In May and June, I was away on fieldwork in South Africa as part of the Confined project. My sub-project explores how Malawians navigate and survive a seriously harsh migratory life in Cape Town. Malawians are new to Cape Town. While they have been migrating to South Africa for decade, even centuries, they never made it to Cape Town. However, with the increasing informalization of Southern African migration, they began coming to Cape Town around 2005. This is where I realized the sheer number of them. I am interested in understanding how and the extent to which we can think of their experience through the conceptual lens of confinement. Confinement cannot only be understood as incarceration. It also comprises stuckness, immobility and displacement. Malawians are a prime example of this, not least in the squatter camp where I work. While they just want to build a better future, their existence is marred by greedy landlords, violent gangs, dubious middlemen, demanding families and exploitative employers. At the same time, the fieldwork was SO life affirming and I was taken by the courage and gentleness of those men and women I spend time with.
While I was doing fieldwork, anti-immigrant sentiments soared. A vigilante group had called on government to get all Malawians out by June 30, weeks after I left. My friends were all worried, and for good reasons. Once, I was sitting in my old friend Karen’s office in the squatter camp. Three Malawians came in, seriously beaten up. They explained to Karen that they had walked in the street when a group of men – people who had robbed them before – stopped and started assaulting them. ‘”We don’t dare to go home”, they explained to Karen. “Come, I take you there”, Karen said. We walked back with them and found the people who had made the attack. Why do you beat up these people?” Karen asked. “No, they must leave. They don’t belong here,” they said matter-of-factly, with no remorse. Once back, Karen shook her head. “They just used to rob them. We have not seen this before.” I relayed the story to Mitch, an acquaintance of many years. ‘I know”, he said. “I am just working for my transport back now.” Will he go home? Perhaps. Life has not become easier in Malawi either.
‘Going home’, inspired by the migrant crisis in South Africa By Jonathan Bruun Jensen