Repression and Resistance

Originally published in 1990, this book provides a unique view of South Africa and when it was published, it represented a coming of age of a new and vigorous strand of scholarship. The contributors are black social scientists, doctors or trade unionists, some working inside black universities which subsequently turned against the apartheid planners who created them. This book reflects the conviction that the black people of South Africa are not only passive victims of white repression, but actors with the capacity for both overt and covert resistance. Whether writing about the health service, shopfloor struggles, or the evasion of pass controls, the contributors combine scholarly analysis with an insider’s knowledge of the difference between apartheid theory and the social reality of South Africa during the 1990s.

Robin Cohen is Emeritus Professor of Development Studies at the University of Oxford. For the first decade of his academic career, he worked on comparative labour issues. His books included Labour and Politics in Nigeria (1974) and the co-edited collections The development of an African working class (1975), International Labour and the Third World (1987), African Labor History (1978) and the current title, Peasants and Proletarians. He subsequently wrote on the themes of migration, globalization and diasporas. His best-known work is Global diasporas: An introduction (3rd edition, 2022).

Yvonne Muthien holds a D.Phil (Oxon) and has had a varied career in academia, and public and corporate sector executive management. She held various academic positions, including associate professor, as well as research executive director, and has published several academic articles and books. Dr Muthien also served as a senior executive in various companies in the telecommunications, FMCG, and financial services sectors. She currently serves as Chairperson and Non-Executive Director of a number of companies and the South African central bank.

Abebe Zegeye holds the degree of DPhil from University of Oxford, UK and a BA in Economics, Philosophy and Sociology from Haverford College USA. He has previously taught at Yale University, The University of California Santa Barbara, University of Warwick and University of South Africa. Since 2014 he has been based in Ethiopia, working as Vice President of Wollo University, Global Engagement and Institutional Transformation, Woldia University and Director Higher Education, Ministry of Education. Abebe Zegeye has done extensive research on African and Social Identities and at present Director of Centre for Research and Development In Learning ( CRADLE) based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.