Reconceptualizing the Family in a Changing Southern African Environment (Signed and Inscribed by the Author McFadden)

This admirable, wide-ranging study grapples fearlessly with the mammoth topic of the Southern African family, and in particular, the positions and identities of women within the family, and their rights. Issues broached include: women's access to land and physical resources; human resources as a survival strategy; the intersection of family, law, rights and resources; methodological perspectives; and the family as site for social transformation. There is an explicit political and feminist agenda and urgent aim: to encourage the reader to rethink the family; to reconceptualise its meaning; and contribute to the debate that surrounds the next phase of societies in change. The narrative propels the reader along in the genuine anticipation that despite difficulties, new ground is breaking and new ideas emerging, which will interest firstly the Southern African woman, but equally, anyone interested in the topical and contentious issue of the family and its possibilities.