
Eating from One Pot
The Dynamics of Survival in Poor South African Households
Sarah Mosoetsa(Author)
Wits University Press
Will be published approx. on 1. April 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-1-86814-533-1 (ISBN)
Description
As poverty and unemployment deepen in contemporary South Africa, the burning question becomes, how do the poor survive? Eating from One Pot provides a compelling answer. Based on intensive fieldwork, it shows how many African households are on the brink of collapse. That they keep going at all can largely be attributed to the struggles of older women against poverty. They are the fulcrum on which household survival turns. This book describes how households in two different areas in KwaZulu-Natal are sites of both stability and conflict. As one of the interviewees put it: 'We eat from one pot and should always help each other.' Yet the stability of family networks is becoming fragile because of the enormous burden placed on them by unemployment and unequal power relations. Through careful analysis, the experiences of survival are discussed in relation to the restructuring of the country's welfare and social policies, and the extension of social grants. Mosoetsa argues that these policies shape the livelihoods that people pursue in order to survive under desperate conditions, but fail to address the root causes of poverty and inequality.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Johannesburg
South Africa
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 218 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
277 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-86814-533-1 (9781868145331)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2011
Abingdon Press
€19.49
Available for download
Person
Sarah Mosoetsa is an Associate Professor of Sociology, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and CEO of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) in Johannesburg.
Content
'Sharing the little I have with my family' - the allocative rules of household resources and income; 'My wife does not respect me anymore' - unequal power dynamics in households; 'I remain an ANC member, but ...' - civil society in Mpumalanga and Enhlalakahle; theoretical and policy implications.