Rethinking the impact of the church on the dynamics of integration of Congolese migrants in Johannesburg: a case study of Yahweh Shammah Assembly
Date
2011-10-07
Authors
Nzayabino, Vedaste
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Abstract
The embeddedness of religious issues within contemporary global phenomena increases
the role religion plays in migrant’s spiritual, social, and economic lives. This study
sought to understand how migrants’ churches help situate foreigners within a
transforming South African society. Concretely, using a qualitative research approach,
the study sought to establish whether affiliation to a migrant’s church is a salient form
of belonging that fosters migrants’ transience and shapes their motivation to integrate
into South African society. The population of this case study consisted of a sample of
thirty-nine Congolese migrants, members of Yahweh Shammah Assembly (‘YSA’ in
short), a Pentecostal church located in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. The church’s
membership is predominantly made of Congolese migrants, with few members from
other African nationalities.
Overall, this study found that the desire to integrate into South African society remains
the main option and ideal for many international migrants coming to South Africa.
However, migrant’s integrative imaginaries and welfare trajectories are often obstructed
by a growing xenophobia within South African society. Many migrants seek full
integration and membership within the community but the host society prevents them
from achieving this ideal. Acknowledging the fact that a number of migrants came to
South Africa with a view not to stay but to use the city of Johannesburg as a transit
point to third countries abroad, yet this study found that a significant number of
migrants wish to leave Johannesburg because it refused to accommodate them. In this
context, the study identified three groups among Congolese community: those in quest
of permanent settlement in South Africa, those in transit, and those who want to exit
due notably to xenophobic backlash in the country. The study revealed that YSA was
able to integrate Congolese migrants who could not otherwise integrate into host
religious institutions. Being primarily an ethnic church in terms of Mullins’s model of
life-cycle of ethnic churches, YSA focuses on meeting the needs of its members first,
before serving the religiously and culturally ‘outsider’.
The results of this study together with the rich literature reviewed provide, therefore, a
significant theoretical contribution to the understanding of the place of religion within
contemporary complex debates on identity and belonging within diasporic
communities. It also offers great contribution to the current literature on the dynamics
of belonging and integration of migrants in host societies. In addition, this research
contains substantial theories and discussions salient to the understanding of the
sociology of religion, particularly the interactive relationship between the ‘secular’ and
the ‘religious’. Lastly, conducted during the xenophobic outbreak in May – June 2008,
this study also gives a more detailed understanding of the dynamics of the widespread
xenophobic sentiment and their impact on the integration of migrants in South African
society.