Overview
South Africa’s and Brazil’s social policies attempt to address the residues of institutional poverty, inequality, and unemployment. South Africa remains deeply unequal and polarized despite government commitments to undo centuries of social stratification resulting from colonial legacies and post-apartheid policy constraints. On the other hand, under the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT)—Workers’ Party, led government Brazil’s social assistance programmes like the Bolsa Familia was viewed as a model to reduce inequality to be emulated across most countries in the Global South. Can social policy resolve the residuals and contradictions of trans-historical inequalities in South Africa and Brazil as aspirant democracies in the Global South that aim to forge a new social contract under the epoch of neoliberal capitalism?
This seminar departs from the theoretical prism of studying welfare regimes through the Eurocentric of the Welfare Regime Approach, rather proposes the view of thinking about social policy as reparations. The two countries offer a compelling comparison through shared histories of colonial domination, slavery, and anti-black racism. Thinking about social policy as reparations provides potent articulations of inaugurating a post-imperial world order.
Speaker
Dr Madalitso Zililo Phiri is a critical pan-African Sociologist. He is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge’s, Centre of African Studies; Visiting College Research Associate, Wolfson College; Post Doctoral Fellow in the South Africa/United Kingdom Bilateral Chair in Political Theory, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He is co-author of Monuments and Memory in Africa: Reflections on Coloniality and Decoloniality (London: Routledge, 2024). Phiri’s other publications include book chapters and refereed journal articles in outlets such as Critical Sociology, Monthly Review, and South African Journal of International Affairs. His ongoing research interests include, political economy of racialized welfare (South Africa and Brazil), Sociology of Race, and Black Political Thought.
Details
This event is open to all and free to attend.
This is a hybrid event, which will take place in-person in the Gatsby Room (Chancellor's Centre) and also on Zoom.
If you would like to attend online, please register for the Zoom link.
Refreshments will be available for the in-person audience.
This event is organised by Wolfson's REACH Research Hub, an interdisciplinary meeting place for the promotion and facilitation of culturally diverse research, in collaboration with the Wolfson Humanities Society.
Access
This event will take place in the Gatsby Room on the first floor of the Chancellor's Centre. It has step-free access with a lift and there is an accessible toilet located each floor of the building.
For more details please view our AccessAble guide.
