Identities, Livelihoods and Transnational Migration: Muslim Malawians in Durban, South Africa

ABSTRACT

Transnational approaches have led to perspectives of migrations as emblematic of globalisation, alternative modernities, and a celebration of multicultural identities and politics. Yet many of these analyses often miss the importance of religion and the religious identity of migrants. This article discusses Malawian migrants, mostly from the Yao ethnic group in the Mangochi district. As transnational migrants they have configured their identities, including their religious identity, in various ways in order to pursue their livelihoods in the places and spaces between South Africa and Malawi. The paper analyses the identities of these migrants through a series of case studies that focus specifically on religious identity as a material resource in the livelihood survival of migrants.

Keywords:

• transnational migration
• Malawians
• Yao
• Islam
• Muslim
• livelihoods
• identities