Pluri-residentiality and the multi-house home: an investigation into the second home ownership of the black elite residents of Soweto

Abstract

Globally, people are connected to multiple homes. This connection develops through ownership and place attachment. Second home tourism research explores the ownership and place attachment to multiple homes for the purpose of leisure. Whilst second home tourism research has been conducted extensively in the Global North, focusing mainly on leisure, the same cannot be said for the Global South. In South Africa, there is little research conducted on the local wealthy black population and the connection to ownership and place attachment to additional/second homes. The history of racial, socio-economic and spatial segregation in South Africa has facilitated the unique development of the connection to multiple homes for the black populations. Using the current second home tourism literature, together with the legislative history of South Africa, this research hopes to develop open and inclusive explanations of the second home phenomenon for the case of the influential black elite residents in South Africa. This dissertation explores the link that sixty-nine black elite residents of greater Johannesburg suburbs have with their additional homes that are located in Soweto and other regions in sub-Saharan Africa. To achieve this, a largely qualitative methodology set was implemented through the use of in-depth semi-structured interviews and thematic content analysis was utilised for the analysis. To conclude, the results of this dissertation dispute certain aspects of concepts used in current second home literature. It is also emphasized that it is important to rethink and re-conceptualize the international ideas of circulation, mobility and pluri-residentiality, when attempting to appropriately adapt these concepts South Africa.