African Studies and African Country Resources @ Pitt: South Africa

Since 1994, the democratic government in South Africa has worked hard at improving the lives of the black majority, yet close to half the population lives in poverty, jobs are scarce, and the country is more unequal than ever. For millions, the colour of people's skin still decides their destiny. In his wide-ranging, incisive and provocative analysis, Hein Marais shows that although the legacies of apartheid and colonialism weigh heavy, many of the strategic choices made since the early 1990s have compounded those handicaps. South Africa Pushed to the Limit presents a riveting benchmark analysis of the incomplete journey beyond apartheid.

This book is the first full history of South African intelligence and provides a examination of the stages in the evolution of South Africa’s intelligence organizations and structures. Covering the apartheid period of 1948-90, the transition from apartheid to democracy of 1990-94, and the post-apartheid period of new intelligence dispensation from 1994-2005, this book examines not only the apartheid government’s intelligence dispensation and operations, but also those of the African National Congress, and its partner, the South African Communist Party (ANC/SACP) – as well as those of other liberation movements and the ‘independent homelands’ under the apartheid system.

South Africa's Renegade Reels seeks to understand the way certain films take on exemplary/iconic status in a country like South Africa where the historical production of film has been minimal, and in a context of intense political reality. The book lays bare the public critical engagements around old renegade films and new ones. It dissects their subtleties in the public lives of forgotten films from South Africa that are oriented to black social experience excavating from the record iconic and newer black-centered films and television. Through analysis of public reflections on the films' representations of black identity, the book shows the complex nature of films in modern public life.