Together apart: Migration, integration and spatialised identities in South African border villages

► Spatial interactions between refugees and hosts are part of the integration process. ► Spatialised identities go beyond the opposition between ‘roots’ and ‘routes.’ ► Identities are negotiated through mobility across micro-spaces within a village. ► Identity construction must be described empirica...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geoforum 2012-05, Vol.43 (3), p.561-572
Main Author: Polzer Ngwato, Tara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa
Bgi / Prodig
Border areas
Border regions
Borders
Case studies
Geographic mobility
Identity
Identity formation
Immigration policy
Integration
International migration
Migrants
Migration
Refugee
Refugees
Regional studies
Rural Areas
Rural communities
Social Integration
South Africa
Southern Africa
Space
Spatial analysis
Transnationalism
Villages
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Summary:► Spatial interactions between refugees and hosts are part of the integration process. ► Spatialised identities go beyond the opposition between ‘roots’ and ‘routes.’ ► Identities are negotiated through mobility across micro-spaces within a village. ► Identity construction must be described empirically, not ideologically. This article explores spatialised identity construction as part of the process of refugee and migrant integration. It uses an empirical case study – of villages in a rural border area of South Africa – to argue that identity groups can be constructed in relation to micro-spaces within a single village, refer to identity characteristics which are largely independent of cross-border mobility or territorial origin, and be negotiated through micro-mobilities within different segments of a ‘local’ space. This stands in contrast to debates opposing sedentary ‘roots’ or transnational or transient ‘routes’ as identity forming spaces. Establishing the relevant spatial aspects of identity construction is an empirical matter, rather than an ideological one.
ISSN:0016-7185
1872-9398
DOI:10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.11.003