Since its liberation in 1994, South Africa has been an object of world attention, as an example of how to end conflict without bloodshed and how to create a constitutional regime based on universal human rights - as well as an example of how these dreams can falter when faced with the realities of "freedom" in the neo-liberal world order. Focusing on aesthetic figuration - novels, performance, photography, visual art installations - of diverse home spaces, modes of domestic life, and family histories, Bystrom argues that writers and artists depicting the first fifteen years of democracy as they unfold literally at home present a compelling portrait of intimate and everyday aspects of political change. They reveal the challenges of the democratic transition and point to unexpected futures. Further, by enacting a form of intimate politics, Bystrom contends, they position private life at the heart of public culture.