The Special Collections Book of the Week this week is:

Do South Africans Exist? Nationalism, Democracy and the Identity of the People, by Ivor Chipkin

‘Do South Africans exist?’ addresses a gap in contemporary studies of nationalism and the nation, providing a critical study of South African nationalism against the broader context of African nationalism in general. Narratives of resistance, telling of African peoples oppressed and exploited, presume that 'the people' preceded the period of nationalist struggle.

This book explores how an African 'people' came into being in the first place, particularly in the South African context, as a collectively organised in pursuit of a political—and not simply cultural—end.

Access: https://univofpretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/130885896

This book is available at Special Collections, housed on level 5 of the Merensky 2 Library, and is part of our Africana (ZA) Collection.

The Special Collections unit of the Department of Library Services plays a stewardship role in the acquisition and preservation of the Library's rare and valuable information resources, making t hem accessible to students, staff and researchers, as well as safeguarding them for future generations