Exile Identity, Agency and Belonging in South Africa: The Masupatsela Generation (Palgrave Studies on Children and Development)

This book examines the experiences of 49 second-generation exiles from South Africa. Using "generation" as an analytical concept, it investigates the relational, temporal and embodied nature of their childhoods in terms of kinship relations, life cycle, cohort development and memory-making. It reveals how child agents exploited the liminal nature of exile to negotiate their sense of identity, home and belonging, while also struggling over their position and power in formal Politics and informal politics of the everyday. It also reflects upon their political consciousness, identity and sense of civic duty on return to post-apartheid South Africa, and how this has led to the emergence of the Masupatsela generational cohort concerned with driving social and political change in South Africa.-- Provided by publisher Annotation This book examines the experiences of 49 second-generation exiles from South Africa. Using "generation" as an analytical concept, it investigates the relational, temporal and embodied nature of their childhoods in terms of kinship relations, life cycle, cohort development and memory-making. It reveals how child agents exploited the liminal nature of exile to negotiate their sense of identity, home and belonging, while also struggling over their position and power in formal Politics and informal politics of the everyday. It also reflects upon their political consciousness, identity and sense of civic duty on return to post-apartheid South Africa, and how this has led to the emergence of the Masupatsela generational cohort concerned with driving social and political change in South Africa This book examines the experiences of 49 second-generation exiles from South Africa. Using zgenerationy as an analytical concept, it investigates the relational, temporal and embodied nature of their childhoods in terms of kinship relations, life cycle, cohort development and memory-making. It reveals how child agents exploited the liminal nature of exile to negotiate their sense of identity, home and belonging, while also struggling over their position and power in formal Politics and informal politics of the everyday. It also reflects upon their political consciousness, identity and sense of civic duty on return to post-apartheid South Africa, and how this has led to the emergence of the Masupatsela generational cohort concerned with driving social and political change in South Africa. Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Introduction....Pages 1-50 Front Matter....Pages 51-51 Roots and Routes of Exile: Materialism and Embodiment....Pages 53-73 The Emergence of a Generational Cohort....Pages 75-110 Care and Protection in the Liminal Spaces of Exile....Pages 111-160 Home, Identity and Belonging....Pages 161-192 Front Matter....Pages 193-193 The Formal Repatriation of Children and Young People....Pages 195-207 The Meeting of Myths and Reality....Pages 209-248 Identity and Belonging in Post-Apartheid South Africa....Pages 249-263 Obligations and Agency in Post-Apartheid South Africa....Pages 265-281 Conclusion....Pages 283-302 Back Matter....Pages 303-350 Zosa De Sas Kropiwnicki. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 303-332) And Index.