This book tells the story of the lives of migrant black African men who work on the South African gold mines, told from their own point of view and, as much as possible, in their own words. Dunbar Moodie examines the operation of local power structures and resistances, changes in production techniques, the limits and successes of unionization, and the nature of ethnic conflicts at different periods and on different terrains of struggle. He treats his subject thematically and historically, examining how notions of integrity, manhood, sexuality, work, power, solidarity, and violence have all changed over time, especially with the shift to a proletarianized work force on the mines in the 1970s. Moodie integrates analyses of individual life-strategies with theories of social change, illuminating the ways in which these play off each other in historically significant ways. He shows how human beings (in this case, African men) build integrity and construct their own social order, even in situations of apparent total repression.
Going for Gold Men, Mines, and Migration
About the Book
Reviews
"An indispensable look at the working conditions, social lives, and collective action of black miners. . . . [Moodie's] meticulous, reflective, incessantly questioning approach to power, drink, sexuality, conflict, and routine life in mines and compounds reveals an extraordinary world at the edge of hope and desperation."—Charles Tilly, The New School for Social Research"Combines a rigorous use of theory with a marvellous and sensitive sympathy."—Terence O. Ranger, co-editor of The Invention of Tradition
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
ONE WORKER IDENTITIES: MIGRANT CULTURES,
SOCIAL NETWORKS, AND THE PRACTICE
OF PERSONAL INTEGRITY
TWO PRODUCTION POLITICS: WORKPLACE CONTROL
AND WORKER RESISTANCE
THREE CONFRONTATIONS AND COLLABORATIONS:
COMPOUND HEGEMONY AND MORAL ECONOMY
FOUR SEXUALITIES: VARIATIONS ON
A PATRIARCHAL THEME
FIVE CONVIVIALITIES: DRINKING PATTERNS
SIX FACTION FIGHTS: MINE-WORKER VIOLENCE
SEVEN SOLIDARITIES: PRACTICES OF UNIONIZATION
Conclusion
Glossary
References
Index