Refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa face ongoing economic hardship, xenophobia, and systemic exclusion. Their experiences are often framed through narrow, pathologizing narratives of trauma and victimhood, obscuring the depth, dignity, and agency that shape their lives. This study responds to such reductions by drawing on collective narrative practices to foreground refugees’ lived knowledge, everyday survival strategies, and the ways they reclaim meaning and identity amid adversity. Based on a narrative-informed intervention conducted in Cape Town with twenty refugees and asylum seekers, the research employed the Tree of Life both as a transformative practice and as a mode of data generation. Developed by the Dulwich Centre in Adelaide (AU), this methodology invites individuals and communities experiencing trauma to re-authoring their life stories through shared metaphors, collective reflection, and storytelling. Qualitative data were gathered through group conversations and visual artefacts, then thematically analyzed using a reflective approach. The findings reveal the multilayered and intersecting realities of forced displacement. Experiences of statelessness, identity fragmentation, and cultural exclusion coexisted with strong expressions of pride in heritage, intergenerational strength, and family as a vital source of resilience. Everyday practices—such as street trading, caregiving, and cooking—emerged as acts of self-actualization and continuity. Participants also described resistance strategies rooted in informal economies, mutual support, and grassroots solidarity. Faith offered emotional anchoring and hope, while personal skills and prior vocations were reimagined as resources for reinvention and dignity. The Tree of Life offered a space in which migration could be narrated not solely as rupture, but also as endurance, connection, and resistance. Rather than positioning the method as a fixed solution, the study concludes with a critical reflection on its possibilities and limitations in supporting liberatory, narrative-based forms of engagement.
Re-rooting stories: refugee subjectivities and the Tree of life in South Africa
Chiara Fiscone;
2025-01-01
Abstract
Refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa face ongoing economic hardship, xenophobia, and systemic exclusion. Their experiences are often framed through narrow, pathologizing narratives of trauma and victimhood, obscuring the depth, dignity, and agency that shape their lives. This study responds to such reductions by drawing on collective narrative practices to foreground refugees’ lived knowledge, everyday survival strategies, and the ways they reclaim meaning and identity amid adversity. Based on a narrative-informed intervention conducted in Cape Town with twenty refugees and asylum seekers, the research employed the Tree of Life both as a transformative practice and as a mode of data generation. Developed by the Dulwich Centre in Adelaide (AU), this methodology invites individuals and communities experiencing trauma to re-authoring their life stories through shared metaphors, collective reflection, and storytelling. Qualitative data were gathered through group conversations and visual artefacts, then thematically analyzed using a reflective approach. The findings reveal the multilayered and intersecting realities of forced displacement. Experiences of statelessness, identity fragmentation, and cultural exclusion coexisted with strong expressions of pride in heritage, intergenerational strength, and family as a vital source of resilience. Everyday practices—such as street trading, caregiving, and cooking—emerged as acts of self-actualization and continuity. Participants also described resistance strategies rooted in informal economies, mutual support, and grassroots solidarity. Faith offered emotional anchoring and hope, while personal skills and prior vocations were reimagined as resources for reinvention and dignity. The Tree of Life offered a space in which migration could be narrated not solely as rupture, but also as endurance, connection, and resistance. Rather than positioning the method as a fixed solution, the study concludes with a critical reflection on its possibilities and limitations in supporting liberatory, narrative-based forms of engagement.
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