Erin Torkelson
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erintorkelson.bsky.social
Erin Torkelson
@erintorkelson.bsky.social
UWC geographer, writing about debt, racial capitalism, and the social welfare state in South Africa.
As Trump bans US officials from attending the G20 in South Africa due to ‘Afrikaner genocide,’ he can only find 3 Afrikaner ‘refugees’ willing to move to the US! www.news24.com/citypress/ne...
US books dozens of seats for Afrikaner ‘refugees’, but only three pitch up | News24
Far fewer ‘refugees’ arrived for their flights than were catered for. Despite this, the US government has targeted resettlement of 6 000 people by the end of November.
www.news24.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:23 AM
Trump invited a billionaire and two golfers into the Oval Office to scold the sitting South African president, after showing a reality tv-style montage about a genocide that doesn’t exist. I guess this is US diplomacy now.
May 21, 2025 at 8:35 PM
This meeting is about genocide, but not the mythological “white genocide” it’s pretending to be about. It’s about the US punishing South Africa for taking Israel to the ICJ.
May 21, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Send me your recommendations!! I have an honors student writing about young South Africans who try but fail to make competitive football leagues & how they figure out what to do next in a context of high unemployment. There must be great books about this, but it’s a little out of my area! Thanks!
April 17, 2025 at 6:56 AM
I wanted to love Raoul Peck’s film on Ernest Cole, but found it disorienting that he did not hire a South African to consult on LaKeith Stanfield’s voice over. Mispronouncing names of people and places - Mamelodi, Soweto, Basotho - sometimes to the point of unrecognizability, is careless.
March 21, 2025 at 5:09 AM
“When the powerful punish the principled, we glimpse the unmasked face of empire. Donald Trump’s vindictive executive order denying aid to South Africa — punishment for its support of Palestine and pursuit of land reform — offers precisely such a moment of clarity.”
Thank you @yanisvaroufakis.bsky.social - we are not alone.
Stand with South Africa against Trump's wrath mg.co.za/thought-lead...
March 19, 2025 at 5:54 PM
What got Ambassador Rasool expelled from the US? Nuance & patience. He said:
-how SA responds to the US "demands perspective"
-Biden wanted SA to be removed from AGOA due to our "geopolitical stances" (i.e. Palestine)
-we need to watch how Americans push back against Trump's EOs before acting
South Africa attempting to take nuanced line in navigating US relations
There has been a deluge of more than 100 executive decisions taken by US President Donald Trump following his re-election in November, including the imposition of import tariffs on traditionally allie...
www.engineeringnews.co.za
March 15, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Facts about the “white genocide myth” in SA:
- Farm murder stats include black people killed on farms, not just white people
- Most farm murders are robberies and have no genocidal intent
- White people make up 9% of pop, but only 1.8% of murders
www.splcenter.org/resources/ha...
The dangerous myth of 'white genocide' in South Africa
Narratives about a fictitious campaign to exterminate Afrikaners have the power to produce real violence.
www.splcenter.org
February 8, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Burawoy taught the best graduate seminar ever, where theory-making was deeply collaborative. He paired up students who worked in different places, on different things, with different theoretical commitments and made us think our work in relation to one another. No one could stretch theory like him.
February 6, 2025 at 3:12 PM
So proud to work at UWC!
June 12, 2024 at 5:26 PM
Great idea! Our students at the University of the Western Cape (in South Africa) did this two weeks ago! It would be cool to see it travel!
May 4, 2024 at 6:32 AM
Meanwhile… the UA President still has his job after a $240 mil shortfall, including a $54 mil loan to the athletics department, the purchase of a shady for-profit online college, and a $1.7 mil upgrade to his basketball suit. azluminaria.org/2023/11/16/u...
January 2, 2024 at 10:55 PM
One more reason to love Cape Town!
November 11, 2023 at 5:10 PM
"We join the world in expressing horror at the war crimes being committed in Palestine through targeting civilians, civilian infrastructure, UN premises & other vulnerable targets. These experiences remind us of our experiences as black South Africans living under apartheid.” Minister Naledi Pandor
Pandor calls for Gaza ceasefire and end to Israel’s ‘collective punishment’
International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor on Tuesday called for an immediate comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza and the release of civilian hostages, describing Israel’s actions as ‘apartheid op...
www.dailymaverick.co.za
November 8, 2023 at 7:09 AM
Calling all geographers!!
September 23, 2023 at 6:04 PM
Just joined the great bird migration. I'm here now.
September 20, 2023 at 3:15 PM