Social Sustainability, Power & Governance: An Ethnographic Account of Imizamo Yethu, a Township in South Africa

Abstract

"Central in this research is how social sustainability of Imizamo Yethu, a township in South Africa, is affected by the reproduction of power differences and social division by institutional contexts. As social sustainability is a recently developed concept, it has been linked to welldeveloped theories in social sciences that focus on power differences, social capital, identity politics, and current development literature on decentralization, governance and participation. This research is ethnographic in nature and data is gathered by use of qualitative anthropological methods, of which participant observation in particular. It is concluded that current frameworks of local governance are unaccountable to the needs of the people due to power differences, social division and the lack of government control on the process. The increasing diversity due to modernization, migration and the shifting values in society pose a threat to the bonds and bridges between people, leaving them fragmented and without a voice."