Laziness Myth

Christine Jeske

Description

When people cannot find good work, can they still find good lives? By investigating this question in the context of South Africa, where only 43 percent of adults are employed, Christine Jeske invites readers to examine their own assumptions about how work and the good life do or do not coincide. The Laziness Myth challenges the widespread premise that hard work determines success by tracing the titular "laziness myth," a persistent narrative that disguises the systems and structures that produce inequalities while blaming unemployment and other social ills on the so-called laziness of particular class, racial, and ethnic groups. Jeske offers evidence of the laziness myth's harsh consequences, as well as insights into how to challenge it with other South African narratives of a good life. In contexts as diverse as rapping in a library, manufacturing leather shoes, weed-whacking neighbors' yards, negotiating marriage plans, and sharing water taps, the people described in this book will stimulate discussion on creative possibilities for seeking the good life in and out of employment, in South Africa and elsewhere.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Republic of South Africa
• South Africa
• Industrial relations
• History of Africa
• Afrique du Sud

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 décembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501752537
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

THE LAZINESS MYTH

THELAZINESS MYTH Narratives of Work and the Good Life in South Africa

Christine Jeske

ILR PRESS AN IMPRINT OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2020 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2020 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Names: Jeske, Christine, author. Title: The laziness myth : narratives of work and the good life in South Africa / Christine Jeske. Description: Ithaca [New York] : ILR Press, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020012060 (print) | LCCN 2020012061 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501752506 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501752513 (paperback) | ISBN 9781501752537 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501752520 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Work ethic—South Africa. | Laziness—South Africa. | Work—South Africa—Psychological aspects. | Blacks—Employment— South Africa. | Unemployment—Social aspects—South Africa. | Unemployed—South Africa—Attitudes. | Wellbeing—South Africa. | Quality of life—South Africa. | Happiness—South Africa. Classification: LCC HD4905.3.S6 J47 2020 (print) | LCC HD4905.3.S6 (ebook) | DDC 306.3/6130968—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020012060 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020012061

Contents

Acknowledgments Author’s Note

Introduction: “We want to live a good life” 1. k”:TheLazinessnMoytt’hwnatotwroTh“dey 2. cnat’udnretsna“YoueP’epsrvitcseitdE”:lomprsye of the Unemployed 3. eedI“neesdepsrnonanosreptahtdnpeesrtothatct to respect me”: The Respect Narrative 4. agoaketomtryoyuehnsiwnig“Htlus:”efildo The Hustling Narrative 5. “I’m just a laborer”: The Laborer Narrative 6. “I have a good story”: Possibilities Closing Thoughts: “Despite the contradictions”

Notes Bibliography Index

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195 215 227

Acknowledgments

I will never forget the moment early in my fieldwork when Mtoko suddenly shouted down the street, “I’m going to be in a book! In America!” Mtoko, this is for you. Like too many black lives, Mtoko’s ended too soon. It has not gone unnoticed. I am grateful beyond words for each person described in this book, named and unnamed. In sharing your stories, your time, and your experiences, you teach me and others how to think and also how to live. I am also deeply grateful for the generosity of the many others who walked with me on the journey of this book. First, to those who welcomed my family to South Africa and taught us to love their country: Barbara and John David Borgman, Vanessa and Rouen Bruni, Geoff and SarahBeth Gould, Sam and Sarah Groves, Sabelo Hadebe, Penny and John Jardine, Lungile Mayaba, Betsy and Eugene Meyers, Thathu and Lineo Mokoena, Sofi Ntshalintshali, Paul and Sue Ross, and Caryn and Richard Shacklock. In America, my church offered hugs, prayers, and Thursday dinners that held me together through graduate school and beyond. South African colleagues offered early and continued con versations that convinced me to pursue this line of research. They include Pat rick Bond, Daniela Casale, Philani Dlamini, Dorrit Posel, Imraan Valodia, and especially Hylton White. Frances Benson, my editor, saw something valuable in this research years ago and advocated for this book throughout the publishing process. I was fortunate to receive funding for the research and writing of this book from an Aldeen Grant, a John Stott Faculty Research Grant, a Scott Kloeck Jenson Research Fellowship, two Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships, and a Hawkinson Foundation for Peace and Justice Award. I am also grateful to Economic Anthropologyand the American Anthropological Association for per mission to reprint portions of the article “People Refusing to Be Wealth: What Happens When South African Workers Are Denied Access to ‘Belonging In.’” The many people who generously shared feedback on this manuscript include Hannah Dawson, Jeremy Foltz, Sarah Hamersma, Larry Nesper, Karen Rignall, Zhou Yongming, and my research assistants, Joe Saperstein and Anna Cole. I would not have achieved proficiency in isiZulu without the instruction of Bon gani Mbatha, whose isiZulu lessons also included many insightful conversations that steered the direction of this research. Rachael Goodman and Christina Cappy have shaped this manuscript and my own life immeasurably as we laughed, cried, cursed, and celebrated together through researching, writing, and other trials of

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viiiACKNOWLEDGMENTS

academic life. Claire Wendland deserves special thanks for her incredible ability to see to the heart of a topic, articulate my own thoughts sometimes better than I can, copyedit meticulously, and give practical advice and friendship through every step of a PhD program and beyond. My parents taught me never to stop learning, to make teaching an adventure, and to respond to every risk in life with faith. And finally, thank you to my hilarious, encouraging, flexible, and fun chil dren who go happily wherever we take you; and my husband, who sees me not only as I am but also as I should be, who discussed every bit of this work, and who is the best life partner a person could ever have. This is a story of people seeking the good life, and I will remember our years in South Africa as a time when we found the good life, not only in the stories I heard others tell, but also in the life we experienced. Thank you to all those who made that possible.

Author’s Note

Many of the names of people and businesses in this book are pseudonyms. Some identifying details have been altered to protect identities. In the interest of confi dentiality, I have also intentionally used generic terms such as “employer,” “com pany,” or “food industry” to designate individuals and businesses, especially when similar comments and events occurred in more than one instance.

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