‘It's about being safe and free to be who you are’: Exploring the lived experiences of queer migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa

Sexualities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 86-110
Author(s):  
John Marnell ◽  
Elsa Oliveira ◽  
Gabriel Hoosain Khan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Arts Based Research ◽  
Sex Worker ◽  
Marginalised Groups ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Participatory Arts

This article presents findings from three arts-based studies conducted by the African Centre for Migration and Society, in partnerships with Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action and the Sisonke National Sex Worker Movement. Drawing on participant-created visual and narrative artefacts, the article offers insights into the complex ways in which queer migrants, refugees and asylum seekers living in South Africa negotiate their identities, resist oppression and confront stereotypes. It reveals the dynamic ways in which queer migrants, refugees and asylum seekers forge a sense of belonging in spite of concurrent vulnerabilities and structural discrimination. It also reflects on the benefits and limitations of using participatory arts-based research with marginalised groups.

scholarly journals Migration, Refugees, and Racism in South Africa

Refuge ◽  
2001 ◽  
pp. 40-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Handmaker ◽  
Jennifer Parsley
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
General Public ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
And Control ◽  
Social Separation ◽  
The Impact

The paper looks at South Africa’s complex history and policies of racism, social separation and control and the impact that this has had on the nature of migration and refugee policy. The paper argues that this legacy has resulted in policy and implementation that is highly racialized, coupled with a society expressing growing levels of xenophobia. Some causes and manifestations of xenophobia in South Africa are explored. It further examines how actions of police and civil servants can mirror the sentiments of the general public, further disadvantaging refugees and migrants. The outcomes of the WCAR are discussed with acknowledgment of the positive gains made for refugees and asylum seekers. The implications for implementation are debated in light of the attacks on the USA. In conclusion, a number of recommendations are made including the need for ongoing public awareness strategies, the value of the WCAR Declarations as lobbying tools, a pragmatic and democratic policy process and the need to highlight development concerns in approaches to address these issues.

scholarly journals The expected well-being of urban refugees and asylum-seekers in Johannesburg

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Talita Greyling
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Urban Refugees ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Forced Migrants ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

The influx of asylum-seekers and refugees from across Africa into democratic South Africa has increased significantly. The aim of this paper is to determine the factors that influences the expect well-being of this unique group. Expected well-being is an important determinant of both the decision to migrate and the choice of a country of destination. Knowledge about this determinant therefore informs refugee policies. The results show that only a few of the factors found in the literature explaining the expected well-being of voluntary migrants also explain the expected well-being of forced migrants. However, a number of factors found in the literature that explain the subjective well-being and well-being in general of refugees and asylum-seekers also went towards explaining the expected well-being of this group. These factors include: government assistance, culture, the time spent in South Africa, economic factors, crime, refugee status, reasons for leaving the home countries and the number of people staying in a house in the receiving country. The findings of this study emphasise the differences between forced and voluntary migrants and highlight the factors that influence the expected well-being of forced migrants. These in turn shed light on migration decisions and the choice of destination countries.

scholarly journals Contesting language policy for asylum seekers in the Northern periphery: the story of Tailor F

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sari Pöyhönen ◽  
James Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Asylum Policy ◽  
Early Settlement ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Reception Centre

Abstract This article is about navigating asylum, employment and language policy in a new country as an asylum seeker. Through the story of one individual, we show that profound inequalities are exacerbated when forced migrants are limited in their choice of language they might study or use. The individual is Tailor F, an Iraqi man seeking asylum, and the country is Finland, officially bilingual, with a majority language (Finnish) and a minority language (Swedish). Finland’s official bilingualism does not extend evenly to language education provided for asylum seekers, who are taught Finnish regardless of the region where they are placed. Upon arrival, Tailor F was housed in a reception centre for asylum seekers located in a Swedish-dominant rural area of the country. Through our linguistic ethnography we examine how he navigates multilingually in his early settlement, his current work and his online life. We relate his story to explicit and implicit official bilingualism in Finland and discuss his lived experiences in relation to the contexts of asylum policy and employment. Tailor F’s story shows how, through his practices, he has contested implicit language policy for asylum seekers in order to gain membership of the local Swedish-dominant community, achieve a sense of belonging, and potentially realise his aspirations for the future.

When Home Is the Mouth of a Shark: Navigating the Academy as the Self in Black and Brown Skin

2021 ◽  
pp. 107780042110276
Author(s):  
Saran Stewart ◽  
Ashwini Jadhav
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
The Self ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Country Of Birth ◽  
Concerted Effort

As transnational women living in Jamaica and South Africa, we came together in Brazil to employ collaborative autoethnography to deconstruct and make sense of our experiences in academia. In this article, we compare our identities in the academy with that of refugees and juxtapose Warsan Shire’s poem Home, where she describes the forced reasons why people leave their country of birth and the psycho-emotional labor of the refugee crisis. Borrowing from an autoethnographic ontology, we recognize ourselves as the unit of measure, and the concerted effort to continuously interrogate the self and each other’s lived experiences. This article challenges the colonial epistemologies of knowing and knowledge as we interweave our individual narratives throughout the article, grappling with our search for an elusive home in the academy, and a sense of belonging within postcolonial, onto epistemological frames of the academy.

scholarly journals ‘BRIDGING THE GAP’: APPRAISAL OF THE FACTORS WHICH LIMIT AND IMPEDE THE REALISATION OF THE RIGHT TO WORK OF REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Baidoo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Right To Work ◽  
Actual Recognition ◽  
The Right ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

In South Africa, asylum seekers and refugees are expected to integrate themselves into the society. In order to integrate themselves into society, refugees and asylum seekers seek employment. The employment of refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa is challenging. The right to work of refugees is guaranteed by section 27(f) of the Refugees Act, whilst section 22 provides for the right to work of asylum seekers. However, there is a noticeable gap between the provision of this right to work in terms of the Refugee Act and the actual recognition of this right by employers and professional councils. In practice, asylum seekers and refugees are frequently barred from exercising their right to work and thus do not enjoy these protected rights.9 This article, in analysing the difficulty of attaining employment, will firstly set a foundational basis in chapter 2. Chapter 3 will deal with the international framework governing the right to work of asylum seekers and refugees. Chapter 4 of this essay will then deal with the constitutional framework governing the right to work. In chapter 5, the implications of a limitation on the right to choose employment on the right to work will be dealt with. In chapter 6, the specific challenges faced by asylum seekers and refugees concerning their right to work will be discussed, along with recommendations for overcoming these challenges. Lastly, in chapter 7, there will be a summation of the main impediments and suggested palliatives for the realisation of the right to work of refugees and asylum seekers.

5. Perceptions and misperceptions about refugees

2021 ◽  
pp. 73-87
Author(s):  
Gil Loescher
Keyword(s):  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The Media ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

This chapter looks at perceptions and misperceptions about refugees, considering anti-refugee and anti-migrant rhetoric. The lived experiences of refugees and asylum seekers are often far removed from how they are represented in the media and public discourse. While it would be hard to generalize from these diverse experiences, the responses of states, the lack of international cooperation, and the limits of the global refugee system have fuelled many misperceptions about refugees. The chapter then discusses how restrictive policies affect all refugees. They can compound the challenges faced by particular categories of vulnerable refugees, such as women, children and adolescents, the elderly, refugees with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ community.

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