Migrants on Home Visits: Memory, Identity and a Shifting Sense of Self

Abstract

The paper investigates the temporary home visits of African transnational migrants residing in South Africa. Many aspects of such return visits overlap with diasporic tourism, Visiting Friends and Relatives tourism and related types, but they are also uniquely different. Informed by narrative identity theory and an analytical lens focused on memory, the paper explores how memories of home influence the migrants' touristic activities, behaviour and experiences. A qualitative research approach involving in-depth interviews with 20 participants from two different sectors was pursued. Findings illustrate how the encounter with traces of the person's autobiographical past (spaces, objects, social relations) can lead to a shifting sense of self.

Negotiating nostalgia: A pastoral reflection on the notion of ‘home’ within the context of displacement on the African continent

“…Several researchers such as Lambo (2012), Holton (2016) and Marschall (2017) have approached the role and value of home amongst African people with sedentary or attachment theory in mind. Sedentary theory argues that a 'profound and natural bond between people and place exists' (Lambo 2012:9).…”

“…In pastoral work with the displaced, the notions of home and nostalgia converge in a dynamic intersection where the pastoral caregiver can negotiate nostalgia from the perspective of the Christian oikos. The strong and enduring longing for home found amongst African migrants (Holton 2016;Lambo 2012;Marschall 2017) is rooted in the warmth and security of the familial homecoming, as expressed in the notion of ekhaya. Presenting as a form of restorative nostalgia, it initially places the African migrant in the painful process of longing for (the) ekhaya, which was most probably lost through a distressing and forced dislocation.…”

Mobilität und Zeitgestaltung

“…In wissenschaftlichen Studien zu Reisen von Migrant*innen in das Herkunftsland wird deren Bedeutung für die Fortdauer und Aushandlung von Zugehörigkeiten betont (Marschall 2017;Baldassar 2001). Die Reisen werden außerdem als wichtiger Aspekt des Lebens im transnationalen sozialen Raum verstanden (Oeppen 2013;Skrbiš 2008;Földes und Savu 2018).…”

“…Für andere war die Erfahrung ambivalenter und konnte Brüche mit der Vergangenheit und Veränderungen des Selbst ins Bewusstsein rufen (vgl. Marschall 2017). Mit dem Ein-fluss der Reisen nach Indien auf die Aushandlungen des Selbst beschäftige ich mich im letzten Abschnitt.…”

Transcending home: citizenship and belonging in the migrant experience

“…These realms can be translated into being here and there, now and in the past as well as in the future, dwelling in an old habitus that is no longer in forming the necessary dispositions. It has also been argued that migration can "foster cultural hybridi ty and complex, sometimes contradictory identities, as people negotiate diverse geographical spaces and cultural contexts" (Long & Oxfeld 2004in Marschall 2017 As has been argued before, habitus or the tools acquired to make sense of the world are key to provid ing a sense of familiarity and thus, a sense of belonging. It can be said that through habitus we are able to relate to the outside world in ways that make sense to us and to those around us, which is vital for the construction of home and belonging.…”