Wits University Press News
Darker Shade of Pale: Shtetl to Colony – Deborah Posel
27th January 2026
A sweeping story with intimate roots, Darker Shade of Pale traces a little-known chapter in the history of global migration: the journey of families at the turn of the twentieth century from the Jewish territories of the Russian Empire, called The Pale of Settlement, to the far-flung British... →
A sweeping story with intimate roots, Darker Shade of Pale traces a little-known chapter in the history of global migration: the journey of families at the turn of the twentieth century from the Jewish territories of the Russian Empire, called The Pale of Settlement, to the far-flung British... →
Rock Art of the Waterberg: Rites and Transformation
2nd December 2025
The first comprehensive study of rock art in the Waterberg region of the Limpopo Province, this richly illustrated volume explores the intricate world views of Bushman groups, Iron Age farmers and Khoekhoe herders. The authors decode the visual languages of 130 sites to show how these groups... →
The first comprehensive study of rock art in the Waterberg region of the Limpopo Province, this richly illustrated volume explores the intricate world views of Bushman groups, Iron Age farmers and Khoekhoe herders. The authors decode the visual languages of 130 sites to show how these groups... →
Johnny Clegg: Critical Reflections on his Music and Influence – Michael Drewett & Lucilla Spini
17th November 2025
Explores Johnny Clegg’s legacy as a South African musician, anthropologist and cultural activist. It examines Clegg’s integration of music, dance and political philosophy as resistance against apartheid, his navigation of transnational cultural politics, and interrogates cultural appropriation... →
Explores Johnny Clegg’s legacy as a South African musician, anthropologist and cultural activist. It examines Clegg’s integration of music, dance and political philosophy as resistance against apartheid, his navigation of transnational cultural politics, and interrogates cultural appropriation... →
Johnny Clegg: Critical Reflections on his Music and Influence
15th October 2025
Explores Johnny Clegg’s legacy as a South African musician, anthropologist and cultural activist. It examines Clegg’s integration of music, dance and political philosophy as resistance against apartheid, his navigation of transnational cultural politics, and interrogates cultural appropriation... →
Explores Johnny Clegg’s legacy as a South African musician, anthropologist and cultural activist. It examines Clegg’s integration of music, dance and political philosophy as resistance against apartheid, his navigation of transnational cultural politics, and interrogates cultural appropriation... →
Book Launches
Worker Cooperatives and Deep Democracy: Transformative Politics and Planetary Care from Below
27th January 2026 The left has been unable to inspire a practical challenge to the planetary crisis of capitalism that has upended nature and society. This book maps a new transformative politics arising from worker cooperative systems that advance planetary care from below and have the potential to undermine the... →
'Darker Shade Of Pale: Shtetl to Colony' book launch
4th November 2025 BOOK LAUNCH INVITATION Tuesday 11 November 2025 DARKER SHADE OF PALE: Shtetl to Colony by Deborah Posel “Part memoir, part global history, part meditation on inherited trauma... a stunning book.” Jacob Dlamini, Princeton University Deborah Posel will be in conversation with historian Clive... →