This highly accessible portrayal of a post-apartheid neighborhood
in transition analyzes the relationship between identity,
migration, and place. Since it was founded in 1894, amidst
Johannesburg’s transformation from a mining town into the largest
city in southern Africa, Hillbrow has been a community of migrants.
As the “city of gold” accumulated wealth on the backs of
migrant laborers from southern Africa, Jewish Eastern Europeans who
had fled pogroms joined other Europeans and white South Africans in
this emerging suburb. After World War II, Hillbrow became a
landscape of high-rises that lured western and southern Europeans
seeking prosperity in South Africa’s booming economy. By the
1980s, Hillbrow housed some of the most vibrant and visible queer
spaces on the continent while also attracting thousands of Indian
and Black South Africans who defied apartheid laws to live near the
city center. Filling the void for a book about migration within the
Global South, The Roads to Hillbrow explores how one South African
neighborhood transformed from a white suburb under apartheid into a
“grey zone” during the 1970s and 1980s to become a “port of
entry” for people from at least twenty-five African countries.
The Roads to Hillbrow explores the diverse experiences of domestic
and transnational migrants who have made their way to this South
African community following war, economic dislocation, and the
social trauma of apartheid. Authors Ron Nerio and Jean Halley weave
sociology, history, memoir, and queer studies with stories drawn
from more than 100 interviews. Topics cover the search for
employment, options for housing, support for unaccompanied minors,
possibilities for queer expression, the creation of safe parks for
children, and the challenges of living without documents. Current
residents of Hillbrow also discuss how they cope with inequality,
xenophobia, high levels of crime, and the harsh economic impacts of
COVID-19. Many of the book’s interviewees arrived in Hillbrow
seeking not only to gain better futures for themselves but also to
support family members in rural parts of South Africa or in their
countries of origin. Some immerse themselves in justice work, while
others develop LGBTQ+ support networks, join religious and
community groups, or engage in artistic expression. By emphasizing
the disparate voices of migrants and people who work with migrants,
this book shows how the people of Hillbrow form connections and
adapt to adversity.
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