The Poverty of Ideas: South African Democracy and the Retreat of the Intellectuals

Exploring the changing role of the South African intellectual, these essays define the role and responsibility of critical thinkers in a new democracy. Contrasting the courage of the outspoken dissenter during the apartheid era with today's disengaged observers, the contributors discuss the retreat of the intellectual from the public sphere and the impact this has had on the consolidation of democracy in postapartheid South Africa.