South Africa’s cash transfer program has been hailed as a success. But as our book of the week details, this form of financial inclusion turned grants into collateral, feeding lenders while the state preserved scarcity. By @erintorkelson.bsky.social on @dukepress.bsky.social buff.ly/5gvCo0g

that’s a helluva way to put $1T in perspective!

I’ve been feeling this so much lately, but it’s still shocking to see in print. Also… the 1970s cohort?!? As if we needed more proof the end of the social welfare state is killing us.

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas@ebonyteach.blacksky.app · 2mo ago

"For the generations coming up behind the baby boomers, what this analysis describes is less a temporary stumble in an otherwise upward march than a long-running warning sign that has been building for decades." studyfinds.com/americans-bo...

Save 40% on #NewBook "Predatory Welfare" by @erintorkelson.bsky.social, which draws on seven years of ethnographic fieldwork to explore how South Africa’s direct cash transfer program has become a means of continued upward wealth redistribution despite promises otherwise. buff.ly/wpOrvdc

I started working on this project with the Black Sash in 2016. I can’t believe that a decade later, the book is a real, material object in the world. I’m so very proud of it and I’d love to speak to your classes and departments! And, @dukepress.bsky.social is having a sale!

Duke University Press@dukepress.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Among our terrific new books this month is "Predatory Welfare" by @erintorkelson.bsky.social. See the full list of new releases on our blog, and use code SPRING26 to save 40% on your copy! buff.ly/SUBI9Zq

I’ve got a book coming out! Check out the introduction online now!

Duke University Press@dukepress.bsky.social · 5mo ago

In "Predatory Welfare," @erintorkelson.bsky.social draws on seven years of ethnographic fieldwork to explore how South Africa’s direct cash transfer program has become a means of continued upward wealth redistribution despite promises otherwise. Read the intro for free now: buff.ly/W0c94cY

Our new Spring 2026 catalog features a terrific lineup of #NewBooks by @proteinthebook.bsky.social, @erintorkelson.bsky.social, @scottsvisor, @crysbaik.bsky.social, and many more! Check it out now: buff.ly/ToBoRB7

I should start a column called: why is Trump mad at South Africa today? Because we won't let him bring Kenyans on volunteer visas to work (not volunteer!) at a processing site for Afrikaner 'refugees.' The US created a precarious immigrant workforce in SA to vet immigrants who are not precarious.

Why did SA government officials raid the site processing US-bound ‘refugees’? | Daily Maverick

On Tuesday, 16 December, a Johannesburg centre processing applications for South Africans wishing to take up ‘refugee’ status was raided by Home Affairs officials and the police. We break it down.

dailymaverick.co.za

As Trump bans US officials from attending the G20 in South Africa due to ‘Afrikaner genocide,’ he can only find 3 Afrikaner ‘refugees’ willing to move to the US! www.news24.com/citypress/ne...

US books dozens of seats for Afrikaner ‘refugees’, but only three pitch up | News24

Far fewer ‘refugees’ arrived for their flights than were catered for. Despite this, the US government has targeted resettlement of 6 000 people by the end of November.

news24.com

Trump invited a billionaire and two golfers into the Oval Office to scold the sitting South African president, after showing a reality tv-style montage about a genocide that doesn’t exist. I guess this is US diplomacy now.

This meeting is about genocide, but not the mythological “white genocide” it’s pretending to be about. It’s about the US punishing South Africa for taking Israel to the ICJ.

Send me your recommendations!! I have an honors student writing about young South Africans who try but fail to make competitive football leagues & how they figure out what to do next in a context of high unemployment. There must be great books about this, but it’s a little out of my area! Thanks!

I wanted to love Raoul Peck’s film on Ernest Cole, but found it disorienting that he did not hire a South African to consult on LaKeith Stanfield’s voice over. Mispronouncing names of people and places - Mamelodi, Soweto, Basotho - sometimes to the point of unrecognizability, is careless.

“When the powerful punish the principled, we glimpse the unmasked face of empire. Donald Trump’s vindictive executive order denying aid to South Africa — punishment for its support of Palestine and pursuit of land reform — offers precisely such a moment of clarity.”

Justin Pearce@justinpearce.bsky.social · last yr.

Thank you @yanisvaroufakis.bsky.social - we are not alone.

What got Ambassador Rasool expelled from the US? Nuance & patience. He said: -how SA responds to the US "demands perspective" -Biden wanted SA to be removed from AGOA due to our "geopolitical stances" (i.e. Palestine) -we need to watch how Americans push back against Trump's EOs before acting

South Africa attempting to take nuanced line in navigating US relations

There has been a deluge of more than 100 executive decisions taken by US President Donald Trump following his re-election in November, including the imposition of import tariffs on traditionally allie...

engineeringnews.co.za

Facts about the “white genocide myth” in SA: - Farm murder stats include black people killed on farms, not just white people - Most farm murders are robberies and have no genocidal intent - White people make up 9% of pop, but only 1.8% of murders www.splcenter.org/resources/ha...

The dangerous myth of 'white genocide' in South Africa

Narratives about a fictitious campaign to exterminate Afrikaners have the power to produce real violence.

splcenter.org

Burawoy taught the best graduate seminar ever, where theory-making was deeply collaborative. He paired up students who worked in different places, on different things, with different theoretical commitments and made us think our work in relation to one another. No one could stretch theory like him.

So proud to work at UWC!

Great idea! Our students at the University of the Western Cape (in South Africa) did this two weeks ago! It would be cool to see it travel!

Meanwhile… the UA President still has his job after a $240 mil shortfall, including a $54 mil loan to the athletics department, the purchase of a shady for-profit online college, and a $1.7 mil upgrade to his basketball suit. azluminaria.org/2023/11/16/u...

One more reason to love Cape Town!

"We join the world in expressing horror at the war crimes being committed in Palestine through targeting civilians, civilian infrastructure, UN premises & other vulnerable targets. These experiences remind us of our experiences as black South Africans living under apartheid.” Minister Naledi Pandor

Pandor calls for Gaza ceasefire and end to Israel’s ‘collective punishment’

International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor on Tuesday called for an immediate comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza and the release of civilian hostages, describing Israel’s actions as ‘apartheid op...

dailymaverick.co.za

Calling all geographers!!

Just joined the great bird migration. I'm here now.