cover image After Freedom: The Rise of the Post-Apartheid Generation in Democratic South Africa

After Freedom: The Rise of the Post-Apartheid Generation in Democratic South Africa

Katherine S. Newman and Ariane De Lannoy. Beacon, $35 (296p) ISBN 978-0-8070-0746-4

Although apartheid in South Africa officially ended in 1994, deep divisions still persist along race and class lines, according to Johns Hopkins sociologist Newman (The Missing Class) and University of Cape Town lecturer De Lannoy. Following seven Cape Town–based 30-somethings and their families—“Black, White, ‘Coloured,’ and immigrant,” from varying socioeconomic backgrounds—the book portrays individuals with differing opportunities and concerns, all negotiating their evolving identities as South Africans. At one end of the spectrum, chronically unemployed black single mother Thandiswa remains stuck in a desperately poor, unsafe township, while black NGO-employee Amanda struggles financially, but enjoys a cosmopolitan lifestyle. White South Africans, such as Brandon, live in exclusive suburbs with little personal contact with non-Whites, yet have an aversion to the extreme racism of the country’s past. The structural and historical roots of such disparities, and the social friction and significant emigration they feed, are succinctly analyzed amid generous excerpts from interviews and diaries. Given South Africa’s history and its status as “the richest and most unequal country in Africa,” it’s apt that the authors borrow their title from Hortense Powdermaker’s 1939 study of the post–Civil War South. Agent: Lisa Adams, the Garamond Agency. (Apr.)