Segmented urban space and the ethics of belonging in migrants’ Johannesburg

This article argues, from an ethnographic perspective and in the particular context of a group of young, black, low-income, Zimbabwean male migrants in Johannesburg, that the ethics of belonging among them are underpinned by the values of survival and mutual recognition. This occurs in a spatially demarcated manner informed by how the migrants’ perceive their social location and identity in different spaces in the city. Applying a micro spatial lens to their belonging narratives exposes layered ethics aimed at negotiating their own belonging and success in the city while highlighting reciprocal obligations attached to recognition of the other. The value of recognition is particularly attached to spaces where the interlocutors feel at home, and the article suggests that through interrogating such spaces in Johannesburg, and other urban centres, different role players can attempt to imagine an inclusive city.