Nationality, ethnicity and the politics of exclusion at Central Methodist Mission. ACMS Lunchtime Seminar Series.
in
August 10, 2011 - 12:30 - 13:30
Location: 
Room 6, Southwest Engineering Building, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Speaker(s): 
Elina Hankela, Department of Theology, University of Helsinki, Finland

Abstract: The presentation explores the role of nationality and ethnicity in the relationship between congregants and dwellers at the Central Methodist Mission (CMM) in Johannesburg. What roles do nationality and ethnicity play in the construction of collective identities at the CMM? The CMM has housed thousands of Zimbabwean asylum seekers and homeless South Africans over the past years. My PhD research on the CMM concentrates on the relationship between the congregation and the people sheltered in the church. The relationship has been characterized by tension which draws from different sources, practical inconveniences not being the least. Drawing from interviews conducted at the church in 2009 the presentation argues that nationality does not seem to be the primary reason for the tension between the mainly South African congregation and the largely Zimbabwean dwellers, but rather a topic that emerges as a consequence of other pressures.

Biographical note
Elina Hankela is a PhD Candidate in Social Ethics, Department of Theology, University of Helsinki, Finland. She lived in South Africa for two years between 2009 and 2010 doing fieldwork at the Central Methodist Mission. Her PhD project concentrates on the relationship between the congregation and the people housed in the church at CMM. It looks at Ubuntu and exclusive identities - dynamics between the congregation and asylum seekers at Central Methodist Mission.