How many books did Fatima Meer write?

 biography on apartheid activist Fatima Meer, who formed part of a cadre of South African women incarcerated during apartheid. This was during the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 and the 1976 Soweto uprisings.She published more than 40 books, including Higher than Hope (1988), the first authorized biography of Nelson Mandel

Prof Chetty was motivated to write Fatima Meer, Choosing to be Defiant, because of her many roles in society. 

“Meer was a passionate academic, artist, sociologist, writer, prisoner, Nelson Mandela’s biographer, political activist and human rights campaigner. She was only 17 when her voice was heard on public platforms in 1946 against racial legislation.

Her voice became a compelling and distinctive one of rare power over the next six decades,” said Prof Chetty.

“Another reason for this book is the continuing relevance of Meer’s ideas and the challenge they pose, especially about the tension between the poor and the state. 

She was one of the few courageous liberation figures to openly defy the post-1994 ANC government when it did the same injustice to black people that the Afrikaner regime had done.” 

A section of the book is dedicated to Meer’s paintings produced in 1976 when she was imprisoned for 113 days at the Johannesburg Women’s Jail.

Meer counts among key women who fought against apartheid and that were jailed during the interregnum, including, among others,  Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Ellen Kuzwayo, Phyllis Naidoo, Ruth First, Jean Middleton, Emma Mashinini, Caesarina Kona Makhoere and Helen Joseph. It is important to remember the experiences of female activists in a patriarchal society governed by a racist regime and the entanglement of their femininity with their roles as freedom fighters, mothers, community workers and academics.