TY - JOUR

T1 - Awkward Entanglements

T2 - Kinship, Morality and Survival in Cape Town’s Prison - township Circuit

AU - Waltorp, Karen

AU - Jensen, Steffen

PY - 2018/12/18

Y1 - 2018/12/18

N2 - In this paper, we explore how townships and prison are linked in South Africa among criminalised populations. While the two are often described – also by residents – as belonging to radically different moral worlds, the article shows how they are entangled in often awkward and difficult, yet necessary ways. We show this by paying acute attention to kinship structures and how kin are disavowed, allowed and sometimes denied as residents find their way to prison and out again. The empirical basis of the article is long-term fieldwork in and engagement with Cape Town’s townships and their residents, many of who have experiences with prison as (former) inmates, as family to inmates, or through constant circulation of prison stories.

AB - In this paper, we explore how townships and prison are linked in South Africa among criminalised populations. While the two are often described – also by residents – as belonging to radically different moral worlds, the article shows how they are entangled in often awkward and difficult, yet necessary ways. We show this by paying acute attention to kinship structures and how kin are disavowed, allowed and sometimes denied as residents find their way to prison and out again. The empirical basis of the article is long-term fieldwork in and engagement with Cape Town’s townships and their residents, many of who have experiences with prison as (former) inmates, as family to inmates, or through constant circulation of prison stories.

KW - KEYWORDS: Cape Town, prison, kinship, morality, township

U2 - 10.1080/00141844.2017.1321565

DO - 10.1080/00141844.2017.1321565

M3 - Journal article

VL - 84

SP - 41

EP - 55

JO - Ethnos. Journal of Anthropology

JF - Ethnos. Journal of Anthropology

SN - 1469-588X

IS - 1

ER -