Geographies and Geographers of Post-Apartheid Poverty

Abstract

Poverty in South Africa is much higher than in other middle-income countries, alongside persistently high levels of inequality. Scholars, policymakers and activists have sought to understand these dynamics, and post-apartheid South Africa has become a popular site for studying poverty and inequality, yet knowledge about poverty is still contentious. This chapter is about post-apartheid ‘poverty knowledge’ rather than only about poverty itself. It is particularly interested in how geographers in South Africa engage in and contribute to poverty knowledge. The chapter examines different approaches to the meaning and measurement of poverty, its changing spatialities and multiple drivers. It then surveys geographers’ assessments of post-apartheid anti-poverty policies and programmes in South Africa, their politics, and people’s own strategies in the face of poverty’s disempowerments.