaal, have gained international notoriety as theatres of violence. For many years they were hidden from public view and neglected by the white authorities. Now, it seems, hostel dwellers may have chosen physical violence to draw attention to the structural violence of their appalling conditions of life. Yet we should not lose sight of the fact that the majority of hostel dwellers are peace-loving people who have over the years developed creative strategies to cope with their impoverished and degrading environment. In this challenging study, Dr Mamphela Ramphele documents the life of the hostel dwellers of Cape Town, for whom a bed is literally a home for both themselves and their families. Elaborating the concept of space in its many dimensions - not just physical, but political, ideological, social and economic as well - she emphasises the constraints exerted on hostel dwellers by the limited spaces they inhabit. At the same time she argues that within these constraints people have managed to find room for manoeuvre, and in her book explores the emancipatory possibilities of their environment. The text is illustrated with a number of black and white photographs taken by Roger Meintjes in the townships and hostels.
086486227X 9780864862273 0821410636 9780821410639 0748604480 9780748604487
93019117
GB9354596 bnb
Lodging-houses--South Africa--Cape Town.
Migrant labor--Social conditions.--South Africa--Cape Town
Lodging-houses
South Africa--Cape Town
Kapstadt
Working classes Social conditions Black persons Social conditions Cape Province