Presenter: Dr Lydia Moyo
Title: Growing Up Across Borders
Date: Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Time: 12:30 – 13:30 (GMT+2)
Venue: ACMS Seminar Room (2163), Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd floor), East Campus, Wits University (directions)
Zoom link: https://tinyurl.com/3dwkccpp, Meeting ID: 957 8662 4514, Passcode: 012731
RSVP: Email ntokozo.yingwana@wits.ac.za

Abstract:
This article explores how Zimbabwean Venda-speaking migrants in Pretoria, South Africa, construct and negotiate meanings of home under conditions of prolonged and precarious migration. Drawing on qualitative data from 30 participants collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed thematically using Atlas.ti, the study shows that home extends beyond a fixed geographical place to include emotional attachment, memory, cultural practice, and social relationships. Participants use embodied practices such as food and music to sustain belonging across borders while maintaining connections to Zimbabwe. Although migration was often initially viewed as temporary, prolonged residence fostered forms of rootedness in South Africa alongside enduring transnational ties. The article argues that homemaking among precarious migrants is both portable and spiritually anchored through everyday cultural reproduction, ancestry, land, and burial sites, contributing to debates on transnational belonging and identity.

About the researcher/presenter:
Lydia Moyo is a postdoctoral research fellow at ACMS under the Disrupting the cycle of gendered violence & poor mental health among migrants in precarious situations (GEMMS) research group. She holds a doctorate from the University of Johannesburg, and her thesis was titled “Geopolitics of Relocating: The Integration Experiences of Zimbabwean Venda-Speaking Migrants Residing in Pretoria, South Africa.” She also holds a master’s degree as well as an honours degree from the University of Johannesburg. She did her undergraduate degree at the University of Zimbabwe. She has worked on a project looking at the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits as the research coordinator. She is a multilingual individual speaking almost 6 languages (Tshivenda, English, Pedi, isiZulu, Ndebele, Shona). She has worked as an enumerator on various projects, but her most significant role was conducting the largest survey at GEMMS as the qualitative lead, as well as being appointed as a supervisor. Her research interests are in migration, xenophobia, language, and integration.