Ekhayeni

Rural-Urban Migration, Belonging and Landscapes of Home in South Africa

Bibliographic Data

ID4603945
AuthorsAvela Njwambe (Rhodes University), Avela Thandisiwe Njwambe (Rhodes University), Michelle Cocks (Rhodes University, corresponding author), Susanne Vetter (0000-0002-2063-5615, Rhodes University)
Year2019
Volume45
Issue2
Pages413-431
Publication date2019-03-04
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03057070.2019.1631007
OpenAlexW2958137322
LanguageEN
Citations received30

South Africa continues to experience high rates of rural–urban migration. Despite long-term residence in urban areas, many migrants do not consider the city to be home. This article presents a multi-sited study of Xhosa-speaking migrants who journey between Centane in the former Transkei homeland and Cape Town. The study aimed to explore the relationship that migrants have with their family home (ekhayeni). We interpret migrants’ narratives of life in the city and returning home in terms of processes of ‘place attachment’ (sensory, narrative, historical, spiritual, ideological, commodifying and material dependence) and factors that influence ‘place belonging’ (autobiographical, relational, cultural, economic and legal). We found that the landscape of home remains central to migrants’ cultural identity, belonging and well-being. Childhood experiences in nature and activities that continue to take rural inhabitants into these landscapes remain key to this relationship. Our case material contributes to understanding people’s motivation for ongoing visits to and investment in the rural areas, notably the emotional and spiritual dimensions of home and belonging, and the sensory and spiritual attachment to the natural environment. This complements and extends other recent work on rural–urban migration, which has focused on the rural areas as sites of asserting citizenship, social change and changing forms of investment that are to a large extent driven by the lack of opportunity to do so meaningfully in the informal settlements migrants inhabit in the city

Economic growth · Geography · Homeland · Human settlement · Narrative · Place attachment · Place identity · Political science · Residence · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Urban planning · Urbanization · Children's Rights and Participation · Gender Studies · Homelessness and Social Issues · Psychology · Social Psychology · Urban and Rural Development Challenges · Ecology

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