Subtle Indignities: Why We Should Still “See” Race – Part 3

After my last post (my intermission), I wasn’t sure I wanted to proceed with my series of blog posts. Ironically, I was feeling a little fatigued of talking about the need for race consciousness (colour bravery) – especially against the backdrop of the xenophobic attacks (“black-on-black violence”) that have taken place in South Africa these last few…

The price of being poor (besides being poor)

Sindiso walks into a store to buy a blanket – six blankets, in fact, to serve as traditional gifts to the local sub-chiefs whose people she has come to consult regarding the status of local justice under customary law. There are no prices or fancy barcodes. The clerk attending her is Mozambican, a poor man…

Life in a taxi

 Picking up on the last entry about Dan’s and my welcome back to South African taxi life, here’s a bit more on this peculiar (to westerners) mode of transport that’s a necessary fact of life for so many South Africans, as seen through my sociologist lens… If you’ve never been to a third world country,…

All of South Africa in one taxi

Mid-morning on Saturday, the day after we arrived back in Cape Town, we needed to get from our temporary accommodation to where Puggy (our old, little Toyota) was stored by a dear friend. So, we did the natural thing and took a taxi – not a cab-type taxi, a minibus taxi. We stood by the…