Archive of Kindness

Title: Archive of Kindness

Subtitle: Stories of everyday heroism during the South African lockdown

Author: Jess Auerbach

Illustrations: Jethro Longwe

Published by BK Publishing: 2021

Genre: SA Non-fiction Coffee Table

Format: Paperback; 240 x 228 mm

Pages: 160

Archive of Kindness, by Dr Jess Auerbach, is an uplifting and historically valuable collection of stories. In 2020, when the lockdown was announced, Auerbach observed an outpouring of support among ordinary residents in South Africa. She began to document these ‘micro-kindnesses’ and created a website to record them, which received significant international and local attention. She later expanded this archive with her students at North-West University, ultimately recording approximately 2000 stories of remarkable kindness and care.

A selection of stories from the Archive of Kindness website has now been selected by prominent Southern Africans and representatives from the Community Action Networks. These are recorded in a beautiful book that has been illustrated by rising artist and recent graduate of the Ruth Prowse School of Art, Jethro Longwe. The book is produced to the highest standard, becoming an important record of the pandemic and enabling further national reflection on the most positive aspects of South African society.

About the author

Dr Jess Auerbach is an anthropologist and lecturer at the University of Cape Town. She spent ten years in Angola, Brazil, Mauritius, the UK and USA, and then came home to South Africa just before the pandemic.

“Every South African should have a copy of this book because it reminds us who we really are. This is the real South Africa.” Amoré Bekker, RSG Radio