Introduction: Portable Spirits and Itinerant People: Religion and Migration in South Africa in a Comparative Perspective

Hansen, Thomas Blom; Jeannerat, Caroline; Sadouni, Samadia

doi:10.1080/00020180903109565

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…we suspect that Pentecostal churches, in particular, increasingly provide newcomers with social networks that might even replace more traditional kin-based forms of organization. although our data do not include information on types of churches, other research has documented the growth of church membership in african cities (Gifford 2004;Hansen, Jeannerat, and Sadouni 2010;Robbins 2004). while such associational links open the possibility of emergent bridging capital, some qualitative research suggests that religion provides at least as many opportunities for contention and conflict as for coherence and cooperation (Freemantle 2010).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Bridges to Nowhere: Hosts, Migrants, and the Chimera of Social Capital in Three African Cities

Madhavan

Landau

2011

Population & Development Rev

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Interest in migrant social networks and social capital has grown substantially over the past several decades. The relationship between “host” and “migrant” communities remains central to these scholarly debates. Recently urbanized cities in Africa, which include large numbers of “native-born” or internal migrants, challenge basic presumptions about host/migrant distinctions informing many of these discussions. Using comparable survey data from Johannesburg, Maputo, and Nairobi, we examine 1) the nature of social connectedness in terms of residence and nativity characteristics; and 2) the relationship between residence and nativity characteristics and three measures of trust within and across communities. Our findings suggest that the host/migrant distinction may not be particularly revealing in African cities where domestic mobility, social fragmentation and the absence of bridging institutions result in relatively low levels of trust both within and across communities. These findings underscore the need for new concepts to study “communities of strangers” and how people strategize their social mobility in urban contexts.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Bridges to Nowhere: Hosts, Migrants, and the Chimera of Social Capital in Three African Cities

Madhavan

Landau

2011

Population & Development Rev

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“…This case once again highlighted the role played by religious practices and religious institutions in positively helping internal dynamics amongst migrants, in keeping a sense of familiarity and relationship with their homelands ('I was a Christian in Zimbabwe and I am a Christian in South Africa' 48 ) and with it the creation of a sense of protection in a foreign context (Landau 2009 ;Hansen et al 2009 ) . This case once again highlighted the role played by religious practices and religious institutions in positively helping internal dynamics amongst migrants, in keeping a sense of familiarity and relationship with their homelands ('I was a Christian in Zimbabwe and I am a Christian in South Africa' 48 ) and with it the creation of a sense of protection in a foreign context (Landau 2009 ;Hansen et al 2009 ) .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Religion and Place

Hopkins¹,

Kong²,

Olson³

2013

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“…Migrants have been frequently subjected to harassment by the police, detention, and deportation, and have been the targets of day-to-day xenophobic attitudes which exclude them from full participation in and belonging to South African society (Crush 2000;Madsen 2004;Neocosmos 2008;Hansen, Jeannerat, and Sadouni 2009;Dodson 2010;Landau and Freemantle 2010). Migrants may be identified by their lack of official status in South Africa, but also on aspects of their physical appearance, their dress, their accents, or their language skills.…”

Section: Placing the South Africa-lesotho Bordermentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiencing Boundaries: Basotho Migrant Perspectives on the Lesotho-South Africa Border

Kelly

Moletsane

Coetzee

2017

QSR

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The Lesotho-South Africa border is regarded as highly porous with many Basotho migrants seizing work and educational opportunities in South Africa, while simultaneously maintaining strong ties to family members, businesses, and land in Lesotho. The fact that Sesotho is spoken on both sides of the border is one of the particular factors that has made it possible for people to move back and forth with relative ease. The border nevertheless remains an important political and socio-cultural barrier in the lives of those crossing it. While some have managed to acquire the permits that enable them to cross the border freely and take up formal work, others occupy a precarious legal status, which limits their housing and employment prospects. Moreover, the lives of all African migrants in South Africa have been affected by growing xenophobic violence in recent years. This has reinforced distinctions between insiders and outsiders, and limited the opportunities migrants have to experience belonging to South African society. Despite these emerging dynamics, the ways in which the border is perceived by migrants — as both a physical barrier between countries and as a social barrier distinguishing peoples — has yet to be explored. Drawing on narrative interviews conducted with Basotho migrants living in Bloemfontein, South Africa in a variety of legal and employment circumstances, this paper aims to highlight the meaning of the border in the migrants’ day-to-day lives.

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Introduction: Portable Spirits and Itinerant People: Religion and Migration in South Africa in a Comparative Perspective

Cited by 14 publications

References 10 publications

Bridges to Nowhere: Hosts, Migrants, and the Chimera of Social Capital in Three African Cities

Bridges to Nowhere: Hosts, Migrants, and the Chimera of Social Capital in Three African Cities

Religion and Place

Experiencing Boundaries: Basotho Migrant Perspectives on the Lesotho-South Africa Border

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