Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa: Culture, Healthcare and the State

The book explores the impact of Covid-19 and the associated state lockdown on rural lives in a former homeland in South Africa. It builds on previous work on local responses to epidemics and examines the role of custom and ritual in rural social change. The volume highlights differences between Southern Africa and elsewhere on the continent and explores how the former apartheid homelands have been reconstituted as new home-spaces.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 02 June 2022
Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd

This book delves into the profound impact of COVID-19 and the accompanying state lockdown on rural lives in a former homeland in South Africa. The 2020 Disaster Management Act, in response to the pandemic, implemented a sweeping approach that targeted funerals and other customary practices as potential super-spreading events in rural areas. This unprecedented clampdown caused widespread disruption, fear, and anxiety throughout these communities. The authors draw upon groundbreaking research on local responses to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and the HIV/AIDS pandemic to understand the multifaceted effects of the COVID crisis on rural communities in Africa and beyond.

Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa employs a multi-faceted approach to explore the role of custom and ritual in rural social change during the pandemic. It incorporates long-term historical and ethnographic research, theories of people's science, local knowledge, and the human economy, as well as fieldwork conducted in ten rural South African communities during the lockdown period. The volume highlights significant differences between developments in Southern Africa and other regions on the continent while also examining how the former apartheid homelands, often portrayed as former labor reserves, have been reconstituted as new home spaces.

In essence, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of why rural people have been so deeply angered by the state's assault on their cultural practices and institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. It sheds light on the complex dynamics and challenges faced by rural communities, highlighting the urgent need for inclusive and culturally sensitive policies to address their unique needs and protect their heritage.

Dimension: 216 x 138 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781787385733