In the 1980s, the University of Cape Town�s social anthropology department was predominantly oriented by an �expos� style of critical scholarship. The enemy was the apartheid state, the ethical imperative was clear and a combative metaphor for doing research motivated the department. Andrew David Spiegel, known affectionately as �Mugsy� by his students and colleagues, has been a central, if understated, figure of this history and helped to frame the theoretical charge of a generation of students looking to counter apartheid from �inside�. In a series of interviews between the senior professor and one of his students � Jessica Dickson � Spiegel offers a unique perspective from the centre of anthropology�s recent history in South Africa.