Land for the landless: conflicting images of rural and urban in South Africa's land reform programme
James, D.
Journal of Contemporary African Studies 19(1): 93-110
2001
ISSN/ISBN: 0258-9001 DOI: 10.1080/02589000125070Document Number: 242461
This paper reviews published academic work, policy statements, and case studies of labour migrancy and land reform in South Africa. It aims to illustrate some of the contradictory impulses behind and outcomes of the land reform programme in the new South Africa. It demonstrates that the idea of rural and urban as separate worlds has been strongly entrenched in South Africa's 'development discourse' from long before apartheid's demise. The topic is discussed under the following headings: the regional setting; official discourse on town and country; rural-urban continuities in South African studies; migrant representations of rural and urban; home and location; town, country and land reform.