{"product_id":"predatory-welfare-debt-race-and-cash-transfers-hardback-9781478033806","title":"Predatory Welfare; Debt, Race, and Cash Transfers (Hardback) 9781478033806","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003ePredatory Welfare\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eDebt, Race, and Cash Transfers\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eErin Torkelson (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781478033806\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 26 May 2026\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e328 pages, 36 illustrations\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.612 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e“Who owes what to whom? Can the intergenerational debts of racial capitalism be repaid, let alone repaired? What role, if any, might basic income payments play in this process? Far beyond a simple story about the ills of financialization to be redeemed by a romanticized state, \u003ci\u003ePredatory Welfare\u003c\/i\u003e is a beautifully detailed ethnography about the intertwined histories, presents, and potential futures of racialization and social welfare in South Africa.”—Hannah Appel, author of, \u003ci\u003eThe Licit Life of Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“What is so critically important about the cash payments made to poor rural South Africans portrayed in \u003ci\u003ePredatory Welfare\u003c\/i\u003e? Torkelson, a geographer, shows readers that predatory capitalism in ‘unimportant’ places is a window onto the production of odious debt everywhere. This exemplary research is a must-read not only for South Africanists but also for all those committed to reforming the global financial architecture.”—Anne-Maria Makhulu, author of \u003ci\u003eMaking Freedom\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eIn \u003ci\u003ePredatory Welfare\u003c\/i\u003e, Erin Torkelson explores how the direct cash transfer program instituted in South Africa revised and reworked post-apartheid racialized and gendered dispossession, despite its promise of ameliorating extreme poverty. Beginning in 2012, she focuses on how poor Black South African women asserted their entitlements to social assistance and responsibilities for familial care against the pressures of expropriation built into the grant payment system. Because the grants did not cover monthly bills, recipients were pushed into predatory loans collateralized by welfare payments. Torkelson finds that the state-sponsored but privately-run program was fundamentally undermined by its reliance on digital financial technologies which encoded wider forces of colonial rule, nationalist politics, and global development. Even when the government assumed control of grant payment in 2018, the neoliberal bent of fiscal policy continued to drive recipients into debt in new ways. Drawing on seven years of ethnographic fieldwork and organization –  in grant payment queues, loan offices, grocery stores, Parliament, and the Constitutional Court – Torkelson demonstrates how cash transfers can offer a means to making racial capitalism more acceptable and how recipients can push back to demand reparation.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eList of Abbreviations  ix\u003cbr\u003e Prologue. She’\u003cbr\u003es Got the Receipts  xi\u003cbr\u003e Introduction. Life on an Installment Plan: Separate Development in Postapartheid South Africa  1\u003cbr\u003e Part I. The Cash Paymaster Services Distribution System (2012–\u003cbr\u003e2018)\u003cbr\u003e 1. Surplus People Rebooted: Debt, Development, and Difference  33\u003cbr\u003e 2. Bantustan Banking: Dirt Roads and Superhighways  61\u003cbr\u003e 3. Sophia’\u003cbr\u003es Choice: A Western Cape Road Map of Debt  91\u003cbr\u003e 4. Hellish Home Economics: Financializing the Cultural Politics of Care  124\u003cbr\u003e Part II. The Post Office Distribution System (2018–\u003cbr\u003e2023)\u003cbr\u003e 5. Deserving and Undeserving Welfare States: Hegemonic Struggles Within the Ruling Party  177\u003cbr\u003e 6. Postal Banking: The Debilitating Effects of Public Infrastructures  177\u003cbr\u003e 7. Transferred Justice: Historic Debt and Future Repair  207\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion. Building Solidarity Through Debt  235\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments  243\u003cbr\u003e Glossary  247\u003cbr\u003e Notes  249\u003cbr\u003e References  265\u003cbr\u003e Index  297\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52591027028248,"sku":"9781478033806","price":71.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/predatory-welfare-debt-race-and-cash-transfers-hardback-9781478033806","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}