Tormented by Umnyama: An Urban Cosmology of Migration and Misfortune in Inner-City Johannesburg

Abstract

In this chapter we will attempt to trace the constellations of an urban cosmology of migration and misfortune through analysis of the idea of umnyama-and its semantic relations isinyama and ubumnyama-which literally means blackness, or darkness, but also refers to misfortune or contagion in several southern African languages, notably isiZulu and IsiNdebele. We understand cosmology here as "everyday but infinite surroundings" and argue the experience of migration involves, for many migrants, both material and metaphysical risks. In exploring these themes, we do not seek to reify either the categories of the migrant or the urban; rather, experiences of migration into cities involve a plurality of risks, dislocations and strategies of survival. Nor, do we view cosmology as a unified worldview; rather, experiences of urban migration lead to contested cosmologies-diffuse and often contested worldviews. Nonetheless, diverse strategies aimed at healing, protection and good fortune in the city often involve purificatory rituals in which misfortune is viewed as arising out of metaphysical disorder, and umnyama, isinyama and ubumnyama are directly invoked in diverse contexts (hereafter, we will simply use the term umnyama but also explain the semantic differentiations below). Finding well-being and good fortune in the city involves calming both the intimate and infinite surrounds. This research is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2010 and 2013 in several phases by the authors who were conducting research both independently and together in the areas of Johannesburg including Yeoville, Doornfontein, the inner-city Johannesburg and Rosettenville. This research was conducted primarily with black migrants from Southern Africa, particularly from Zimbabwe and migrants within South Africa and speaking Nguni languages (although for ChiShona speakers munyama is an equivalent term to umnyama). We structure this chapter in three parts. First, we give a conceptual and semantic outline of umnyama. Second, we focus on the experiences of umnyama in the lifeworlds of migrants to the city. Finally, we focus on healing rituals across traditional healers, Zionists and prophetic religious body rituals as responses to the perceptions of umnyama as felt and experienced by migrants clients. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)