Running Ahead : Zimbabwean Women Navigating Precarity in Johannesburg / Thelma Nyarhi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nyarhi, Thelma, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women immigrants.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (126 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Bamenda, Cameroon : Langaa RPCIG Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group, [2023]

Summary:

This book reviews the possibilities for livelihoods to emerge through the acts of 'trying'. It centres itself in the Johannesburg CBD and shares stories of Zimbabwean migrants residing within the metropolis. These stories were collated through the female Joburg runners. Additional respondents were sought through the runner network systems which included wrappers, and transporters. Literature has largely focused on male migrants. However, the trend of feminised migration continues to rise. This invites the telling of stories of the lived experiences of these women in a place where they are considered as vulnerable 'soft targets'.Hence the present study traces the nimble footedness of the female migrant in knowing when to cross, recross and crisscross borders and boundaries. The research contributes an added perspective to the conventional migration narrative, within which women are frequently portrayed as the inaudible voices and passive actors and frequently appear as accompanying social actors who moved to join their spouses or merely remain at home and await remittances. Through the prism of the Joburg runners, this study invites conversations around (im)mobility, reimagination of belonging and identity.

Contents:

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Contents

List of Figures

Foreword

Chapter 1 - Introduction and background

Migration in Zimbabwe

Gendered Migration

Conceptual framework: Incompleteness and Trying

Organization of the book

Chapter 2 - Becoming a runner

Introduction

Playing in the shadows: Shadowing as a methodology

The Field Site: Benoni- Johannesburg CBD, Gauteng Province

Plunging-in: Entering the field

Being the subject: Ethical dilemmas in the field

Summary conclusion

Chapter 3 - Chasing dreams amid nightmares

Making sense of space: Common strangers in the city

Telling her story: Vulnerabilities of migrant women

Motherhood amidst uncertainty

Chapter 4 - Navigating borders and boundaries

Readjustment: Living outside nostalgia

Navigating spatiotemporalities

"Ngwarisa mwana waMai" - (Be clever my kin)

Fluidity in spatiotemporalities

Chapter 5 - Looming dangers - the invisible and visible pains

Tracking shadows

The Mirrored self

The violence's within

The invisible and visible scars

Fear as a constant

Anxiety as a constant

Chapter 6 - Conclusion - An Orb of possibilities

Bibliography

Back cover.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9789956553204

9956553204