PRICKLY PEAR, the social history of a plant in the Eastern Cape

292pp., b/w & colour illus., maps, paperback, Reprint, Hermanus (2011) 2021

With a new afterword by Luvuyo Wotshela.

William Beinart and Luvuyo Wotshela on how a wild and sometimes invasive cactus from Mexico, first introduced to South Africa in 1750, remains an important source of income for women in rural and small town communities in the Eastern Cape.

Historian William Beinart is Emeritus Professor at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. He is co-author (with Peter Delius and Michelle Hay) Rights to Land (2017).

Professor Luvuyo Wotshela is Head of the National Heritage and Cultural Studies Centre, University of Fort Hare.