Young people with migration-related life experiences

: navigating identities and belonging in South Africa

Abstract

Young people with migration experiences are subject to complex layers of exclusion, which position them as outsiders, as different, as Other. Research into their lives has largelyfocused on either past trauma, or present concerns around basic needs and individualised entitlements. There is limited research into the effects of this othering across young people’s past and present lives and how this impacts their sense of Self and belonging. Belonging is a pertinent question for diverse young people in South Africa, the context for this research, who are situated in both the violence of the past, and persistent inequalities in the present. The young people who participated in this research narrated continuous fracturing in their relationships and with their sense of place. These fractures, driven by violence, loss and subordination, moved with young people across time and space as they navigated precarious environments. In this navigation, young people’s search for belonging became visible and three modes of belonging were identified: tactical, strategic and relational. This thesis argues that when young people engage in everyday acts of resistance, with others,they are (re)crafting their identities towards a strategic, relational form of belonging. For many, however, structural constraints and continuous fracture shape tactical, temporary forms of belonging made up of self-censoring ‘identity hustles’. These tactics can leave young people isolated, fragmented and with depleted resources to care for Self or others.This thesis is based upon 10 months of fieldwork with 51 young people with migration experiences in Cape Town, which used an innovative and inclusive participatory arts and story-based methodology, alongside critical ethnography to facilitate the exploration of new narratives of Self and belonging. This methodological work makes a substantial contribution to theoretical knowledge in participatory research. The approach enabled a nuanced understanding of agency, identities and belonging and made visible how diverse lives touch and interweave. By exploring young people’s agency as social navigation it was possible to see how networks of power interact with migration experiences and impact the construction of Self, relationships, and belonging. Young people’s navigation of these power relations provide a platform from which to drive transformation towards belonging. Further research is needed on the implications of engaging young people constructed in opposition – citizenoutsider – in building belonging as a shared rather than divisive trajectory of change.

Date of Award	Sept 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Coventry University
Supervisor	EJ Milne (Supervisor), Heaven Crawley (Supervisor), Adam Baird (Supervisor) & Joanna Wheeler (Supervisor)