Memories of Home and Exile: Narratives of Cameroonian Asylum Seekers in Johannesburg

Abstract

The compelling and complex Cameroonian experiences, both in Cameroon and in South Africa, have put the saliency of memory into perspective. The multifarious exploration memory work and its important role in the establishment of identity and sense of belonging have resulted in a refocus of attention on the process of reconstructing the past. Moreover, the complex strategies that make up the process of remembering are interspersed with an extensive array of social, cultural and political trajectories that rehears, re-imagine and challenge the politics of remembering or forgetting. As part of an ongoing study of the narratives of Cameroonian asylum seekers in the metropolitan city of Johannesburg, this article attempts to explore one aspect of the study, which is the way experiences of displacement are constructed through memory work. The focus of this article is therefore a critical exploration of how the process of remembrance is fashioned and shaped through the use of metaphors, images and symbols. Furthermore, it attempts to show how asylum seekers’ recollections of the past impacts on their notions of communal existence, their construction of individual and collection identities, their sense of belonging and how it is used to challenge official versions of displaced persons in South Africa.