Migration, the family and apartheid : journeys that span geographic space, the life course and responses to political change

The thesis indicates that, to make sense of how white South African migrants and their non-migrant kin construct their views about migration from apartheid-based South Africa, it is important to take account of apartheid-based racialization as well as prior histories of displacement and oppression. It demonstrates the need to move beyond globalized notions of the family when researching constructions of the consequences of migration. This includes considering how such constructions inform and are informed by: prior family dynamics; life course changes; gender; whether the relationship under discussion is with a parent, child or sibling; whether the views are expressed by a migrant or non-migrant; and responses to the dismantling of apartheid. It highlights the value of adopting a narrative-based biographical interpretative methodology and combining social constructionist and psychoanalytic ideas when investigating issues that have been under theorized and under researched,are troubling to articulate and concern relationships with people who came to be seen as racialized and/or gendered 'others'.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

The Open University

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Altschuler, Jennifer

Language dc:language

en