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During apartheid Afrikaans was labelled "the language of the oppressor". The slogan was rightly an emotive, visceral response to Afrikaner ethnic, nationalist hegemony and its concomitant coercive state power. But, writes Hein Willemse, it also obscured the experiences, lives and histories of black South Africans who spoke the language.
The violent treatment of workers in informal markets is all too common. Yet the sector is a vital source of both food and income for Africa’s urbanites. Danielle Resnick argues that if burgeoning urban populations are going to be fed then African cities must find productive ways to work with informal traders and the markets that serve them.
South Africa is preparing to implement a national minimum wage next year on the back of growing consensus that it will reduce inequality. But Dieter von Fintel and Marlies Piek point out that some segments of the economy, mainly rural operations, might be badly hit and are likely to cut jobs.
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Award-winning Hemelbesem is a black Afrikaans hip-hop artist.
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Hein Willemse, University of Pretoria
Afrikaans is very much a black language. The apartheid government's ploy to construct it as a "white language", with a "white history", denied the commonality of the language across race and class.
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Politics + Society
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Danielle Resnick, The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
The harassment of informal food vendors by national and municipal governments remains a major impediment to improving the resilience of the urban poor in African cities.
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Environment + Energy
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Andrew Cohen, University of Arizona
Climate change, deforestation, overfishing and hydrocarbon exploitation threatens one of Africa's oldest lake's, Lake Tanganyika.
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Business + Economy
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Dieter von Fintel, Stellenbosch University; Marlies Piek, Stellenbosch University
As South Africa prepares to introduce a national minimum wage, a new study shows that it will have a varied impact. Some parts of the economy are likely to be negatively affected.
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From our international editions
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Todd Landman, University of Nottingham
Running the US, it turns out, is nothing like running a business.
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David Hu, Georgia Institute of Technology; Patricia Yang, Georgia Institute of Technology
New parenthood got our fluid dynamics experts thinking about what ends up in the diaper. They headed to the zoo and the lab to come up with a cohesive physics story for how defecation works.
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