Eating from One Pot: The dynamics of survival in poor South African households
研究南非夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省贫困家庭在工厂倒闭和失业加剧下，如何以家庭和社区为中心维持生计，并指出基于信仰的组织是带来积极社会变化的微弱希望。
In Eating from One Pot, Mosoetsa explains the ways in which poor people in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, respond to their deteriorating social and economic circumstances. She draws her material from the Enhlalakahle and Mpumalanga townships, from which she argues that in the context of factory closures and increased unemployment, the household and community have become central places of work. That said, the households of the poor ‘are fragile; they lack resources and are characterized by unequal power dynamics based on gender and age’ (p. 147). ‘Many of the livelihood activities [poor people] pursue are survivalist and unsustainable in the long run’ (p. 53). It is only at a very specific site in the community (faith-based organizations) that some glimmer of hope for positive social change may be found. The involvement of faith-based organizations in the fight against poverty and HIV/AIDS – the home-based care provided mainly by women as well as the role played by church leaders as social workers or social welfare officials – are ‘social resources’ that may deliver that change. Although other community organizations are attempting to bring people from various political divides together, to lever resources for self-help, and to advocate for better delivery of ‘basic services’ such as electricity and water, the rules of entry to resources (which are partly shaped by political affiliation, gender, and generational norms) in turn structure individual, household, and community access to sources of livelihoods.