Predatory Welfare

“Who owes what to whom? Can the intergenerational debts of racial capitalism be repaid, let alone repaired? What role, if any, might basic income payments play in this process? Far beyond a simple story about the ills of financialization to be redeemed by a romanticized state, Predatory Welfare is a beautifully detailed ethnography about the intertwined histories, presents, and potential futures of racialization and social welfare in South Africa.”—Hannah Appel, author of, The Licit Life of Capitalism “What is so critically important about the cash payments made to poor rural South Africans portrayed in Predatory Welfare? Torkelson, a geographer, shows readers that predatory capitalism in ‘unimportant’ places is a window onto the production of odious debt everywhere. This exemplary research is a must-read not only for South Africanists but also for all those committed to reforming the global financial architecture.”—Anne-Maria Makhulu, author of Making Freedom