Online images and imaginings of home: the case of the QwaQwa Thaba di Mahlwa Facebook page

Abstract

ABSTRACT Migration, be it national or transnational, is often a disruptive and traumatising experience that brings with it loneliness and homesickness. This article investigates how migrants from QwaQwa in the Eastern Free State Province in South Africa (re)imagine and (re)visualize the homeland away from home through social networking. QwaQwa is a remote mountanous area located in the Eastern Free State Province of South Africa. Like most remote areas around the world, QwaQwa does not have many economic opportunities and its inhabitants migrate to bigger cities in search of greener pastures. In an attempt to deal with the homesickness and loneliness associated with migration, some migrants have taken to online platforms to imagine and reconstruct home away from home. This article is particualrly interested in examining the way migrants from QwaQwa (re)imagine and (re)present home through images and texts that they share on a social networking site named QwaQwa Thaba di Mahlwa. The findings show that members of the webpage imagine home in four ways: as a place of natural beauty untainted by forces of modernization, a place of reunion and fellowship with family and friends, a place of ritual and cultural practices and, lastly, a place of social harmony and fun.