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

权利、纠纷和未来的准备：南非中产阶级的遗嘱制定和继承谈判

基本信息

批准号：
ES/N003071/1
负责人：
Maxim Bolt
金额：
$ 18.18万
依托单位：
University of Birmingham
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2016
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2016 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FN003071%2F1
关键词：
Entitlements Disputes Provision Future Making

项目摘要

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.

自种族隔离结束以来，南非的黑人中产阶级呈指数级增长，因为一个新的黑人阶层进入了政府和企业就业。随着越来越多的南非人积累了大量的财产，其支出成为一个新的战场上的亲属义务的战斗。本项目通过对遗嘱和遗嘱的民族志关注来探讨阶级再生产：遗嘱和遗嘱的制作过程，以及围绕遗嘱执行的争议。其结果是一个创新的透镜，注意到专家和官僚在塑造阶级动态方面的作用。它扩展了我对阶级再生产的兴趣，在我即将出版的书（CUP 2015）中进行了探索，该书基于自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步入老年并考虑家庭的未来，该项目特别及时。它结合了中产阶级的政治经济（不平等）和文化（生活方式）观点，并与国家机构的奖学金。它通过超越世代来扩展现有的关于阶级和地位再生产的工作。南非的黑人中产阶级是如何将决定他们亲属地位和生活机会的财产传承下去的？随着立遗嘱越来越广泛地被推广，在死亡迫使这个问题发生之前，促进立遗嘱的制度是如何影响亲属关系和财产的体验的？这与已经确立的白色中产阶级相比如何？在家庭内部，如何判断所有权、权利和应享待遇的相互竞争的定义？当对未来计划的表述也成为国家监管的表述时，这对获得家庭财产（例如城镇住房）有何影响？在官僚主义和法律的程序的瓶颈中，谁被包括在内，谁被排除在外？如何以及为什么特定的财产价值？在这一过程中，人们的作用和权利是如何构成的？在日益严重的不平等和不稳定中，人们如何谈论意志的形成？媒体如何反映对财产和继承的关注？考虑到南非黑人中产阶级多样化的历史，今天的遗嘱制定与过去相比如何？随着时间的推移考察阶级再生产意味着结合民族志和历史的方法。对于前者，我将开始在约翰内斯堡高等法院进行长期观察，那里审理有关遗嘱的纠纷，并从正式的遗嘱认证程序到个人和家庭的实地调查。与此同时，我将与遗嘱顾问和律师合作，采访法官、金融机构成员以及负责设计在线遗嘱模板的专家。Wits大学（我是那里的一名研究助理）的前法学院院长表示支持，并正在为接触律师和法官提供便利。总而言之，民族志研究在机构和个人过程之间移动，提供了一个自下而上的视角，挑战简单的元叙事。历史研究建立在与我提议的导师和同事在怀兹大学正在进行的合作工作的基础上，遗嘱认证记录作为南非黑人中产阶级历史的来源。其目的是收集南非世纪历史上的所有相关记录。我提议的项目探索定性案例研究和汇总的定量数据，提供了一个更长远的观点，对财产的积累和分散。展望国家官员和机构的复杂和意想不到的作用，提出了民族志田野工作的问题。例如，作为遗嘱执行人，国家官员代表死者勤勉地花费遗产（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实地考察，以及个人和官方的交叉点，将为档案馆产生问题。产出将阐明当今中产阶级的意志制定，但具有历史化的深度。