Making a Life

Young Men on Johannesburg’s Urban Margins

Hannah J Dawson

• Publisher: Wits University Press
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN:
  9781776149568
• Print ISBN:
  9781776148646
• Subtopic: Cultural & Social Anthropology

Making a Life explores the dynamic everyday life-making strategies of young men in Zandspruit, a sprawling informal settlement on the outskirts of Johannesburg. In many ways Zandspruit typifies the precariousness of life within South Africa, where two-thirds of young people lack waged employment. However, rather than seeing Zandspruit as dumping ground, Hannah Dawson calls for an integrated understanding of the complex linkages between people's lives and livelihoods, and the multifaceted socio-political landscape of urban settlements.

Based on 14 months of ethnographic research, Dawson investigates how social belonging, identity and economic realities intertwine in places such as Zandspruit. This approach not only challenges conventional approaches to studying work; it also questions the increasingly prevalent perspective that romanticises the adaptive survival strategies of the urban poor. By exploring the intricate connections between those with and without wages, the author shows how young men manage complex social, political and economic conditions.

Making a Life offers insights into issues such as urban work, citizenship, un(der)employment and inequality in South Africa. At the same time, it contributes to a global understanding of how young people – men especially – manage economic uncertainty.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Making a Life on the Urban Periphery
• 1 Zandspruit: A Redistributive Economy on the Urban Margins
• 2 Networks of Distribution: Hustling and Brokering in the Township Economy
• 3 ‘Who You Know Matters’: Social Connections and Property Ownership Mediate Distributive Outcomes
• 4 ‘I Want to Live, Not Survive’: Refusing Low-Wage Jobs
• 5 The Aspiration to ‘Afford’: Momentary Consumption when the Future is Out of Reach
• 6 ‘Fighting for Our Future’: Protests, Patronage and the Politics of Belonging
• Conclusion: Do-It-Yourself Futures in an Abandoned Zone
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index