Cash, Corn & Coffins:

Transcription

1 Cash, Crn & Cffins: Migratin, Self-Alienatin and Scial Status in Suthern Africa Lren B Landau lren@migratin.rg.za Myrn Weiner Series n Internatinal Migratin Massachusetts Institute f Technlgy 29 September 2015

2 The end f remittance euphria? Mid-2000 s awareness f remittance Euphria abut migratin and privatised develpment Securitizatin f remittance flws and migratin Grwing pl f research n links between migratin, remittances and sci-ecnmic utcmes Need t explain irratinal utcmes Landau 2

3 Scialities f translcal prtectin Scial prtectin ften seen as a state r institutinal functin Fcus n mbility and scial prtectin within the Suth Decenters frmal immigratin plicy, surfaces sciality and infrmality Remittance scripts and the mral ecnmy f scial prtectin Nt abut cuntering inequality, but abut negtiating sci-ecnmic and plitical precarity Security and prtectin less material than scial and existential Landau 3

4 Three ways t safety 1. Self-deprivatin & Scial death 2. Tactical csmplitanism 3. Zita rakanaka: Scial spending and the gd tax Open Market, Gabarne Landau 4

5 Data, Apprach & Qualificatins A pastiche f prjects Survey wrk n mbility and the remaking f urban lives Qualitative research n urban subjectivities and sciality Qualitative research in 3 Zimbabwean sending cmmunities: Chivi, Hurungwe, Gwanda fllwed by new survey wrk Effectively c-authred: - Peter Kanknde - Iriann Freemantle - Vupenyu Dzingirai - Patience Mutp Landau 5

6 Data, Apprach & Qualificatins A pastiche f prjects Survey wrk n mbility and the remaking f urban lives Qualitative research n urban subjectivities and sciality Qualitative research in 3 Zimbabwean sending cmmunities: Chivi, Hurungwe, Gwanda fllwed by new survey wrk Effectively c-authred: - Peter Kanknde - Iriann Freemantle - Vupenyu Dzingirai - Patience Mutp Landau 6

7 Remittance patterns in cmparisn 44% think dmestic migratin helps reduce pverty 52% think internatinal des Landau 7

8 Self Deprivatin & Scial Death Here I hide frm the Suth African gvernment; I hide frm my gvernment at hme; I even hide frm my family and the Cnglese cmmunity here. Cnglese wman, Jhannesburg Narratives f remittance measured success drives self-deprivatin Persistant demands fr lcal and trans-lcal prtectin tax resurces; heighten vulnerability Unmet expectatins by chice r necessitate result in scial death Nt hunkering dwn, but fragmentatin and islatin Ptentially liberating, but risks heightened precarity Take Me Away Frm the City Senz Shabanugu Landau 8

9 Tactical csmplitanism: Respnse t fluidity, hstility, pressure t avid lcal capture Denies desirability f place-based membership; denigrates purprted hsts Pastiche f translcal rhetrical frms and practices leaves migrants flating ften crrdes kinship Only significant membership is in religius bdies Religin is fragmented, cnflictual Fsters translcalism and deterritrialized allegiances, tactical csmplitanism Significant mneys sent hme and elsewhere (and received) Gd wns everywhere, s even if yu break the law here, he will frgive yu. - Stella, Ugandan migrant, Jhannesburg

10 Zita Rakanaka: Status and the Gd Tax Mneys and resurces spent n flashy cnsumptin, cnstructin, ritual and religin Irratinality a respnse t material incentives & scial scripts Fr sme it reinfrce pwer, status and inequality Amidst mass precarity, scial and gd taxes helps ensure physical, ecnmic and scial security if yu d nt have a netwrk f supprters, yur misery is wrse, and yu may cmmit suicide. I will give my gds t my neighbrs because I need a future withut truble Batamt-Hurungwe Landau 10

11 Reflectins n the sciality f prtectin In envirnment f illegality and state fragility, prtectin fllws scially mandated imperatives Remittance scripts are pwerfully generative Reinfrce status, strengthen the scial, and prmte abjectin and alienatin Understanding translcal scial prtectin demands a understanding f multi-sited scial fields and subjectivities Obsessin, Senz Shabanugu Landau 11

12 Cash, Crn & Cffins: Migratin, Self-Alienatin and Scial Status in Suthern Africa Lren B Landau lren@migratin.rg.za Myrn Weiner Series n Internatinal Migratin Massachusetts Institute f Technlgy 29 September 2015