Migrant and refugee solidarity in urban South Africa

Abstract

A growing literature exists on the notion of migrant and refugee solidarity and sanctuary practices in cities of the Global North. However, these concepts emerge in different ways in urban South Africa, and research has largely focused on their challenges of xenophobia, unemployment, and securing documentation. Post-apartheid, municipal support for vulnerable migrants is limited and humanitarian support is often short-lived. Research has shown that migrants thus develop solidarity with other migrant groups based on shared precarity, social capital, and conviviality. This chapter reviews these potentials and articulations of solidarity for migrants in recent research in South African cities that, in the absence of government provisions, are often formed through civil society and faith-based community and grassroots organising. Based on a literature review and reference to research with vulnerable migrants in Cape Town, this chapter describes the vocabularies of migrant solidarity practices in South Africa from various perspectives.