Democracy's Infrastructure

Techno-Politics and Protest after Apartheid

Antina von Schnitzler

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English

Princeton University Press
16 January 2017

Social & cultural anthropology; Demonstrations & protest movements

Series: Princeton Studies in Culture and Technology

In the past decade, South Africa's ""miracle transition"" has been interrupted by waves of protests in relation to basic services such as water and electricity. Less visibly, the post-apartheid period has witnessed widespread illicit acts involving infrastructure, including the nonpayment of service charges, the bypassing of metering devices, and illegal connections to services. Democracy's Infrastructure shows how such administrative links to the state became a central political terrain during the antiapartheid struggle and how this terrain persists in the post-apartheid present. Focusing on conflicts surrounding prepaid water meters, Antina von Schnitzler examines the techno-political forms through which democracy takes shape. Von Schnitzler explores a controversial project to install prepaid water meters in Soweto--one of many efforts to curb the nonpayment of service charges that began during the antiapartheid struggle--and she traces how infrastructure, payment, and technical procedures become sites where citizenship is mediated and contested.

She follows engineers, utility officials, and local bureaucrats as they consider ways to prompt Sowetans to pay for water, and she shows how local residents and activists wrestle with the constraints imposed by meters. This investigation of democracy from the perspective of infrastructure reframes the conventional story of South Africa's transition, foregrounding the less visible remainders of apartheid and challenging readers to think in more material terms about citizenship and activism in the postcolonial world. Democracy's Infrastructure examines how seemingly mundane technological domains become charged territory for struggles over South Africa's political transformation.

By: Antina von Schnitzler
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 9
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 340g
ISBN: 9780691170787
ISBN 10: 0691170789
Series: Princeton Studies in Culture and Technology
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 16 January 2017
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Antina von Schnitzler is an anthropologist and assistant professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School.

Reviews for Democracy's Infrastructure: Techno-Politics and Protest after Apartheid

A savvy account of an overtly troubled nation. --David Marx, David Marx Book Reviews Von Schnitzler provides a well-documented scholarly analysis of threats to democracy in South Africa. Specifically, she analyzes the gap between South Africa's success in conducting open elections and maintaining a relatively open political system and the continued reliance upon illiberal techno-political infrastructure from the previous regime in the form of prepaid meters for such public services as electricity and water. --Choice Von Schnitzler provides a well-documented scholarly analysis of threats to democracy in South Africa. Specifically, she analyzes the gap between South Africa's success in conducting open elections and maintaining a relatively open political system and the continued reliance upon illiberal techno-political infrastructure from the previous regime in the form of prepaid meters for such public services as electricity and water. --Choice