Entitlements, Disputes, and Provision for the Future: Making Wills and Negotiating Inheritance in South Africa's Middle Class

自种族隔离制度结束以来，随着新的黑人阶层进入政府和企业工作，南非的黑人中产阶级呈指数级增长。随着越来越多的南非人积累了大量财产，这些财产的分配成为了亲属义务之战的新领域。这个项目通过对遗嘱和遗嘱的人种学关注来接近阶级再生产：遗嘱和遗嘱的形成过程以及围绕其执行的争议。其结果是一种创新的视角，它关注专家和官僚在塑造班级动态方面的作用。它扩展了我对课堂复制的兴趣，在我即将出版的书(2015年世界杯)中进行了探索，该书基于2006年以来在南非的实地考察。在南非，随着种族隔离后的黑人中产阶级年龄的增长和对家庭未来的考虑，该项目尤其适时。该项目解决了关键的人类学问题。它结合了关于中产阶级的政治经济(不平等)和文化(生活方式)视角，并将这些视角与关于国家机构的学术观点结合在一起。它通过超越几代人的方式扩展了现有的关于阶级和地位复制的工作。南非中产阶级黑人如何将塑造他们亲属地位和生活机会的财产传承下去？随着立遗嘱的推广越来越广泛，促进立遗嘱的机构如何在生前反映亲属关系和财产的经历，从而推动这一问题？这与现有的白人中产阶级相比如何？在家庭内部，对所有权、权利和权利的相互竞争的定义是如何评判的？当未来计划的表达也成为国家监管的表达时，这对获得家庭财产(例如城镇住房)有何影响？在官僚机构和法律程序的瓶颈中，谁被包括和排除？特定的财产如何以及为什么被估值？在这个过程中，人们的角色和权利是如何构成的？在日益不平等和早熟的情况下，遗嘱是如何被谈论的？对财产和继承的担忧如何反映在媒体上？鉴于南非黑人中产阶级不同的历史，今天的遗嘱制定与过去相比如何？考察一段时间以来的阶级再生产，意味着将人种学和历史学方法结合起来。对于前者，我将从约翰内斯堡高等法院的长期观察开始，在那里审理有关遗嘱的争议，并将案件从正式的遗嘱认证过程追溯到与个人和家庭的实地工作。与此同时，我将与遗嘱顾问和律师合作，采访法官、金融组织成员，以及负责设计在线遗嘱模板的专家。这位威茨大学(Wits University)前法学院院长(我在那里担任研究助理)表示支持，并正在为接触律师和法官提供便利。综上所述，民族志研究在制度和个人过程之间移动，提供了一个自下而上的视角，挑战了简单的元叙事。历史研究建立在与我推荐的导师和威茨大学的同事们持续合作的基础上，将遗嘱认证记录作为南非黑人中产阶级历史的来源。它的目的是捕捉南非一个世纪历史上的所有相关记录。我提议的项目探索定性的案例研究和汇总的定量数据，提供了关于财产积累和分散的更长远的视角。突出国家官员和机构复杂而出人意料的角色，引发了对民族志田野工作的质疑。例如，作为遗嘱执行人，国家官员勤奋地为死者花费遗产(例如未成年人的学费)。与此同时，关于遗嘱认证过程的民族志田野工作，以及个人和官方的交集，将为档案产生问题。产出将照亮当今中产阶级的意志形成，但具有历史化的深度。

Since the end of apartheid, South Africa's black middle class has grown exponentially, as a new stratum of black citizens has moved into government and corporate employment. As more South Africans accumulate substantial property, its disbursement becomes a new terrain on which battles of kinship obligation are fought. This project approaches class reproduction through an ethnographic focus on wills and testaments: the processes through which they are made, and the disputes surrounding their execution. The result is an innovative lens that attends to the role of experts and bureaucrats in shaping the dynamics of class. It extends my interest in class reproduction, explored in my forthcoming book (CUP 2015) based on fieldwork in South Africa since 2006. In South Africa, as the post-apartheid black middle class ages and considers family futures, the project is especially timely.The project addresses key anthropological concerns. It combines political-economic (inequality) and cultural (lifestyle) perspectives on the middle class, and these with scholarship on state institutions. And it extends existing work on class and status reproduction by transcending generations. How do black middle-class South Africans pass on the property that shapes their kin's status and life chances? As will-making is promoted ever more widely, how do institutions that facilitate it inflect experiences of kinship and property before death forces the issue? How does this compare with the established white middle class?Within families, how are competing definitions of ownership, rights and entitlements judged? When expressions of future plans also become expressions of state regulation, how does this affect access to family property (e.g. township houses)? Who is included and excluded, in the bottleneck of bureaucracy and legal process?How and why are particular possessions valued? How are people's roles and entitlements constituted in the process?Amidst increasing inequality and precarity, how is will-making talked about? How have concerns about property and inheritance been reflected in the media?Given the South African black middle class's diverse history, how does will-making today compare with the past?Examining class reproduction over time means combining ethnographic and historical methods. For the former, I will begin with long-term observation in the Johannesburg High Court where disputes around wills are heard, and trace cases out from the formal probate process to fieldwork with individuals and families. Meanwhile, I will work with will consultants and lawyers, and interview judges, members of financial organisations, and the experts responsible for designing their online will templates. The former Dean of Law at Wits University (where I am a Research Associate) has expressed support, and is facilitating access to lawyers and judges. Taken together, the ethnographic research moves between institutional and personal processes, offering a bottom-up perspective that challenges easy meta-narratives.The historical research builds on ongoing collaborative work with my proposed mentor and colleagues at Wits University, on probate records as a source for South African black middle class history. This aims to capture all relevant records over a century of South African history. My proposed project explores qualitative case studies and aggregated quantitative data, offering a longer view on the accumulation and dispersal of property. Foregrounding the complex and unexpected roles of state officials and institutions raises questions for ethnographic fieldwork. For example, as executors, state officials diligently spent inheritances on behalf of deceased (e.g. minors' school fees). Meanwhile, ethnographic fieldwork on probate processes, and the intersection of personal and official, will generate questions for the archive. Outputs will illuminate will-making among today's middle class, but with the depth of historicisation.