THE WORK OF REPAIR, capacity after colonialism in the timber plantations of South Africa

325pp., illus., maps, paperback, First SA Edition, (Cape Town), 2024

First published in the USA in 2023.

Thomas Cousins on the relationships between labourers in the timber plantations of KwaZulu-Natal, and "the important and fragile techniques that constitute the work of repair: the effort to augment one’s capacity in a way that draws on, acknowledges, and reimagines the wounds of history, keeping open the possibility of a future through and with others."

"Cousins’s focus on repair points to the regenerative capacity of hope amid consuming violence, vulnerabilities, and despair. Thoughtfully argued and meticulous in detail, this book highlights why cultures of interconnection, inclusivity, impurities, and repair in South Africa and elsewhere are key to convivial theorization in Anthropology and kindred disciplines" Francis B. Nyamnjoh, University of Cape Town

Thomas Cousins is Clarendon-Lienhardt Associate Professor in the Social Anthropology of Africa, University of Oxford, and Fellow, St Hugh’s College.