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Paper short abstract:

How did migrants and refugees survive under Covid lockdown in South Africa with no state support? Issues of research responsibility became central in this research. Working at Africa’s most resourced University made it possible to offer support, particularly to women refugees and migrants

Paper long abstract:

At the onset of COVID-19 South Africa emerged as a model in the management of the pandemic due to its adoption of decisive public health and targeted social welfare measures. It imposed an early nation-wide total lockdown and provided food parcels and other social relief packages to underprivileged communities. The relief packages however excluded undocumented migrants and refugees, many of whom rely for survival on daily retail: in kiosks, on street sidewalks and hawking from home to home. How do these migrants and refugees survive under lockdown and with no state support? We set out to find out in a context where COVID was raging across the country. To do so we required an ethical clearance that obliges us to maintain physical distance. Spending ample time with migrants and refugees was our chosen way to understand how the pandemic was affecting migrants and refugees in a moment of general existential uncertainty. Issues of methodology and the social responsibility of a university in an African context came up sharply. Observing physical distance became a challenge as relationships grew between researchers and participants. Maintaining physical distance came to be read as social separation and “social distancing”. In a context where handshake signposts friendliness and mutual respect, insisting on elbows or knuckle greeting did not always do down well. Our location in what is arguably Africa’s most resourced University made it possible to offer targeted intervention, particularly to women refugees and migrants whose preexisting peculiar challenges were exacerbated by the pandemic and the lockdown.