Going for Gold: Men, Mines, and Migration (Perspectives on Southern Africa) (Volume 51)

a sociological exploration of the hard men who worked the mines. The dynamics were always tinder dry and the ingredients always there for the flashpoints that frequently occurred with callous and tragic outcomes. Sadly we whites never learned the languages - it would have made a world of difference.Not finished the book yet but I recognise the things that have been written.

"Going For Gold" has drawn attention for its frank, insightful and fully-informed treatment of male miners' sexuality, including homosexual relations (known as "mine marriages"). But there is much more to commend Moodie and Ndatshe's exploration of what it means to be a man, and to act like one, in South Africa. Their intimate knowledge of the region combines well with participant-observer data, which must have been challenging to collect given the subject and circumstances. The result is one of the richest current studies of migrant life in Africa, encompassing changes in the labor process, ethnic identity, class formation, drinking and sociability, violence, and resistance to harsh work and living conditions. For example, the sections on faction fights between Sotho and Xhosa miners reveal that these are not merely age-old primordial hatreds. They reflect complex antagonisms rooted in struggles for employment, occupational status, class consciousness, political affiliation and situational identity, which all have discernible recent origins. While the book is pathbreaking, others have taken up these issues in various ways. In order of expanding regional scale, see C. Van Onselen, "Studies in the Social & Economic History of the Witwatersrand;" P. Harries, "Work, Culture & Identity;" R. Morrell ed, "Changing Men in Southern Africa;" J. Crush & C. Ambler eds, "Liquor & Labor in Southern Africa;" and L. Vail ed, "The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa." There is now a brand-new comparable study of migrant womens' hostels by G. Elder, "Hostels, Sexuality, & the Apartheid Legacy."