Rethinking and Unthinking Development : Perspectives on Inequality and Poverty in South Africa and Zimbabwe

Development has remained elusive in Africa. Through theoretical contributions and case studies focusing on Southern Africa’s former white settler states, South Africa and Zimbabwe, this volume responds to the current need to rethink (and unthink) development in the region. The authors explore how Africa can adapt Western development models suited to its political, economic, social and cultural circumstances, while rejecting development practices and discourses based on exploitative capitalist and colonial tendencies. Beyond the legacies of colonialism, the volume also explores other factors impacting development, including regional politics, corruption, poor policies on empowerment and indigenization, and socio-economic and cultural barriers. Contents Tables and Figures Abbreviations Introduction. Rethinking and Unthinking Development in Africa Part I. Theory, Concepts and Discourse Chapter 1. Rethinking Development in the Age of Global Coloniality Chapter 2. Rethinking and Reclaiming Development in Africa Chapter 3. Elusive Solutions to Poverty and Inequality: From ‘Trickle Down’ to ‘Solidarity Economy’ Part II. Development, Urbanism and Poverty Chapter 4. Urban Poverty in Zimbabwe: Historical and Contemporary Issues Chapter 5. Theory of Poverty or Poverty of Theory? A Decolonial Intervention on Urban Poverty in South Africa Part III. Empowerment, Regionalism, Identity and Development Chapter 6. The ‘Native Returns’: Assessing and Reimagining Indigenisation and Black Economic Empowerment as Development Projects in the ‘Postcolony’ Chapter 7. Ethnopolitics and Regionalism, Discipline and Punishment: The Matabeleland Development Question in Postcrisis Zimbabwe Chapter 8. The Politics of Land Ownership in South Africa: Self-Perceptions and Identities of Backyard Dwellers within the Coloured Community Part IV. Development, Social Policy and African Families Chapter 9. Understanding the Conceptualisation of African Families: A Social Policy Development Poser in South Africa Chapter 10. Socioeconomic and Cultural Barriers to Marital Unions and HIV Incidence Correlates: A Public Policy Poser for South Africa Chapter 11. Old-Age Cash Grant Pay-out Days: How Beneficiaries Become Victims of Abuse in South Africa Conclusion. The End of Development and the Rise of Decoloniality as the Future Index Through theoretical contributions and case studies focusing on South Africa and Zimbabwe, this volume attempts to rethink (and unthink) development discourses and practices in southern Africa.