Johannesburg

Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis is a pioneering effort to insert South Africa’s largest city into urban theory, on its own terms. Johannesburg is Africa’s premier metropolis. Yet theories of urbanization have cast it as an emblem of irresolvable crisis, the spatial embodiment of unequal economic relations and segregationist policies, and a city that responds to but does not contribute to modernity on the global scale. Complicating and contesting such characterizations, the contributors to this collection reassess classic theories of metropolitan modernity as they explore the experience of “city-ness” and urban life in post-apartheid South Africa. They portray Johannesburg as a polycentric and international city with a hybrid history that continually permeates the present. Turning its back on rigid rationalities of planning and racial separation, Johannesburg has become a place of intermingling and improvisation, a city that is fast developing its own brand of cosmopolitan culture. The volume’s essays include an investigation of representation and self-stylization in the city, an ethnographic examination of friction zones and practices of social reproduction in inner-city Johannesburg, and a discussion of the economic and literary relationship between Johannesburg and Maputo, Mozambique’s capital. One contributor considers how Johannesburg’s cosmopolitan sociability enabled the anticolonial projects of Mohandas Ghandi and Nelson Mandela. Journalists, artists, architects, writers, and scholars bring contemporary Johannesburg to life in ten short pieces, including reflections on music and megamalls, nightlife, built spaces, and life for foreigners in the city. Contributors: Arjun Appadurai, Carol A. Breckenridge, Lindsay Bremner, David Bunn, Fred de Vries, Nsizwa Dlamini, Mark Gevisser, Stefan Helgesson, Julia Hornberger, Jonathan Hyslop, Grace Khunou, Frédéric Le Marcis, Xavier Livermon, John Matshikiza, Achille Mbembe, Robert Muponde, Sarah Nuttall, Tom Odhiambo, Achal Prabhala, AbdouMaliq Simone

Johannesburg is most often compared with Sao Paulo and Los Angeles and sometimes even with Budapest, Calcutta and Jerusalem. Johannesburg reflects and informs conditions in cities around the world. As might be expected from such comparisons, South Africa's political transformation has not led to redistribution and inclusive social change in Johannesburg. In Emerging Johannesburg the contributors describe the city's transition from a post apartheid city to one with all too familiar issues such as urban/suburban divide in the city and its relationship to poverty and socio-political power, local politics and governance, crime and violence, and, especially for a city located in Southern Africa, the devastating impact of AIDS.

In the past year Johannesburg has made enormous strides in creating a safe, dynamic city which has won two awards from the British Guild of Travel Writers. This pocket-sized guide will give confidence to business and holiday travellers wanting to make the most of a visit to the major sites as well as Johannesburg's other attractions, including excellent museums telling the story of South Africa's turbulent history, markets which sell cheeses and Cape wineland produce, art galleries showcasing local painting as well as bohemian cafés which personify the "Rainbow Nation".

Tells the story of Johannesburg's geography; its economic, political, and social history; and its vibrant personality through the lives of prominent Johannesburg citizens.

Until now there has been no single text that brings together the material that reveals the unfolding geography of Johannesburg, South Africa. This books describes the history of the city from its days as a mining camp to its position of premier metropolis in Africa. The present geography of Johannesburg, and the problems and dysfunctions that is hat exhibited at various stages in its history since 1886, cannot be understood without a firm grasp of what has evolved of the past 120 years.

This historical account of the epidemics that have struck Johannesburg during its 134-year history is written with the burden of the present. On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China, and shortly afterwards confirmed that a previously unknown coronavirus was the cause. The disease was labelled Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) and spread globally in the early months of 2020.

Johannesburg is the economic hub of South Africa and the Southern African region. At the same time, it is a city of extremes which juxtaposes ostentatious wealth and conspicuous consumption with grinding poverty and food insecurity. Not enough is known about the prevalence and nature of food insecurity in the city, making it difficult to challenge and plan to reduce the urban food gap. This paper uses AFSUN data from three lower-income areas of the city (Alexandra, Orange Farm and the Inner City) to examine the characteristics and drivers of food insecurity in Johannesburg. Despite high overall levels of food insecurity, the three study areas exhibited important differences. While the proportion of food secure households was similar in each area, the proportion of severely food insecure households was highest in the informal settlement of Orange Farm and lowest in Alexandra. Household food insecurity is directly linked to household income as the vast majority of food consumed is purchased not grown. In general, the poorer the household, the greater the proportion of household income that is spent on food. Households rely significantly on supermarkets and the informal food economy as food sources. Less than ten percent are involved in any form of urban agriculture or receive food transfers directly from rural areas. This paper also shows that food insecurity correlates with poor health outcomes and concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of the AFSUN study.