SAGE Series on African Modernization & Development
1 total work
The essays in this volume explore the interaction between migrant African labour and the cities in which they worked. These urban structures are viewed as attempts by the state and capital to control not only the worker′s time, but space as well -- and by extension -- the worker′s life. The compounds that enclosed diamond mine workers, or the pass systems that limit where workers may move are researched. The efforts to resist, or at least gain information by workers are documented, as are the relationships of migrants to their often rural kinsmen. Detailed research on specific topics in 19th and 20th century history deal with a number of African countries while taking a fresh critical look at the goals of those in power, the contradictions and tensions these structures generated, and the reactions of workers.