Sojourn to the City: exploring the link between religion and xenophobia in urban South Africa (Symposium)

Access the presentation and Q&A audio archives here: http://www.migration.org.za/document/sojourn-city-presentation-archives.

Presenters

Chair: Lorena Núñez
Reason Beremauro: PhD, WISER, University of the Witwatersrand
Becca Hartman: MA, African Centre for Migration & Society, University of Witwatersrand
Caroline Jeannerat: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Historical Studies, University of Johannesburg
Zaheera Jinnah: Researcher, African Centre for Migration & Society, University of Witwatersrand
Peter Kankonde: PhD, Wits Law School
Dr. Asonzeh Ukah: Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow, Department for the History of Religions, University of Bayreuth, Germany

Discussant
Loren B. Landau, Director, African Centre for Migration & Society, University of Witwatersrand

Background Discussion

Ninety percent of South Africans self-identify as religious ; a similar percentage can be expected for foreign national migrants . No other demographic (race, ethnicity, gender, rural/urban, economic status, age group) describes such a large majority of the population. Religion has both an historic empirical narrative and mysterious mythic power in the South African story; there is a wealth of writing on the role of religious institutions and leaders in mobilising and speaking out against Apartheid, yet in contemporary discussions the influence of these institutions and leaders are spoken of in generalities and vague hypotheses.

Religion can serve to both integrate and isolate, to promote behaviours widely perceived as positive and destructive. Scholars study religion from the personal and individual level, to the variously configured community levels including nations, regions, transcontinental networks, within and between faiths, and sects within faiths. Religion serves to both include and exclude, and provides a sense of identity and/or practice to the majority of the worlds' population. Religious participation is one way that many migrants build social capital in their new location, experience a reminder of 'home', and/or acclimate to local customs. Yet little is known about the role of religion in the experience of migration in South Africa, an experience complicated by years of xenophobic violence.

In order to interrogate more deeply into the role of religious institutions and membership on the issue of xenophobia and the venues they create for the integration of migrants in South Africa, the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) is hosting an intimate scholarly symposium to present existing research on various aspects of religion, migration, xenophobia and integration. If religious institutions are places of important social capital, how does this dynamic effect xenophobia and integration? Are religious institutions spaces where foreign nationals and South African citizens build intentional (voluntary) communities together; if so, what can be said about this pattern within different religions, locations, denominations, linguistic, and socio-economic divides, and how does this community influence the lives of host and immigrant populations? Do internal and cross border migrants utilise their faith to build mutual trust and gain access to their new communities; if so does this influence where they move and who they encounter? What are the implications of these claims for the xenophobic violence that persists across South Africa?

This symposium is intended to provide an opportunity for scholars doing research on the intersection of migration, religion and xenophobia to share findings, problematise and/or substantiate the claims most commonly made about this intersection, and identify the gaps and opportunities for further research.