Introduction
We write this editorial against the background of several things that are unfolding within our society. Judging by what we are beginning to see around the globe, the indication is that we are slowly entering what we would call a “post-pandemic” phase. Although not certain what the future looks like after emerging from one of the worst experiences that we have gone through for the past two years, it seems we are living in a tumultuous society. Locally, the deadly floods in KwaZulu-Natal, the growing incidences of anti-immigrant vigilantism, and the constant loadshedding episodes are but a few indicators. Globally, the war in Ukraine serves to illustrate the same. Given all these, the scope of interrogation and analysis for our journal (SARS) remains wide but honing down to some of these issues that our society continues to grapple with. For this, we remain eternally grateful to our contributors and reviewers, who are not merely spectators of the many social, political and economic processes unfolding within our society. It is clear these processes resemble not only a “tumultuous society” but “a society in transition,”. And making sense of this “society” requires deep methodological and theoretical reflections. To decipher what these changes/processes mean, and their significance, innovative sociological theory and methodology are required. Our journal has over the years been instrumental in shaping public discourse on several issues in South Africa and beyond. With every issue that we publish, we seek to continue the tradition of sharing highly engaging (both theoretical and empirical) scholarship. For instance, in one of our last volumes (vol. 51, issue 3–4), we published detailed empirical work on homelessness in South Africa, and the Covid-19 pandemic. This was followed by our volume 52 (issue 1) which also contained fascinating articles.
What is in this issue?
Although more general in focus, in this current issue, we present exciting articles covering a wide array of topics that are relevant not only to a sociology audience, but also to the broader social science community. Thabiso Muswede and Sello Sithole present well-grounded findings on how immigrant women in South Africa used social media to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic. Theoretically, the strength in this article lies in how it brings the idea of women’s subjectivity back to the centre of sociological analysis. Jacques Rothman, Katlego Pisto, and Werner Nell’s article takes a more quantitative approach to examine the subject of metrosexual masculinity in South Africa. Using survey data to foreground their argument, they argue that race and levels of religiosity are not correlated with views regarding the acceptability of metrosexuality. Without doubt, Rothman et al.’s paper makes a strong theoretical contribution. Still on the subject of masculinity, the article by Ncobani Qambela investigates an often-disregarded but important part of Xhosa boys’ lives and puts it under critical interrogation: the pre-initiation period. Qambela argues that masculinities, manhood and socialisation are not formed through the initiation period but rather before this period. He explains that this is a historical, anthropological and sociological omission that he seeks to address. He brings to our attention the nuances and complexities of being a boy, who is already thinking about and conceptualising ideas of manhood.
Reporting on a rigorous and engaging methodological approach, Erna Louisa Prinsloo and Jacques de Wet document their reflective experiences from a research project where they engaged with well-established non-governmental organisations that work on cancer. They explain the importance of using an interactive and sensitive approach in the research process, which is usually beneficial to both the researcher and the organisation. This, they argue, is not an easy, linear process. Reputational damage is one example of what can go wrong, and applying a nonconfrontational and diplomatic approach is recommended in this process. They use the metaphor of a courtly dance to demonstrate the intricate complexity and the importance of proceeding carefully in each step of the dance (research) process so that it does not negatively affect the whole plan in place.
Following the above methodologically innovative piece is an article on rural–urban migration in South Africa by Nomkhosi Xulu-Gama and Aisha Lorgat. After choosing two groups of people—workers and university students—to study, the authors focus on the ways in which these groups gain entry into the cities. The article zooms in on the accommodation of these groups and explores the concept of “bed space” as a way for these migrants to claim space in the city. It further highlights some of the similarities and differences in how these two groups of people live their lives as they enter the city and make different forms of livelihoods. This is an interesting comparative study that breaks a new ground in the local migration literature.
The next article, by Ke Yu, involves a critical reflection of the types of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) needed to prepare South Africa for its future so-called “4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution).” In this article, the author presents a comprehensive analysis of international and South African literature, including specific research findings both global and national. The author uses an uncommon theoretical framework in analysing South Africa’s ICT development—dramatism analysis—by dividing his subsections into different “periods” that unfold as “a drama” taking place on our national “ICT stage.” With this dramatism, the analysis of the article provides valuable insights into the multitude of international and South African ICT role players, the tensions amongst them and the unfulfilled roles performed by any potential hero(es) (or villains) in South Africa’s post-1994 ICT drama.
The article by Emma Daitz is equally fascinating, based on her current PhD research. Using material derived from both Sobukwe’s well-known public addresses and from primary research material drawn from his lesser known private letters to his friend the liberal journalist Benjamin Pogrund, this article argues that Sobukwe is best regarded as a “radical non-racialist”—unlike, it is argued here, the multitude of “multi-racialists” of his time (including many within the African National Congress) or most of his contemporary “black nationalists” (including many within his own Pan-Africanist Congress). The author argues that Sobukwe's “radical non-racialism” may be regarded as viewing “race” in anti-essentialist terms and, moreover, seeking to unmake the material, social and political conditions that give rise to the ideology/ies of “race” in South Africa. With reference to Sobukwe's own (implicit) politics, the article explores what can be done both at the level of structural political–economic–cultural transformation and at the level of ordinary and everyday social practices in post-1994 South Africa, to “unmake race.”
The last article in this collection, by Josh Platzky Miller, deals with “Radical Democracy and Educational Experiments” in Brazil and Rojava. The article offers lessons for the current South African conjuncture of its political economy, society and education system, by exploring radical democracy and educational experiments in two other contexts: Brazil, as a point of close comparison, and Rojava (northern Syria), as a point of contrast but one that offers a “real utopia.” The Brazilian student movement (2015–16, investigated during the author’s doctoral research there) involved several waves of mass school occupations in the “student spring,” with students demanding free, quality public education and, within the occupations, experimenting with democratic, dialogical, caring educational spaces. The Revolution in Rojava, emerging in 2012 and continuing to date, offers an alternative model of social organisation guided by women’s liberation, ecological harmony and “Democratic Confederalism.” The article thus draws several prominent themes from each context, bringing these into conversation with the contemporary South African situation.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.