African Labour Studies

Empirical Realities and Conceptual Shifts
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-5292-5733-5
Verlag: Bristol University Press

Buch, Englisch, 304 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

This volume brings together established scholars and early-career researchers to foreground African contributions to labour studies. Spanning historical and contemporary developments, it examines youth employment, gendered labour, migration, informality, labour politics and emerging forms of work across the continent.

Through rich case studies and comparative analysis, contributors interrogate how concepts such as class, labour market segmentation, power resources and worker agency have been deployed and contested in African contexts. In doing so, the book demonstrates how African empirical realities invite a rethinking of labour studies and its theoretical foundations.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Anwar, Mohammad Amir

Dawson, Hannah J.

Oppong, Nelson

Weitere Mitwirkende

Castel-Branco, Ruth

Francis, David

Lew McDermott, Joshua

De Blasis, Fabio

Howson, Kelle

Baduza, Siyanda

Tame, Bianca

Sitas, Ari

Kruger, Vannessa

Inaka, Saint Jose

Dawood, Quraisha

Mutambasere, Thabani

Vanyoro, Kudakwashe

Fält, Lena

Lindell, Ilda

Kudzai Chiweshe, Manase

Mutopo, Patience

Almeida, Fernanda

Ngidi, Siphelele

Assaad, Ragui

Ehab, AlAnoud

Gukurume, Simbarashe

Kenny, Bridget

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Wirtschaftssoziologie, Arbeitssoziologie, Organisationssoziologie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Regionalwissenschaften, Regionalstudien
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Gewerkschaften, Industrielle Beziehungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. African Labour Studies: The Intersecting Theories, Histories, and Struggles – Mohammad Amir Anwar, Hannah Dawson, Nelson Oppong

Part I: Histories

2. Overalls and Gowns in the Making of South Africa’s Labour Studies: Between Theory and Praxis – Vannessa Kruger, Ari Sitas and Bianca Tame

3. The Return of the Labour Process: Race, Skill and Technology in South African Labour Studies – Bridget Kenny and Edward Webster

Part II: Labour Market Dynamics

4. Labour Market Challenges in North Africa: Root Causes and Recent Developments – Ragui Assaad and AlAnoud Ehab

5. Reproducing Poverty, Inequality, and Unemployment: The Central Role of South Africa’s Labour Market – David Francis and Siphelele Ngidi

6. Large-Scale Transport Infrastructure and Labour Markets in Urban Africa – Lena Fält and Ilda Lindell

7. The Social Ills of Extractivism: Labour Rights and the Tangled Web of Supply Chains in Ghana – Nelson Oppong

8. At the Bottom of the Global Exploitation Chains: Export Horticulture and Wage Wabour in Tanzania – Fabio De Blasis

Part III: Precarity and Conditions of Precarious Work

9. Domestic Work in South Africa: A Generational Curse or a Steppingstone? – Quraisha Dawood

10. Labour Market Precariousness and Young People’s (Un)willingness To Participate in the Platform Economy Hustle – Simbarashe Gukurume

11. Precarity Across Borders? Zimbabwean Migrant Labour and the Shifting Dynamics of South Africa’s Labour Market – Kudakwashe Vanyoro and Thabani Mutambasere

Part IV: Class Identity and Differentiation

12. A Class Analysis of Informal Own-Account Workers in Africa: A Case Study of Petty Trading in Sierra Leone – Joshua Lew McDermott

13. “On Our Own”: Women Navigating the Margins of Zimbabwe’s Informal Sector, State and Lack of Regulation – Manase Kudzai Chiweshe and Patience Mutopo

14. Who Counts as a Worker: Class Politics in Africa’s Gig Economy – Ruth Castel-Branco

Part V: Worker Power and Agency

15. Unveiling Resistance: Congolese Unionists and the Struggle Against Colonial Power – Saint José Inaka

16. The Politics of Informal Labour: Power, Liminality and Agency – Ilda Lindell and Fernanda Almeida

17. Refusing Low Wage Jobs and the Contested Meanings of Work in Urban South Africa – Hannah J. Dawson

18. Worker Power, Algorithmic Management and African Resistance in the Digital Age – Mohammad Amir Anwar

19. The Political Economy of Universal Basic Income in Three Sub-Saharan African Countries – Kelle Howson and Siyanda Baduza

Über Autor(innen)

Mutambasere, Thabani
Thabani Mutambasere is Lecturer in African Studies and International Development in the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh. His research explores how African diasporas impact their home countries through political engagement, development work, and humanitarian efforts, beyond just financial remittances. Before joining academia, Thabani worked in the development sector tackling issues related to governance and civic education.

Vanyoro, Kudakwashe
Kudakwashe Vanyoro is Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand and a 2024-25 A.G. Leventis Visiting Research Fellow in the Centre of African Studies at the University of Cambridge.

Mohammad Amir Anwar is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in African Studies and International Development at the University of Edinburgh and a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg. He is co-author of The Digital Continent: Placing African in the Planetary Networks of Work (Oxford University Press, 2022).

Hannah J. Dawson is Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Anthropology and Development Studies Department at the University of Johannesburg. She is author of Making a Life: Young Men on Johannesburg’s Urban Margins (Wits University Press, 2025)

Nelson Oppong is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at the Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, and a Senior Research Associate in Sociology at Rhodes University. His work brings together interdisciplinary research and extensive policy engagement on international development, governance, human rights, extractive industries, environmental change, and political economy across Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.