Migrants, Thinkers, Storytellers: Negotiating Meaning and Making Life in Bloemfontein, South Africa

Against the backdrop of Bloemfontein in the heartland of South Africa—but with lessons that translate to immigrant communities on every continent and at every socioeconomic level—the authors of Migrants, Thinkers, Storytellers argue that migrants are challenged by a violent categorization that is often nihilistic, insistently racial, and continuously significant to the organization of society. The authors also examine how both relative privilege and storytelling serve as instruments with which migrants negotiate meaning in their lives. This collaborative work, involving immigrants as well as scholars and based on narrative life-story research, contributes important theoretical insights into the nature of social identification during the migration experience.