REVIEWER MEETS REVIEWED
SEMINAR SERIES AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM’S ANTHROPOLOGY LIBRARY AND RESEARCH CENTRE
Democracy as death: the moral order of anti-liberal politics in South Africa
Thursday 21 March at 2.00 pm
Anthropology Library and Research Centre, British Museum
THIS IS A FREE EVENT
The British Museum’s Anthropology Library and Research Centre, in conjunction with the Royal Anthropological Institute, is pleased to present ‘Reviewer meets Reviewed’, a discussion between Dr Jason Hickel, author of Democracy as death: the moral order of anti-liberal politics in South Africa, and Dr Elizabeth Hull, who reviewed the book for the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.
The revolution that brought the African National Congress to power in South Africa was fractured by internal conflict. Migrant workers from rural Zululand rejected many of the egalitarian values and policies fundamental to the ANC’s liberal democratic platform and organised themselves in an attempt to sabotage the movement. This anti-democracy stance hinges on an idealised vision of the rural home and a hierarchical social order. In analysing this conflict, Hickel contributes to broad theoretical debates about liberalism and democratisation in the postcolonial world. The book interrogates the Western ideals of individual freedom and agency from the perspective of those who oppose such ideals, and questions the assumptions underpinning theories of anti-liberal movements. It argues that both democracy and the political science that attempts to explain resistance to it presuppose a model of personhood native to Western capitalism, which may not operate cross-culturally.
Bookings/enquiries: Ted Goodliffe (TGoodliffe@britishmuseum.org)
Location : Anthropology Library, British Museum
Great Russell Street
London
WC1B 3DG
United Kingdom
