Date/Time
Date(s) - Wed - 11 May
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Categories
UFC@DUT will be running its 10th seminar for the year. Please join us as in yet another interesting seminar on African Migrants in Durban and Johannesburg
Topic : Changing megacities and migration: African migrants in Durban and Johannesburg
Presenter: Biniam Misgun
Date: Wednesday, 11 May 2016
Time: 12:00 to 13:30
Venue: BS2103, Level 1, S2 Block, Steve Biko Campus. Entrance from gate 1 and 2. 79 Steve Biko road.
About the Presentation
Megacities by their very nature are in constant flux, experiencing relentless change, commotion and uncertainty. As networks in the global complex capitalist economy, they have been constituted as nodes for the movements of goods, capital and bodies. The direction and content of changes in megacities should be understood through careful assessment of global and local dynamics, and, indeed, their interface. In the South African context, we notice, on one hand, the impact of the global restructuration of capitalist system which has so far determined the direction of flow of capital and goods, and movement of bodies; on the other hand, both legacies of apartheid and associated (re)actions in the post-apartheid state are trying to configure and reconfigure the social and economic lives in these megacities. It should also be noted that the interactions and interface of these two developments noted here are important determinants of (re)configuration of megacities. Johannesburg and Durban, as African megacities, are changing under these conditions. Transformation and reconfiguration of many of the residential and Central Business Districts of both cities follow these patterns. These changes also pose challenges and opportunities for development planning and governance of megacities.
My intention in this paper is: one, to explore the intricate way in which flows of capital and goods are entangled with movement of bodies (which much of the literature on this subject has discounted for long); two, to problematise these changes by moving away from structural and materialist explanation of them, and appraise the inventive ways in which marked bodies, through their movements and practices, write their script on these structures of megacities and their transformation; and finally, examine existing practices of management and planning of changes in these megacities. By exploring life experiences and economic activities of foreign African migrants in Durban and Johannesburg, and their interaction with local structures, this paper seeks to generate insight into how movement of bodies, by shifting the flow of capital and goods, is shaping and transforming the character and structure of megacities in South Africa.
About the Presenter
Biniam Misgun works at the School of Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College. He obtained a BA in Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Asmara, Eritrea, in 2001. In 2002 he completed his Honors degree, and was awarded a Master in Social Sciences (Sociology) in 2005, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
His research interests include issues of migration, development and environment.
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Looking forward to seeing you at this seminar.