A Creative Storytelling Project with Women Migrants in Johannesburg, South Africa (Dispatch)

Walker, Rebecca; Oliveira, Elsa

doi:10.26522/ssj.v2020i14.2218

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This not only makes acceptance and/or integration for migrants into communities a challenge but intensifies the competition and tension between different communities and groups, particularly in marginalized areas. The resultant high levels of xenophobia increase the discrimination and violence that non-South Africans face and lead to an acute sense of alienation-from safety, from being accepted and from feeling a sense of belonging in Johannesburg (Walker and Oliveira, 2020).…”

Section: Acts Of Alienationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The South African government has placed greater emphasis on securitizing the border, simultaneously painting non-national as a threat to national security and a burden on state resources. As a result, migrants increasingly experience hostility, threats, and alienation (Walker and Oliveira, 2020). Therefore, although many migrants find ways to navigate and negotiate strategies for survival, including informal work and tapping into support networks, this xenophobic discourse persists, which enables the state to push (and justify) the active and deliberate exclusion or "disintegration" (Collyer et al, 2020) of migrants and refugees.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

“When a bad thing happens…you are better only when you are home:” alienation and mental health challenges experienced by Congolese and Somali migrants in Johannesburg, South Africa

Walker,

Lakika,

Makandwa

et al. 2023

Front. Hum. Dyn.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article explores the link between migration and alienation and its impact on the mental health and wellbeing of Congolese and Somali asylum seekers and refugees—two of the largest populations of displaced migrants in South Africa. Drawing on ethnographic research in Johannesburg, we highlight the various ways alienation is both imposed upon and experienced by migrants and argue that systemic disintegration, or acts of alienation, can be seen as deliberate and active policies and practices that are instrumental in excluding asylum seekers and refugees from everyday life. The experiences of marginalization and othering narrated by Congolese and Somali migrants highlight ways in which alienation and disintegration from critical social connections including family, community, and familiar contexts fundamentally impact wellbeing and mental health as well as strategies of care-seeking, and other forms of relational resilience. While conceptualizations and metrics of integration may in some ways capture the fallout of disintegration, such as access to livelihoods, housing, education, and healthcare, we suggest that this does not adequately assess the profound damage by acts of alienation on crucial relationships. The alienated psyche of innumerable migrants in South Africa results in the feeling that “when a bad thing happens…you are better only when you are home.” This pain, or feelings of alienation, we argue, are a crucial aspect to our understanding of alienation and in turn, highlight the importance of alienation as an apt analytical tool through which experiences of asylum-seeking in South Africa can be understood.

show abstract

Section: Acts Of Alienationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“When a bad thing happens…you are better only when you are home:” alienation and mental health challenges experienced by Congolese and Somali migrants in Johannesburg, South Africa

Walker,

Lakika,

Makandwa

et al. 2023

Front. Hum. Dyn.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Katherine’s experiences as well as the many other experiences described by the key informants’ echo those of many cross-border migrants in Johannesburg who are burdened by multiple layers of trauma in a context where they feel regularly misunderstood and/or rendered invisible (Walker and Oliveira, 2020). These experiences reflect the enduring and continuous forms of suffering that Becker (2014) refers to as “extreme traumatisation” (p. 3).…”

Section: Responding To Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The multiple barriers and exclusions experienced within and across urban spaces for many residents and, especially, non-citizens shape a precarious existence, requiring a balance between an ever-present threat of arrest, deportation and/or violence whilst findings ways to meet their basic needs and survive (Walker and Oliveira, 2020). Drawing from Butler’s (2012) nuanced notion of precarious living, as “modes of “unliveability” (Butler, 2012, p. 12), the lack of sense of safety, trust and hope in these precarious urban spaces can, for many engender feelings of fear, anxiety, uncertainty and dislocation (Landau and Pampalone, 2018; Vearey, 2017; Walker, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Let’s manage the stressor today” exploring the mental health response to forced migrants in Johannesburg, South Africa

Walker¹,

Vearey²

2022

IJMHSC

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose In South Africa, the majority of the population struggles to access care and support for mental health challenges. Drawing on challenges faced by asylum seekers and refugees in the urban margins of Johannesburg, this paper aims to explore the relationship between migration and mental health through a lens of heightened vulnerability, precarious urban spaces and unmet basic needs. Design/methodology/approach Remote interviews were conducted with respondents working in the mental health-care sector (public and private) and with migrant communities in Johannesburg. Respondents were identified via purposive sampling and interviews were conducted in English. Key findings were identified using thematic analysis. Findings Effective responses to asylum seekers and refugees facing mental health challenges are based on an understanding of context, of crisis and of the need to meet basic needs such as paying rent, finding employment and providing for families. These “daily stressors” not only compound “extreme traumatisation” but are a form of trauma in and of itself. Originality/value This paper shows how alternative responses determined by an understanding of context, of crisis and of the need to meet basic needs provide critical and potentially far-reaching interventions. Locating trauma in the unmet needs, precarious urban spaces and marginalisation opens up space to further question the ways that migration and mental health shape and reshape one another.

show abstract

Institutional Prosperity: No Money, No Church, No Fellowship in South Africa? Migrant Women’s Relationships in a Context of Lack at Saint Aidan’s Anglican Church

Nishimwe

2022

African Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A Creative Storytelling Project with Women Migrants in Johannesburg, South Africa (Dispatch)

Abstract: N/A

Cited by 5 publications

References 36 publications

“When a bad thing happens…you are better only when you are home:” alienation and mental health challenges experienced by Congolese and Somali migrants in Johannesburg, South Africa

“When a bad thing happens…you are better only when you are home:” alienation and mental health challenges experienced by Congolese and Somali migrants in Johannesburg, South Africa

“Let’s manage the stressor today” exploring the mental health response to forced migrants in Johannesburg, South Africa

Institutional Prosperity: No Money, No Church, No Fellowship in South Africa? Migrant Women’s Relationships in a Context of Lack at Saint Aidan’s Anglican Church

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About