Routes and Rites to the City: Mobility, Diversity and Religious Space in Johannesburg

Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon · Lorena Núñez · Peter Kankonde Bukasa · Bettina Malcomess

Jan 2017 · Springer

About this eBook

This thought-provoking book is an exploration of the ways religion and diverse forms of mobility have shaped post-apartheid Johannesburg, South Africa. It analyses transnational and local migration in contemporary and historical perspective, along with movements of commodities, ideas, sounds and colours within the city. It re-theorizes urban ‘super-diversity’ as a plurality of religious, ethnic, national and racial groups but also as the diverse processes through which religion produces urban space. The authors argue that while religion facilitates movement, belonging and aspiration in the city, it is complicit in establishing new forms of enclosure, moral order and spatial and gendered control. Multi-authored and interdisciplinary, this edited collection deals with a wide variety of sites and religions, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism. Its original reading of post-apartheid Johannesburg advances global debates around religion, urbanization, migration and diversity,and will appeal to students and scholars working in these fields.

About the author

Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon is a researcher and writer at the African Centre for Migration and Society, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa.
Lorena Núñez is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa.
Peter Kankonde Bukasa is a doctoral researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa, and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany.
Bettina Malcomess is Lecturer in Fine Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa. She is also an artist, writer and curator.