| Description |
1 online resource (xiv, 178 pages) : illustrations, maps |
|
text file |
| Series |
Book collections on Project MUSE.
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 152-170) and index. |
| Access |
Open Access Unrestricted online access |
| Summary |
"As poverty and unemployment deepen in contemporary South Africa, the burning question becomes, how do the poor survive? This book provides a compelling answer. Based on intensive fieldwork, it shows how many African households are on the brink of collapse. That they keep going at all can largely be attributed to the struggles of older women against poverty. They are the fulcrum on which household survival turns. This book describes how households in two different areas in KwaZulu-Natal are sites of both stability and conflict. As one of the interviewees put it: "We eat from one pot and should always help each other." Yet the stability of family networks is becoming fragile because of the enormous burden placed on them by unemployment and unequal power relations. Many of the households are extremely poor, relying on a total monthly income of less than R800. People live on little more than maize meal, tea and sugar. However, the book also demonstrates that they are not passive victims of poverty. Women, in particular, show impressive qualities of energy and resourcefulness. They engage in a number of informal sector activities, and many are active in a range of faith, and community and home-based care associations"--Publisher's website. |
| Local Note |
Project Muse Project Muse Open Access |
| Subject |
Households -- Economic aspects -- South Africa.
|
|
Households -- Economic aspects. |
|
South Africa. |
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Poverty -- South Africa.
|
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Poverty. |
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Communal living -- South Africa.
|
|
Communal living. |
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books. .
|
| Added Author |
Project Muse, distributor.
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| ISBN |
9781868146277 |
|
9781868145331 paperback |
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1868145336 paperback |
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