After Freedom ─ The Rise of the Post-Apartheid Generation in Democratic South Africa

Twenty years after the end of apartheid, a new generation is building a multiracial democracy in South Africa but remains mired in economic inequality and political conflict.

This spring, South Africa will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the fall of apartheid and the first free elections. Although the country has come far, frustration is growing as inequalities that once divided the races now grow within them. In After Freedom, award-winning sociologist Katherine S. Newman and South African expert Ariane De Lannoy profile seven people—Black, White, “Coloured,” and immigrant—to reveal what life is like in South Africa today. These on-the-ground portraits offer an intimate look at the rising generation of young people and explore what the complex political landscape means to the average person. After Freedom is a timely look at how the generation that came of age post-apartheid is grappling with a tenuous democracy in a globalized economy.

Katherine S. Newman is the James Knapp Dean of the Arts and Sciences and professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of twelve books on poverty, the working poor, and the consequences of inequality, including The Accordion Family and The Missing Class. She lives in Baltimore, MD.

Ariane De Lannoy is a senior researcher at the Children’s Institute and lecturer in the Sociology Department at the University of Cape Town. Her research focuses on youth transitions to adulthood in South Africa, and she has published on young adults’ educational decision making, youth belonging and citizenship, and youth violence in a context of poverty. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa.