Refugee camps are an example of ‘post crisis’ rehabilitative systems, which vainly attempt to restore stability in a state of disaster (Azmara, 2012). Uprooted from their homes and thrust into volatile and unfamiliar surroundings, civil conflict and natural disasters have left millions of refugees around the world destitute in their host countries, stripped of their identity and humanity and left with only the clothes on their backs. Unlike in rural settlements, the urban settlement patterns of refugees in Johannesburg have demonstrated a unique gravitational shift from reliance on local government assistance to a strong and long standing affiliation with various religious fraternities in the urban centres. This has then resulted in the inquisitorial search of how well have these urban churches served the needs of the urban displaced communities? By opening up their church buildings to refugees as a place sanctity and solace, how has this spiritual affiliation effected the reception, protection and rehabilitation of psychologically and physically traumatized refugees and asylum seekers? Subsequently has Johannesburg as a city, made provision for the sheltering and protecting of refugees, should there ever again be a crisis of violent xenophobic turmoil in the city’s townships? This thesis seeks to explore the underlying differences between designing a post crisis emergency shelter and specifically developing a transitory sanctuary tailored for urban refugees. By merging the dissimilar approaches assumed by secular refugee aiding organisations and the religious fraternities, the design starts to illustrate the symbolic connection between refuge and solace; spirituality and rehabilitation, as well as making note of the harmonies that exist within humanitarian architecture and sacred architecture. By understanding these fundamental parallels, a premise is formed for the development of a unique and prototypical urban refugee centre, located in Hillbrow, at the heart of Johannesburg’s eclectic foreign national communities. The centre is comprised of several emergency relief facilities, rehabilitative programmes as well as an adaptive form of transitional accommodation all encompasses within a spiritual, yet nondenominational Christian church establishment; a gesture which serves to highlight the ‘curative’ relationship between the spirituality, architecture and the user.

A research project submitted to the African Centre for Migration and Society in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Migration and Displacement March 2016 / Migration patterns in Zimbabwe and the Southern African region have historically been male led and dominated. Recently, however, there has been an increase in the participation of women in migration in search of improved work and education opportunities. This feminisation of migration has implications on normative understandings of motherhood, family and gender roles. In particular, it may necessitate renegotiation of family roles: fathers and other relatives may be tasked to take care of and nurture the children, whilst mothers find alternative ways to mother from afar, suggesting changes in mothers’ productive and reproductive roles. Against this backdrop, the study explores mothering experiences of Zimbabwean women living in Johannesburg who left their children in Zimbabwe, or who have had children in Johannesburg and then moved them to Zimbabwe. Participants’ perceptions about motherhood, the challenges they face and the ways they try to overcome them are examined. Special focus is on single mothers who are employed in the low skills labour market for two reasons: first their mothering role gains particular importance in light of the absence of the father to help with parenting. Second, given the nature of their employment, they tend to face resource constraints which do not permit full-time mothering. The study draws from literature on transnational motherhood and transnational families and in-depth semi structured interviews with eleven Zimbabwean mothers living and working in Johannesburg. Constructivist grounded theory was used to analyse the data. As a mother who travelled alone to study in Johannesburg and who has a child in Zimbabwe, I am reflective of my position throughout the research process. Findings indicate that while mothers displayed agency in their conceptualisations of motherhood in the context of migration, they nonetheless viewed the ideology of intensive motherhood, which portrays mothers as selfless and fully dedicating their time to taking care of children at home, as an ideal form of mothering. This created challenges for them as they viewed themselves as not adequately exercising their mothering role and subsequently falling short of being ‘good mothers’ despite the important role they play as significant contributors to the household income in Zimbabwe. / MT2017

Thesis (Ph.D. ( Migration and Displacement))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2016. / This thesis explores how the Somali diaspora constitutes itself as a collectivity by analysing identity formation processes in an interconnected postmodern world, where migration has become much common than before, where identities are not as certain as they used to be and where a trans- local sense of being connected surpasses fix national borders. I propose the concept of the cosmopolitan refugee in order to explore how Somaliness is constructed in diasporic contexts, based on the interweaving of cosmopolitan, vernacular and national identifications. Moreover, Somaliness cannot be understood today without the influence of Islam, the cosmopolitan and political implications of belonging to the umma and the importance of being seen as a “good Muslim”. Using ethnographic and narrative data, this research takes a gendered approach and moves beyond the prevailing representations of Somali women in the global imagination by presenting alternative discourses and narratives that explore the dynamics of identity constructions these women undergo in relation to cultural, religious and gender practices in the two urban contexts of Nairobi and Johannesburg. These are two interconnected cities for the Somali diaspora that metaphorical operate as a port and as island. Both places are transitional places for Somalis and in both cities the creation of the “little Mogadishus” of Eastleigh, in Nairobi, and Mayfair, in Johannesburg, generates a particular trans-local situation in which collective identity, through the repetition of cultural and religious practices, is able to transform the urban space, at the same time that the implementation of these practices makes these places to be connected between them, to the lost homeland in Somalia and to any other place in the world Somalis inhabit these days. However, due to the bigger Somali population and the historical and geographical links with Somalia, Somalis in Nairobi develop greater feelings of belonging than in Johannesburg, where isolation seems to be the more widespread feeling. Somalis in Nairobi are more exposed to cosmopolitanism due to the relationship they have with the city, the fact that Eastleigh is a point of constant transit and an important commercial hub across the Somali diaspora all around the world, and the presence of Somalis belonging to different backgrounds. In Johannesburg, the Somali population is much smaller and the isolated situation most Somalis find make them use Somaliness as a way of resilience and demarcating difference, resulting in certain vernacular and religious practices being strengthened. In this sense, Nairobi is experienced by Somalis as more cosmopolitan than Johannesburg. Nevertheless in both contexts Somaliness is constructed around a sense of unity based on: a common place of origin and mythical past, a common language, religion and “culture”, implemented in the everyday life by the habitus of cultural and religious practices. This habitus together with a narrative of the nation being constructed in the virtual spaces of Facebook and Instagram creates a strong sense of belonging to an “imagined community”. Somaliness resides not within the boundaries of a nation-state but in a trans-local sense of being connected. / MT2017

Text in English / Disasters are global phenomena, often occurring without warning and with physical and psychological consequences among those affected. In May 2008, refugee and migrants living in South Africa were exposed to xenophobic violence, which may be described as a human caused disaster using the Shultz, Espinel et al. (2008) definition of disaster. Refugee and migrant women were particularly vulnerable during this time due to heightened risk for exposure to violence and pathology. During 2014, a mixed methods convergent study was conducted in Johannesburg to determine the presence of acute stress disorder symptoms (ASD), posttraumatic growth (PTG) and experiences of xenophobic violence among refugee and migrant women. One hundred and three refugee and migrant women completed a selfadministered questionnaire, while semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with a sub-set of 22 women.The quantitative results showed a positive, linear association between moderate ASD-total symptoms, as assessed by the Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire (SASRQ) (Cardeña, Classen, Koopman, & Spiegel, 2014) and moderate posttraumatic growth-total, assessed by the posttraumatic growth inventory (PTGI) (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996). All ASD symptom subscales were predictors of posttraumatic growth. The qualitative results from both the SASRQ open-ended responses and semi-structured responses showed that refugee and migrant women were adversely affected by the xenophobic violence, with a prevailing fear that the xenophobic violence would re-occur. There was convergence in the quantitative findings and the qualitative findings for the pathological and adaptive outcomes. Policymakers must address xenophobic violence by working towards prevention of this type of violence. In instances where policies fail to address or prevent xenophobic violence, disaster programmes should consider xenophobic violence in disaster planning. Further to this, mental health intervention programmes should not only focus on alleviating ASD symptoms but also emphasise enhancing PTG. / Psychology / M.A. (SS (Psychology))

The study investigates the welfare of children in crisis with Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URMs) from Zimbabwe and the models of pastoral care that are extended to them in a context of HIV and AIDS. URMs are children who have been forced to migrate by the socio-economic and political conditions prevalent in Zimbabwe. Other than the socio-economic and political conditions these children are vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. Many of the children are received at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. They are taken care of by caregivers from Zimbabwe. Some of URMs reside in the Methodist church community centre in Soweto and some reside in the Central Methodist Church building in Johannesburg. This study is done from an African perspective of pastoral care in a context of HIV and AIDS. It seeks to study pastoral care that is organic using the reality of URMs in a context of HIV and AIDS. The Central Methodist Church received URMs as a form of pastoral care, but it is not clear what models of pastoral care are used to care for them. This grounded theory study used data collected through interviews and narrative research (story telling) from 20 URMs and 3 Care givers from Zimbabwe and Bishop Paul Verryn the head of the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. Analyzed data was used to describe in detail URMs and their Care givers‟ understanding of pastoral care as well as the models of pastoral care offered to URMs in a context of HIV and AIDS. Finally, the findings lead to a contextual pastoral care model with children in crisis in a context of HIV and AIDS. This study formulated this contextual model as a cultural-gendered pastoral care model with children in crisis in a context of HIV and AIDS. The model was established to develop a practical method to use in practical theology and pastoral care in the care for children in crisis without adult guidance in a context of HIV and AIDS. The results of the study describe the significance of culture and gender in caring for children in a context of HIV and AIDS. / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

The study investigates the welfare of children in crisis with Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URMs) from Zimbabwe and the models of pastoral care that are extended to them in a context of HIV and AIDS. URMs are children who have been forced to migrate by the socio-economic and political conditions prevalent in Zimbabwe. Other than the socio-economic and political conditions these children are vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. Many of the children are received at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. They are taken care of by caregivers from Zimbabwe. Some of URMs reside in the Methodist church community centre in Soweto and some reside in the Central Methodist Church building in Johannesburg. This study is done from an African perspective of pastoral care in a context of HIV and AIDS. It seeks to study pastoral care that is organic using the reality of URMs in a context of HIV and AIDS. The Central Methodist Church received URMs as a form of pastoral care, but it is not clear what models of pastoral care are used to care for them. This grounded theory study used data collected through interviews and narrative research (story telling) from 20 URMs and 3 Care givers from Zimbabwe and Bishop Paul Verryn the head of the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. Analyzed data was used to describe in detail URMs and their Care givers‟ understanding of pastoral care as well as the models of pastoral care offered to URMs in a context of HIV and AIDS. Finally, the findings lead to a contextual pastoral care model with children in crisis in a context of HIV and AIDS. This study formulated this contextual model as a cultural-gendered pastoral care model with children in crisis in a context of HIV and AIDS. The model was established to develop a practical method to use in practical theology and pastoral care in the care for children in crisis without adult guidance in a context of HIV and AIDS. The results of the study describe the significance of culture and gender in caring for children in a context of HIV and AIDS. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)