Extensive work has been carried out on gender and social transformation but there is a need for more work between these intersecting trajectories and their implications for Christian mission. Drawing on data collected from one of the migrants this current study employs the postcolonial lens to analyse interview responses on a migration experience of a young female migrant in South Africa and highlights survival strategies for young migrants by demonstrating that the impact of changing global socio-economic landscapes and poverty on migrant communities presents opportunity to explore alternative missional paradigms and theologies that address conditions of deprivation. As a contribution to United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, this study also highlights how some migrant women use situations of deprivation to promote socio-economic transformation through radical doctrines of resistance. Interrogating key themes that emerged from the interview (2) alongside Dolores William’s doctrines of resistance demonstrates how one adolescent migrant embodies the radical doctrine of hope as lived reality expressed through a resilient theology of survival, which is sustained by developing and adapting to new lifestyles through cultural capital, skills, competency, new personal qualities, fashion and language or accents as means for survival strategies in the face of hostility.
By reflecting on the complex and gendered survival strategies for migrant women in religious communities, this article represents a systematic and practical reflection within a paradigm in which the intersection of Philosophy, Religious Studies, Social Sciences, Humanities and Natural Sciences generates an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and trans disciplinary contested discourse.
It is important to state from the onset that data analysed in this contribution are not a representative sample for all young women migrants but present an opportunity for alternative narratives in gendered migration discourses, and this example should not be treated as a representative sample in any way. Young migrant women are often vulnerable to and at risk of economic, sexual and other forms of exploitation. Therefore, the complexity of the circumstances of migrant women and young girls demands that we pay attention to their needs in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): (1) ‘End poverty in all its forms everywhere’ and (2) ‘Achieve gender equality and empower women and girls’ (UN:_18). When people are in desperate situations of need, they are often prone to adopting reckless strategies as a means to address their problems. It has been observed that situations of deprivation –whether because of poverty, war, famine or other calamitous causes –are the endemic instigators of actions of surprising dimensions (Tushima
Transitions happen in different ways and for Christian communities there are different concepts and metaphors that describe this transition from the perspective of God’s agency. This is the reason the World Council of Churches (WCCs) recognises the Spirit of Mission as the ‘Breath of Life’ (ed. Keum
Although not exhaustive, the first section presents literature that deals with some important aspects of gender and social transformation to demonstrate how these intersections impact social transformation and highlight how gender stereotyping remains entrenched in society in spite of commendable progress made through legal, cultural and intellectual engagement that has questioned gender discrimination in many forms(Smith
Whilst exploring the changing dynamics and characteristics of being a church today, Pillay (
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There is a need for more insight to shed light into what constitutes insecurity, anxiety or feelings of alterity amongst immigrant populations in their liminal conditions, which are often characterised by mistrust from the state and host communities (Tushima
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In the context of transnational citizenship, theologies of migration reflect concerns for new ways with regard to responses of the church in the context of increasing visible migrant communities in host countries, and the inadequacy of state responses to the needs of migrants and refugees who are often vulnerable in the face of hostility from local communities. By challenging state interventions or lack of interventions therein, these theologically oriented responses draw from a range of themes such as care or hospitality (eds. Groody & Campesse
Scholars focusing on theologies of migration have tended to explore two distinct areas: firstly, the instrumental use of religion during and after migration as demonstrated in the work of Adogame (
Scholars in gender also suggest that social identities are a vehicle through which individuals are socialised and naturalised into their local contexts and gender roles develop as roles are ascribed through ‘gender identity’, which designates them as male or female (Laurie et al.
Bringing the intersections of gender and migration into the experiences of women migrants, Williams (
Scholarly research in gender has evolved with an interest on gender identity expanding to include identities such as queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) as evidenced in the work of Butler (
It is also important to acknowledge that there has been concerted effort to generate scholarship, which responds to both feminine and masculine gender constructions, contrary to gender scholarship that initially focused primarily on women’s experiences. For example, Connell’s (
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Attending to new complexities emerging for the mission of the church within the context of gender and migration will also require transformation of theological education in Africaand contextualising theological education in ways that approach theology through missional hermeneutics (Hendriks
In my previous research,
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Ruth recalled what her mother did to earn a living in Ghana and was frustrated that they both had nothing to do in South Africa, and consequently their family of six (four siblings and two parents) had to depend on their father whose income as a part time driver was not stable. Since 2010, Ruth and Naomi made several visits to the Home Affairs Offices in Pretoria and Johannesburg and they have been told by the Home affairs official that Ruth should return to Ivory Coast or Ghana. During the interview Ruth explained how she has persistently challenged their views and explained to them that she does not remember anyone in Ghana because her parents raised her in Ivory Coast and Johannesburg. She explained that although her family is West African, she considers herself to be South African and she looks to her local church as a way to mediate these complexities, because for her if you are in the church (Ruth, Interview Transcript,
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In one of my recent publications I employed a case study (Mpofu
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The given quotation emerged from an interview conducted with Ruth in 2015 at Yeoville, Johannesburg, in one of the Reformed churches. Given that Ruth told the Home Affairs officials that she does not remember anyone in Ghana because her parents raised her in Ivory Coast before migrating to South Africa and settling in Johannesburg whilst she was only 5 years, it was frustrating for her to be told that they should go back to Ghana and so she exclaimed ‘this is where I live, this is where I breathe, this is where I eat and sleep’. In the following sections, this article unpacks and interrogates this statement to highlight how one adolescent migrant embody the radical doctrine of hope as lived reality expressed through a resilient theology of survival sustained by developing and adapting to new lifestyles through cultural capital, skills, competency, new personal qualities, fashion, hairstyling practices, language/accents as means for survival strategies in the face of hostility.
Despite her experiences as a midwife, Ruth’s mother can no longer make a living by helping other women as she did in Ghana. Migration did not just introduce her to a new community, but she also experienced changes in family income. In South Africa, her (Ruth’s mom) agency is diminished as she and her family are also exposed to xenophobia and language barriers in attempts to get on with finding employment, decent accommodation and education. This presents a gendered dimension of the experience of migration as reflected in the research conducted by Sigworth, Ngwane and Pino (
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Ruth confirmed that she feels ‘disadvantaged’ being a female migrant given that most South African women struggle to be recognised in the professional field, and she is not only a woman, but also a foreigner without formal documents. Ruth later articulated her frustration in a profoundly revealing way as it inspired this article:
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Under these circumstances, articulations such as these generate and sustain hope for survival and reinforce the resistance to rejection or hostility. This stance resembles that taken by Tambu (Dangarembga
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Ruth discovered that she was not formally a South African resident when her parents ‘sat’ her down and told her that her asylum permit was withheld. In a sense, she is one of the stateless children raised by her parents in the diaspora. Residency is a major challenge for most migrants and Christian or faith communities sometimes provide a sense of belonging to people with such situations. As Landau (
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Ruth was fortunate to be within a religious community in the congregation where she belongs. However, her identity and prospects of engaging religion as an avenue of incorporation are hindered by the absence of formal documents. In addition, her age and gender could easily serve as mechanisms of exclusion when she engages South African communities in life-sustaining activities such as higher education and employment. To be young, female and ‘undocumented’ complicates a potentially productive future for young migrants. However, like Tambu in Dangarembga’s (
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To live is to exist, in a particular space and time. Taking up modelling and performing dances is her new way of asserting herself in the face of rejection by those who should recognise all who live within the South African borders. When she declares that
Ruth, Interview Transcript (
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Denying Ruth the right to residency is denying her the right to live or breathe. To have a life means one can breathe. In the Bible the Spirit of God or his breath is presented through the Hebrew word
10these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.11For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.12What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
For Paul, the Spirit of God is able to transform the human spirit in ways that draw humanity closer to God through all human encounters in the world. Therefore, transformation requires human agency so that the Holy Spirit turns lives around, the same way Saul and others were converted or thrown into the furnace where we are refined like gold as did Shadrach Meshech and Abednego.
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The WCCs understands the Mission of the Church to be that of (ed. Keum
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For Ruth, the radical nature of Ruach who ‘stirs life’ is revealed in her ability to create a world of possibilities and dreams through her modelling career that she has developed within a context of hostility. Denying Ruth the right to be in South Africa is to fail to recognise the presence and agency of God in her, but this has not hindered her from pursuing ‘what God has freely given us’. Denying her some form of dignity and recognition also amounts to counting her amongst the dead, so she must remind those who would dare to listen that in fact she is still alive and can breathe. Even the dead do have space and they are counted amongst the dead where they have grave or burial registration numbers. Therefore, her radical exclamations demand that she should be recognised and counted amongst the living –amongst whom the Spirit of God dwells. This profound sense of belonging demonstrates resistance, resilience and creativity in a struggle against regimes of migration, which frame African migrants as undesired beings who pose a threat to South African society and calls for prophetic Christian social practice within the context of migrant women’s experiences in South Africa.
Ruth, Interview Transcript (
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Given their struggles with identity documents in South Africa, Ruth and her family have struggled to get decent jobs. To eat and sleep well means there is decent food and accommodation. To have food and decent accommodation requires work. In order to be employed in South Africa one needs to have an identity document. Despite, trying to run her own business by operating a restaurant serving African dishes, Ruth’s mother had to close down the shop after several robberies. Despite experiencing all these challenges, Ruth can exclaim, ‘this is where I eat and sleep’. Read through the lens of Dangarembga’s narrative, this is a revolutionary challenge to the oppressive system, which refuses to recognise her family by providing them with support to get employment. By stating that it is here in South Africa where she eats and sleeps, Ruth reminds us that where you can eat and sleep is a place to call home. Depending on individual experiences and circumstances, there are different concepts of understanding home, and for her the fact that she has lived, breathed, eaten and slept in Johannesburg for the past 14 years simply means that she is at home. This is the reason she has taken up modelling and dancing so that she will continue to support her family. Ruth indicated that there were times when the church provided food for her family but this was for a limited period. As a result, she took advantage of being in the church and made contacts with people who introduced her to promoters looking for young female models.
Although there are migrants and refugees who are pushed by their desperate circumstances to ‘exchange access to loved ones’ bodies for social and food security’ as Tushima (
Unlike Williams, Ruth embodies the radical doctrine of resistance as lived reality expressed through her body and thus requiring a theology not just of solidarity and mobilisation of migrants, but pastoral theology of care and sustenance for the migrant body in everyday life. Taking seriously the agency of women migrants such as Ruth who cross borders without visas and sometimes passports to join their families or look for study and employment opportunities will require appreciating the gendered nature of migration and survival strategies to employ women to ensure that migrants are not bundled together in the category of criminals. Williams’ motif of
This article highlighted survival strategies for young migrants and demonstrated how the changing global socio-economic landscapes and povertyimpact migrant communities in ways that present opportunities to explore alternative missional paradigms and theologies that address conditions of deprivation. Although not a representative sample of migrant experience, this analysis also highlighted how some migrant women use situations of deprivation to promote socio-economic transformation through resistance, whichembodies radical hope as lived reality expressed through her body and thus it requires a theology not just of solidarity and mobilisation of migrants, but a theology of care and sustenance for the migrant body in everyday life. Taking seriously the agency of young women migrants such as Ruth who crossborders sometimes without visas and passports to join their families under life-threatening experiences as they search for study and employment opportunities will require appreciating the gendered nature of migration. It is important that policy makers, security agencies and governments understand these life-affirming survival strategies employed by displaced and mobile women to ensure that migrants and refugees are not bundled together with criminals. Appreciating their agency and the complexity of circumstances surrounding vulnerability of migrant women and young girls is critical and demands that we pay attention to their needs in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The author would like to acknowledge the generous contributions of members of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA) congregations, which took part in the initial focus group discussions.
The author solemnly declares that he has no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
The author contributed to this work individually although some sections of the article were guided by the supervisor during the post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (UKZN) School of Religion, Classics and Philosophy.
University of Pretoria, Faculty of Theology and Religion, Research Committee - T027/20
Whilst ethical clearance was sought to conduct research on COVID-19, this article did not involve data that needed ethical procedures as it relied on literature review and media statements.
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.
Not her real name.
Data collected for PhD study:
Daniel 3:25. He said, ‘Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!’
Dolores Janiewski, ‘Sisters Under the Skins: Southern Working Women, 1880–1950’” in Hine,