Migration in Southern Africa

This open access Regional Reader proposes new ways of theorizing migration in Southern Africa by arguing that traditional western forms of theorizing do not adequately fit the South-South migration context.  It explores the existing definitions of a ‘migrant’ with a view to conceptualise a definition which will speak to the complexities, envisioning a more inclusive Southern African region. The book investigates the various levels of migration moving from the local (rural to urban and urban to rural) to cross border migration; middle-class versus working-class migrant household livelihoods; livelihoods procurement versus wage earning; social capital (networks) and how they make meaning of their circumstances in a ‘foreign’ space. It also acknowledges the intertwined issues of gender and class as important in analyzing migration processes and the chapters feature both in varying dimensions. As such, the book provides a great resource for students, academics and policy makers.

• Open access
• Theorising Migration from a Southern Perspective
• Developing economy in the global South
• African migrants in Africa
• Class dynamics of international migration in the global South
• Legislation and policy frameworks governing migration
• Policy practices of the South African state
• Experiences of refugees in the urban context of Johannesburg
• Anti-immigrant sentiment in South Africa
• Xenophobic violence in South Africa
• Worker education programmes
• Informal settlements in South Africa
• Internal and cross-border migration to urban areas
• Mother and children as migrants
• Parents of young women labour migrants
• Cycles of poverty in South Africa
• Children as participants in international migration
• South to South migration
• Migration and integration in Southern Africa
• Labour migration in Southern Africa

• Department of Sociology, Auckland Park Campus, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

  Pragna Rugunanan

• Department of Sociology, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa

  Nomkhosi Xulu-Gama

Pragna Rugunanan is a Professor at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Her research focuses on the construction of African and South Asian migrant communities to South Africa and migration in the Global South. Her research interests include the sociology of migration, changing patterns of work, social networks, and community studies. Pragna has served on the executive of the South African Sociological Association, was a council member and is currently a working group convener for the Industrial and Economic Group. She is also a member of the International Sociological Association. Pragna served on the Editorial Board for  the journal Gender Questions.

Nomkhosi Xulu-Gama is a Fulbright scholar, who is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, teaching on the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She is also an Honorary Research Associate at the Durban University of Technology, South Africa. She serves in the South Africa Review of Sociology journal’s editorial collective, she is a member of South African Sociological Association and served in the committee in various capacities, including being deputy president. She is a member of the International Sociological Association. She is the author of a book called “Hostels in South Africa: Spaces of Perplexity”.