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gangs politics and dignity in cape town
this is a vivid study of the day to day experience of living in a working class neighbourhood on the cape flats . it deals with issues of criminality and the search for dignity in a harsh economically depressed urban landscape . gangs are the main focus of the study but gang members are presented on a broader canvas as family members neighbourhood friends members of sports clubs employees . within this intensely claustrophobic world devout christians and muslims drug dealers cops gangsters and welfare workers all rub shoulders . mothers despite being disempowered in many ways are hugely important figures in the courts commanding respect within the family and even from gangsters . criminality is a blurred concept in the township where alternativeand competing moral codes have emerged . central to this analysis is the complicated and diverse concept of dignity . how is it constructed what is its basis how does it differ among the various protagonists of the township steffen jensen is senior researcher at the rehabilitation and research centre for torture victims denmark north america university of chicago press ; south africa wits u press
hardcover james currey 2008 isbn13 9781847011046 isbn10 1847011047
abridged n isbn 13 9781847011046 number in series 1 number of pages 232 publisher james currey release date 62135769600000