The geopolitics of South African cities: States, citizens, territory

Abstract

This paper addresses two problems within the analysis of South African society. The one, that of the nature of the state, has been the focus of a great deal of intellectual activity. The other, the spatiality of South African society, is more remarkable for its absence from published work: an absence which the intensely geographical nature of our society calls upon us urgently to redress. These two problems - the state and space - are, I will argue, very much inter-related, both in the history of South Africa, and more generally at a theoretical or analytical level.