Claiming Space: A Case Study of Ndebele Zimbabwean Migrants’ Music in Johannesburg

Abstract

Global technological advancements in transport and communication have led to a compression of time and space, but some populations are confined to their geographic regions. This paper uses a qualitative approach to conduct an intersectional analysis of music by Zimbabwean migrants in Johannesburg South Africa to explore how migrants respond to this phenomenon. It presents the ways in which the migrants construct identities and spatial imaginaries as a form of claiming space in Johannesburg and globally. Xenophobia in South Africa and the migrants’ memories of the Zimbabwean State violence necessitates the narration of identities and spatial imaginaries where the migrants can claim belonging. The paper argues that even where the identities imagined do not carry currency in the contemporary world. They work to critique the current racialised global hierarchy that does not include the migrants in its power geometry.