“It’s a Two-Way Thing”

Symbolic Boundaries and Convivial Practices in Changing Neighbourhoods in London and Tshwane

Bibliographic Data

ID22018388
AuthorsWessendorf (0000-0002-0932-6635, Coventry University), Tamlyn Monson (0000-0002-8521-597X, Coventry University)
Year2023
Volume8
Issue4
Publication date2023-05-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Planning (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2183-7635 • E-ISSN: 2183-7635
PublisherCogitatio (PUBLISHER • PT)
DOI10.17645/up.v8i4.6267
OpenAlexW4378220578
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited30

While there is a considerable body of literature on symbolic boundaries that engages with long-established/newcomer configurations, work on conviviality has only rarely taken this angle, despite its general focus on contexts of immigration-related diversity. This article connects these works of literature by examining insider-outsider configurations between long-established residents and newcomers in two very different contexts of rapid demographic change, where the established population is already marginalized and feels further threatened by newcomers. Drawing on ethnographic research in Newham, UK, and Mshongo, South Africa, we advance debates on conviviality by revealing how perceptions of inequality, lack of civility, and lack of reciprocity shape symbolic boundaries against newcomers, which may, in turn, be softened by convivial practices. We also consider what the differences between the sites might reveal about the enabling conditions for conviviality in such neighbourhoods

Aesthetics · Art · Civility · Ethnography · Immigration · Inequality · Insider · Media studies · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Social science · Sociology · The Symbolic · Anthropology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology

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