Navigating constraints, finding freedom: exploring asylum seekers’ access to urban arrival infrastructures

Zill, Marielle O.

doi:10.1080/02723638.2023.2276608

Urban Geography

2023

DOI: 10.1080/02723638.2023.2276608

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Navigating constraints, finding freedom: exploring asylum seekers’ access to urban arrival infrastructures

Marielle O. Zill

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2024

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Cited by 2 publications

References 55 publications

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Temporalities of Arrival: Burundian Barbershops as an Arrival Infrastructure in a South African Township

Mbatha,

Koskimaki

2024

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Migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa have contributed to the diversity of the informal economy in urban South Africa. However, they have faced xenophobic violence and discrimination in urban spaces such as townships, which were previously designated only for Black people during apartheid. This article explores how arrival infrastructures in the township informal economy have enabled or hindered economic opportunities for those who have newly come to South Africa. Based on qualitative research on practices of solidarity and conviviality with migrant informal traders from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Malawi in the township of Umlazi in Durban, South Africa, in 2023, the article specifically focuses on Burundian migrants’ barber businesses as a node in the arrival infrastructure. These barbershops act as informal social spaces that provide access to “connectors” who help with networks to acquire labour, social, and material resources. These include local knowledge and information about new locations to construct a barber business or introductions to property owners. This article argues, however, that informal market and business spaces are often temporary for migrants who are always on the move, continually arriving and re-negotiating their belonging due to multiple waves and threats of xenophobic violence. Therefore, the barber business represents a temporary structure for futuring in uncertain times.

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Temporalities of Arrival: Burundian Barbershops as an Arrival Infrastructure in a South African Township

Mbatha,

Koskimaki

2024

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Psychogeography of Refugee Youth from Ukraine in Weimar, Germany: Navigating the Sense of Belonging in the Context of Liminality

Kunchuliya,

Eckardt

2024

Social Sciences

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This study looks at the sense of belonging among the youth who fled Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and currently reside in Weimar, Germany. Having fled the war in a time of transition to a more independent stage of life, refugee youth are finding themselves in a challenging context of liminality: both in terms of age and environment. Experiencing a feeling of uncertainty about their positioning in life and a new society, refugee youth are especially prone to feeling excluded and lost, which creates further challenges for their well-being. While the sense of belonging cannot be strictly defined, it is considered a vital factor for mental and physical well-being, as well as a core sign of social integration. To understand how to help newcomers foster their sense of belonging, this study tracks senses of (non)belonging among refugee youth following a weak theory and psychogeographic approach. The results demonstrate the ‘dialectic’ battle of opposites: how right-wing city rallies and pro-Russian symbolism in Weimar are triggering a sense of alienation and detachment on the one hand, and how signs of solidarity with Ukraine and connecting to local social groups invite engagement with the city, its politics and hence create a sense of agency, welcoming and belonging on the other. The results of the study have important applicability for human geography as well as the development of the theory on the sense of belonging among refugee youth in the context of liminality.

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Navigating constraints, finding freedom: exploring asylum seekers’ access to urban arrival infrastructures

Cited by 2 publications

References 55 publications

Temporalities of Arrival: Burundian Barbershops as an Arrival Infrastructure in a South African Township

Temporalities of Arrival: Burundian Barbershops as an Arrival Infrastructure in a South African Township

Psychogeography of Refugee Youth from Ukraine in Weimar, Germany: Navigating the Sense of Belonging in the Context of Liminality

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