PHARMAKON : Urban Law and the Making of Johannesburg

Abstract

“This book is truly a pharmakon, a potion historically prescribed and a healing adventurously re-imagined. Pharmakon, as the title indicates, shows how the same thing that can be healing, can also poisons us. Makoni takes us through the colonial and postcolonial lawscape of urban South Africa and especially Johannesburg, making a case for how injustice was established through planning laws, and all along trying to find ways in which justice can be achieved. This especially pernicious form of spatial violence is shown to have persevered throughout colonial history, with concrete examples of racial capitalism, where state and private initiatives were implicated. makoni shows how the law has been a conspirator of colonial racialisation, and a precious yet precarious compass to help navigate the post-apartheid lands – the law as true pharmakon, with the trophy of spatial justice in the centre of legal concerns.”Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos Professor of Law & Theory / Artist / Fiction AuthorUniversity of Westminster, London “Rich in theory, concepts and empirical examples, eric nyembezi makoni's book is a groundbreaking and timely intervention in the field of urban planning and city studies.”Prof. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni Professor and Chair in Epistemologies of the Global South, University of Bayreuth, Germany “Through the concept of the lawscape, this book provides an excellent, expansive history of how legal and planning instruments have together shaped South African cities to make spatial racial segregation possible during the colonial and Apartheid era but also to create more inclusive, democratic cities in the post-Apartheid period. PHARMAKON: Urban Law and the Making of Johannesburg is a lucid, critical and yet hopeful book; a must-read for anyone committed to contribute to decolonised cities that promote spatial justice and economic inclusivity.”Dr. Wendy WillemsDepartment of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science