Professor Studies South African Land Ownership Land for indigenous peoples is symbolic of more than property. It represents birth, personal history, beliefs, and tradition. With the end of apartheid in South Africa, the issue of restoring land to native South Africans is now a dominant concern. This prestigious and highly competitive grant will give Feinberg a full year to research and begin work on a book-length manuscript on the subject. Houses are being built, telephone lines and electricity are being put into houses, roads are being paved.
Progress takes time.
Not everyone has accepted the change. There are pockets of tension. But on balance, I believe they are doing very nicely. Since the mid-1980s, Feinberg has lived in three of South Africa's four provinces while conducting research on why a major segregation law, the Natives Land Act, was passed in 1913. Because the government did not keep cabinet minutes, Feinberg has been poring over private letters, diaries of important government officials or members of parliament, and other papers in various archives.