Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa

Reviews / Votes

'The authors expertly craft contextualised narratives and illustrate how communities, customs, home spaces and healthcare systems have developed into their contemporary forms.' -- Anthropology Southern Africa 'Bank and Sharpley show how the pandemic exacerbated inequality, cultural conflicts, power discrepancies and contested leadership in South Africa. An excellent book, well written and convincing in its analysis, and the detailed ethnography from the Eastern Cape is simply magnificent.' -- Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo 'This detailed study shows how Covid regulations in South Africa prevented the most impacted rural communities from seeking the consolation of custom as they tried to bury their dead. It powerfully criticises the inhumanity of biocentrism in a developing society.' -- Robin Palmer, Professor of Anthropology, Rhodes University 'A devastating indictment of policy failures driven by arrogance and contempt toward "custom", this remarkable study also provides an exceptionally revealing account of the changing social and cultural conditions of South Africa's rural periphery. An important and deeply insightful book.' -- James Ferguson, Susan S. and William H. Hindle Professor, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University 'A compelling ethnography of accentuated precarity in South Africa's rural Eastern Cape, showing how the pandemic has preyed upon and exacerbated existing victimhood and vulnerabilities. Bank and Sharpley explore structural inequalities inherited from apartheid and compounded by corruption and lip-service to transformation under the ANC government.' -- Francis B. Nyamnjoh, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town