A Research Report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, School of Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Johannesburg, 2017. / Migrant social networks and their effects have dominated international migration discourse over the past few decades. The importance of social networks and social capital in migration decision-making is underscored by large volumes of research across many disciplines. There are however few comparative analyses of the refugee experience across disparate geographical spaces particularly cities in the so-called global ‘South’. Drawing on original survey data collected from refugees in Pakistan, Turkey and Nairobi in mid-2016, this paper argues that access to social networks and the value of the social capital embedded in these networks, is strongly dependent on the pre-migration social, political, cultural and economic contexts of migrants and refugees. Social networks generate positive social capital in some contexts and negative social capital in others. Logistic regression and correlational tests of association were used to analyse the relationship between social networks, employment, and well-being of refugees in the three cities mentioned. The findings speak of the complex economic and social environments refugees often find themselves, and networks of personal relations either hamper or facilitate the ability of refugees to secure employment. / XL2018

Submitted in the Sociology department at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg / Andrew Chakane 2018

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Migration and Displacement) July 2017 / This research report gives an account of the social networks, links, connections and relationships of undocumented Zimbabwean women working as domestic workers in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The primary aim was to understand the role of these ties in providing social, political, emotional and economic support in addressing the challenges that undocumented domestic workers face. The study also explored how social networks enhanced the capabilities and resources of non-national women, particularly focusing on how they defined wellbeing and development. Based on 12 semi-structured interviews with undocumented women living and working in Johannesburg, the findings that emerged from this study, show that unlike what the majority of literature in South Africa points to, undocumented domestic workers do not live in isolation from others, but rather have a diverse range of social networks that allow them to be active agents and participants in their lives. The results highlight that the majority of social networks that undocumented domestic workers use are in actual fact useful to them and how they navigate their contexts. Migrants in this instance are largely dependent on their families for support both in the originating country and in the host community. / XL2018

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art in Journalism and Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / This is a story of undocumented migrants’ journeys between Malawi and Johannesburg, exposing the challenges they face and the corruption that takes place along the borders. Modern migration between the two countries has taken place for close to two hundred years. In the past, migrants, most of whom worked in the mines, were protected by law and that eased their movements. These days, low skilled migrants do not qualify for work permits so they stay in the country illegally. The South African law qualifies such migrants as undesirable visitors and bans them from returning to the country for some time. This research project documents how such migrants return home and come back to South Africa even before their bans expire. The research exposes how the migrants are aided by corrupt officers at the borders. The story shows how some of the migrants utilised a weakness in the old Malawi identification and passport system to obtain new travel documents under false names and return to South Africa undetected. This research project adopted an ethnographic approach. The findings are presented in a longform narrative story, which forms the first part of this document. The story is accompanied by a method document, which provides the theoretical framework and explains the methodology. / GR2017

Thessis (M.Sc.(Development Planning))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning, 2006 / Migration is indubitable one of the most complex and urgent phenomenon that will emerge as a robust agenda in global cities’ policy and spatial planning trajectory. Internal migrants have been recorded as constituting a relatively significant part of the population of Gauteng and Johannesburg, and any development policies for the City need to account strongly for in-migration (Peberdy, et al, 2004). The importance of migration was also strongly highlighted by the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Amos Masondo in his 2004 State of the City address: “Johannesburg has become a magnet for people from other provinces, the African continent, and indeed, the four corners of the world”. He also referred to the challenges posed by migration; “While migrancy contributes to the rich tapestry of the cosmopolitan city, it also places a severe strain on employment levels, housing and public services”. Kok (2003) postulated that the relationship between migration and City spatial development planning will definitely influence the country’s future and that many cities cannot absorb new entrants in the labour market and this means that high population growth will constitute a major future challenge for cities. Kok et al (2004) postulated that the bulk of the research has been conducted on why migrants leave rural areas to urban areas, but little on how they organize, prepare, survive, network, and organize assets and resources, and access services in urban areas. The livelihood strategies that in-migrants depend on when they arrive in the “unknown urban territory” remain an enthralling phenomenon. The aim of the study was to investigate and provide a conceptual insight into the urban livelihood strategies of in-migrant newcomers in the City of Johannesburg, and to reflect on the City of Johannesburg municipality’s policy agenda particularly, Growth and Development Strategy (2006) and Human Development Strategy (2005) and other pertinent strategic planning frameworks-responses to internal migration. Qualitative research informed by surveys, interviews, with open-ended questions and observations in the form of fieldwork was followed. Twelve respondents were interviewed, comprising of seven females and four males coming from the Eastern Cape Province, currently based in Johannesburg, Yoeville suburb. The study unmasked that in-migrants find their foothold in income generation or employment through family, kin, partner and friend network connections predominantly derived from members coming from the same province of origin. Their livelihood strategies are negotiated and limited to background networks; beyond network connections is what the researcher view as an “incessant impediment in their lives”. Regrettably, most in-migrants encountered lacked training, skills, close-knit social networks, market intelligence and education tools necessary to climb the economic ladder in the urban terrain. Generally, those who are unemployed were not engaged in income generation activities while those employed supplemented their wages by income generation activities such as spaza shop and shebeens. A glaring reality is that respondents were not taking advantage of the booming informal market economy of Johannesburg which has a potential to sustain a livelihood. This is also compounded by the fact that none of the respondents participated in the civic society sector as way of participating in the City developmental trajectories and also a way of sustaining a livelihood. In a nutshell, a mere background network connection to the person from the area of origin, predominantly family member and friend was found to be the core livelihood strategy to access basic needs and employment opportunities for Eastern Cape internal migrants. The documented response of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan strategic policy agenda is seen through two broader policies. Firstly, iv Growth and Development Strategy in its principle of “proactive absorption of poor”. Secondly, Human Development Strategy which focuses on interventions such as; safeguarding and supporting poor and vulnerable households in their efforts to access local and provincial social safety nets, championing rights and opportunities for those who suffer the effects of structural inequality in the City; and building prospects for social inclusion by developing partnerships between the City and its residents. Both GDS & HDS policy responses to migration are discussed at length in the report. The current study argues that the City must devise novel robust policy and planning strategies to understand the profound urbanization trends, socio-economic context of migration patterns and how these impacts on the City infrastructure planning in the long-term growth of the City. Future studies in this line of investigation must consider taking forward this kind of research to a highest level. It will be proper to extend the study by investigating livelihood strategies of migrants in Johannesburg coming from different provinces and those from the selected African countries for the purpose of comparison using the qualitative approach. It will be appreciated to include investigation of broader urbanization impacts and readiness of City infrastructure provision, planning and growth.

A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Sociology, March 2017 / This study sought to explore how undocumented workers in the construction industry and their employers manage the employer – employee relationship in the absence of citizenship and (de facto if not de jure) labour rights for employees. Put simply, it sought to address the question, what governs workplace relations outside labour laws? Because of ‘illegal’ status in receiving countries, the literature has largely made it a norm to portray undocumented workers’ experiences as hyper-exploitative characterised by antagonistic relations with their employers. However by focusing on this subsection of the construction industry made up of Zimbabwean immigrant workers and their employers I was able to get a detailed picture of how labour relations take place in the absence of recourse to the law. Instead of antagonistic relations I found a more complicated picture which was nonetheless more harmonious and cooperative. This goes to show that while ‘illegality’ is an issue in the literature, it is less of one in a sector where ‘skilled’ work is important. These workers are able to assume greater leverage and negotiate (with employers) to a greater extent than the literature on precariousness and migrant labour reveals. This research thus calls for more investigations into spaces of negotiation in undocumented workers’ workplaces and relationships with employers so as to highlight more nuances and avoid generalising conclusions. In presenting these spaces of negotiation and workplace nuances, this study drew on narratives and experiences from both Zimbabwean employees and their employers who were in most instances subcontractors who also originated from Zimbabwe. These were obtained through in-depth interviews with workers and employers conducted between October 2016 and January 2017 and participant observations. / XL2018

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree master of science (Development Planning) / Urbanisation processes in South Africa have historically been influenced and affected by the government's political ideology based on segregation and racial discrimination. This led to the constrained urbanisation of the African population facilitated by literally hundreds of restrictive pieces of legislation. ( Abbreviation abstract) / Andrew Chakane 2018

Background: Existing literature has declared migrant integration as social stress putting communities under pressure. Dynamics of social innovations and digital technologies can provide solutions to the pressing matter of migrant integration, yet the academic literature is obscure about processes that organisations employ in this matter. Purpose: This study aims to investigate how the process of digital social innovation unfolds in organisations. The main purpose of this study seeks to answer the research question: How do organisations undertake the process of digital social innovations in relation to migrant integration? Method: To answer the research question, a qualitative research approach was chosen. Multiple case study was carried out, and the empirical data was gathered through semi-structured interviews. The content of the company websites and other additional material were used as a complementary source of information. The scope of participants was delimited to Sweden and Germany due to a high level of immigration in these countries. After data collection, the analysis was carried out in an abductive manner. Conclusion: The findings showed that the social innovation process is intertwined with the context where the actor acts as a mediator between the two. Two models were combined to gain both theoretical and practical insights without excluding one another. A suggested digital social innovation process model was then introduced in pursuit of providing a model that could be used in academia to annex scattered literature and to use the model in practice as a foundation for the innovation process.

Esta investigação tem por objetivo compreender como mulheres imigrantes constróem no espaço da cidade formas de convívio e negociações, conseguem acolhimento e respostas às suas necessidades e investem no pertencimento de redes sociais de apoio configurando novas formas de levar suas vidas. A partir de contato inicial realizado em uma instituição religiosa na cidade de São Paulo que recebe mulheres estrangeiras selecionaram-se cinco dessas mulheres: três solicitantes de refúgio, uma imigrante e uma egressa de sistema prisional propondo-se a pesquisadora a acompanhá-las, em diferentes períodos e situações, nas suas atividades cotidianas. A proposta possibilitou a realização de uma etnografia e observação participante em profundidade de seus itinerários na cidade. Os itinerários percorridos e acompanhados pela pesquisa mostraram diversas formas de construção de sociabilidade e de novas estratégias na vida dessas mulheres bem como diferentes modos de relação com as instituições às quais elas recorriam para apoio. De modo geral, percebe-se que, sendo mulheres, e estrangeiras, a transitoriedade de suas estadas na cidade é atravessada por interações com outras pessoas, com um trabalho ou uma atividade de lazer ou mesmo com as instituições de ajuda. Dentre estas interações percebe-se que as relações de ajuda efetiva se dão, principalmente, nos espaços fora das instituições, ou seja, nas redes de sociabilidade criadas e nos espaços acessados e acessíveis da cidade. / This study aims to comprehend how immigrant women build, in the space of the city of São Paulo, their interpersonal relationships, their negotiations with the institutions they have to deal with, their support and social networks, resulting in a new way of living their lives. Starting from a contact with one of the religious institutions that offers shelter to foreign women in São Paulo, five inhabitants of this house were met and followed on their routine activities around the city. Those women were three asylum seekers, one economic migrant and one ex-prisoner. This proposal made possible the construction of an ethnography and a participant observation of the itineraries undertaken by them in the city. Those itineraries undertaken by them and followed by this study showed different strategies and social relationships made by those women in the city. In general, the itineraries showed that, by being women and foreigners, their transitional relationship with the city was crossed by the people they meet, their work, their leisure activities and the institutions that were willing to help them. In spite of those interactions, the ones that seem to be more able to offer a significant help to them are the relationships outside the scope of those institutions, meaning the social networks built and the interactions with the accessible and accessed spaces in the city.

Esta pesquisa, desenvolvida entre os anos de 2014 e 2018, investiga os sentidos de encontros interculturais, principalmente em dois contextos de migração forçada, nas cidades de Pádua, na Itália, e São Paulo, no Brasil. Pesquisas e documentos oficiais europeus veem a interculturalidade em termos de encontros pacíficos e harmoniosos, nos quais a diversidade é apresentada com características inerentemente positivas. Mesmo quando se considera o conflito, o sujeito de enunciação é ausente, produzindo teorizações descorporizadas e violentas. Esta pesquisa de doutorado tem por objetivo desafiar tal forma de entendimento, investigando e problematizando o emaranhamento de sentidos que constitui os encontros em contextos de migração, baseando-se em pensadores latinoamericanos, teorias pós-coloniais e feministas e conceitos decoloniais que se referem à diferença, cultura, onto-epistemologia e identidade, a fim de melhor compreender as influências da Modernidade, do capitalismo, do neoliberalismo e da colonialidade como um discurso imbricado. A pesquisa se vale de encadeamentos que sustentam encontros interculturais entre migrantes e a população local, pautando-se na complexidade do mundo e das palavras em contextos históricos e geográficos localizados, buscando entender como a colonialidade e a ordem geopolítica do mundo atuou sobre e cocriou a interculturalidade. Dados foram gerados por meio de entrevistas, encontros, observação de aulas e análise documental, que foram utilizados como uma ferramenta de provocação de teoria. Os principais resultados apontam para um processo de construção de sentido fortemente influenciado por epistemologias modernas/coloniais, difundidas não apenas entre trabalhadores no campo da migração, mas também entre migrantes; o desejo de reduzir a diferença, tomada em termos de diversidade, por meio de políticas de integração, sem questionar suas bases epistemológicas, buscando uma base essencial comum e incrustada na rede neoliberal; a presença de cisões políticas que têm por objetivo uma reconfiguração dos encontros interculturais; a necessidade de ressignificar ética, justiça social, cidadania transnacional e democracia, através de novas formas/modalidades, vozes e sujeitos no processo do estar-com. / This research, developed between 2014 and 2018, investigates the meanings of intercultural encounters, mainly in a forced migration context in two cities, Padova, in Italy and São Paulo, in Brazil. Both research and official European documents view interculturality in terms of peaceful and harmonious encounters in which diversity is presented with inherently positive features. Even when conflict is considered, the subject of enunciation is absent, producing disembodied and violent theorizations. This PhD research aims to challenge such forms of understanding by investigating and problematizing the entanglement of meanings that constitute encounters in a migration context on the basis of Latin American thinkers, postcolonial and feminist theories and decolonial concepts concerning difference, culture, ontoepistemology and identity, in order to better understand the influences of modernity, capitalism, neoliberalism and coloniality as an entangled discourse. The research explores the threads which underpin intercultural encounters between migrants and local population, grounding them in the wor(l)d complexity of geographical and historical localized contexts, aiming to understand how coloniality and the geopolitical world order performed and cocreated interculturality. Data were generated through interviews, encounters, classroom observation and documental analysis and were used as a provoking-theory tool. The main results point to a process of meaning-making strongly influenced by modern/colonial epistemologies, diffused not only among workers in the field of migration, but also among migrants; the desire to reduce difference, understood in terms of diversity, through integration policies, without questioning their epistemological basis, looking for common essential basis and trapped in the neoliberal net; the presence of political cracks which aim at reconfigurating of intercultural encounters; the need to re-signify ethics, social iustice, transnational citizenship, and democracy through new forms/modalities, voices and subjects in the process of the being-with.