Outputs (3)

Deserving and Undeserving Welfare States: Cash Transfers and Hegemonic Struggles in South Africa (2022)
Journal Article
Torkelson, E. (2022). Deserving and Undeserving Welfare States: Cash Transfers and Hegemonic Struggles in South Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies, 48(1), 43 - 60. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2022.2004772

The South African social grant programme appeared as if it might suddenly end on 1 April 2017. The potential termination of grants kicked off a significant public outcry by members of parliament, the judiciary, the treasury, the press and civil socie... Read More about Deserving and Undeserving Welfare States: Cash Transfers and Hegemonic Struggles in South Africa.

Sophia’s choice: Debt, social welfare, and racial finance capitalism (2020)
Journal Article
Torkelson, E. (2021). Sophia’s choice: Debt, social welfare, and racial finance capitalism. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 39(1), https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775820973680

In this article, I examine normative assumptions about cash transfers as public goods and the lived experience of cash transfers as private debts. Policy makers and social scientists often assume cash transfers are apolitical, value-neutral monetary... Read More about Sophia’s choice: Debt, social welfare, and racial finance capitalism.

Collateral damages: Cash transfer and debt transfer in South Africa (2019)
Journal Article
Torkelson, E. (in press). Collateral damages: Cash transfer and debt transfer in South Africa. World Development, 126, Article 104711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104711

Over the past decade, two development programs–cash transfer and financial inclusion–were bundled in global development discourse. Despite differences in their purported objectives, cash transfers are increasingly delivered via financial inclusion in... Read More about Collateral damages: Cash transfer and debt transfer in South Africa.