Reviewed Work: Migrant Women of Johannesburg: Everyday life in an In-Between City by Caroline Wanjiku Kihato

Set in Johannesburg’s inner city, central business district and adjacent northeast residential suburbs of Berea, Hillbrow and Yeoville, Migrant Women of Johannesburg: Everyday life in an In-Between City by Caroline Wanjiku Kihato concerns the stories and experiences of 11 migrant women from 10 African countries – from Nigeria to Tanzania – who crossed borders over land, eventually gaining entry into South Africa through Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Utilising the stories and self-supplied photographs of these women’s lives in Johannesburg, Kihato reveals something of their daily reality by exploring their living conditions, their ability and inability to meaningfully participate in their host country, the spoken and unspoken codes for social acceptability that they face, and the rejection and turmoil they often experience.
Author(s): Kerubo Abuya
Date Published: July 2015

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