Kira Tait, UCI Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in Criminology, Law and Society, will present a talk on “Roadblocks to Access: Perceptions of Law and Socioeconomic Problems in South Africa.”
Tait holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research explores ordinary Black South Africans’ perceptions of the law and how these perceptions impact their views of the desirability and appropriateness of appealing to courts when they have problems accessing constitutionally guaranteed services. Specifically, she studies why people choose not to use courts to secure access to water, healthcare, education, and housing when it is both legal and possible to do so. Tait’s research is based on 12 months of fieldwork, funded by the U.S. Fulbright Program, the National Science Foundation, and the UMass Graduate School. She was recently awarded a 2021 APSA Diversity and Inclusion Research Advancement Grant. She will be joining the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of San Diego in Fall 2022.
Abstract:
Since it transitioned to democracy, South Africa has become one of the leaders of socioeconomic rights protection through courts. The post-apartheid constitution granted everyone the right to have access to adequate housing, health care services, sufficient food and water, and basic education to remedy the inequalities created by apartheid. Since its adoption, the Constitutional Court has been active in enforcing these rights. Considering this context, we might expect a high demand for justice and an inclination to turn to courts for basic services among ordinary South Africans. Despite the central place of rights in post-apartheid democracy, my research, based on 146 interviews with ordinary Black South Africans, including teachers, shack dwellers, street vendors, civil society organizers, and litigators, shows that Black South Africans have developed doubts about the utility of rights and the law as meaningful institutions. And even though South Africa is commonly hailed for its record of aggressive socioeconomic rights protection, people rarely expressed willingness to use courts to lay claims to these rights¬––even when they were in dire need. I argue that an individual’s choice to litigate depends on how they interpret the lack of access, the alternative solutions they believe are possible, and the perceived risks of turning to courts given South Africa's political and legal corruption.
This event is sponsored by Criminology, Law and Society.
