Thank you for the countless things you have done for me and my family, the great opportunities you have blessed me with, for believing in me and never letting me give up. To my family, thank you for loving me even though I spent most of my time away.
P REAMBLE
The study is based on an assumption that 'home food' helps to maintain social identity. Because of this, the majority (as the empirical research and participant accounts reveal) have not yet saved enough money to travel to their home country to buy their 'home food' as often as they want. .
B ACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Counihan and Van Esterik (1997) perceive food as one of the ways that serves as recognition of 'origin' and the embodiment of cultural identity. It explored the cultural role of 'home' food in strengthening social ties and maintaining an identity for Sierra Leoneans.
M OTIVATION FOR STUDY
This study explored beyond these well-researched tools and artefacts and placed importance on food, specifically 'home food'. Through this study I hope to contribute new ethnographic material in the context of the role of food in social networks, or 'social food networks'.
RESEARCH PROBLEM AND KEY QUESTIONS
O BJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study offers a new area of focus as there is little information on the social role of food in relation to network formation and re-territorialisation. Boundary formation or the formulation of 'difference' through 'home food' and 'home food' sharing in social networks.
S URVEY OF EXISTING RESEARCH
Sierra Leone
Nodes, hubs, actors and bridges are some of the ways we can understand a network. Although the majority of Sierra Leoneans who were part of this study have not visited their homeland for years, they consider themselves transnational migrants.
T HEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
- Social capital theory
- Social identity theory
The increase in the number of people living longer than one country has increased the complexity of migration. Jenkins (1996:90) defines social identity as 'the constitution in social practice of the intermingled and inseparable themes of human similarity and difference'.
A NTHROPOLOGY OF FOOD
The Sierra Leoneans take in their heredity and uniqueness (this I gathered as during interviews that they constantly compared themselves to other nationalities). As a result, they see the union as a paradise where they can freely express themselves to their fictional families.
S TRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION
This part of this research examines how Sierra Leonians in Durban use their 'home food' to build networks and how 'home food' is used to strengthen social ties. It also presents some of the ethnographic challenges experienced during this research.
- I NTRODUCTION
- M ETHODOLOGY : RESEARCH DESIGN
- Methods of data collection
- Sampling and sample selection techniques
- Data processing and analysis
- V ALIDITY AND RELIABILITY
- E THICAL ISSUES
- L IMITATIONSOF THIS STUDY
- C ONCLUSION
Due to the limited number of Sierra Leoneans living in Durban, this study did not specify the ideal informants' gender or occupation. It is for this reason that this study does not cite previous research on migrants using 'home food' to strengthen their identity.
- I NTRODUCTION
- S ENSORY MEMORIES OF ‘ HOME FOOD ’
- M OTHER - MEMORIES ASSOCIATED WITH ( HOME ) FOOD
- M EMORIES OF ROUTINE ( RITUAL ) ACTIVITIES
- M EMORIES OF LEARNING TO PREPARE ( HOME ) FOOD
- C ONCLUSION
He admitted that 'homemade food' is one of the artefacts that connects him to his homeland. While ginger beer is considered an important part of Sierra Leonean meals, it is not the only food that evokes memories for these migrants. Toni said that food is one of the artifacts that constantly reminds him of home and being a migrant.
Food is one of the artifacts migrants use to evoke memories of home (home space) to reterritorialize their space (host space).
I NTRODUCTION
H OW S IERRA L EONEAN MIGRANT NETWORKS WERE FORMED
She told us that the first time her family met their fellow Sierra Leonean, they were excited as they were invited to dinner at Max's home. While the two experiences differ depending on how these migrants met, it is clear early on that 'native food' played a major role. Therefore, eating "homemade food" can be considered one of the ways in which a person "identifies", as illustrated by the example of Ben and Moses.
Friendships and Association meetings are the main route to have access to basic needs and access to 'home food'.
T HE S IERRA L EONE M IGRANT A SSOCIATION AS A NETWORK
Membership in the association has many benefits; informants expressed the most prominent advantage of having access to "home-made food" and to "family". Max, like Mary, is closely connected to other nodes that have access to "native food". From this we can conclude that 'local food' nourishes the lives of these migrants in many different ways.
For these migrants, 'home food' is important for preserving their home identity and their heritage.
N ETWORKING : FRIENDS WITH ( FOOD ) BENEFITS
The above is an important narrative as it revealed that these migrants yearn for 'home food'. It was 'home cooking' and Krio, the language spoken by the majority of Sierra Leoneans. For Eric who eats 'home food', I am always a highlight of any meeting or friendly visit in which he may participate.
His cooking skills have made him popular in their workplace as they (male colleagues) cannot cook 'home food' well.
C ONCLUSION
Even at work, his colleagues, otherwise migrants, always ask him if he has any "homemade food". This illustration of the bonds forged through 'homemade food' correlates with Lupton's argument when he says that 'food sharing is an important part of kinship and friendship networks in all societies. ". Therefore, "local food" is a means of maintaining migrant networks and of establishing and maintaining friendships.
It can also be said that 'home food' plays a role in maintaining migrants' identity, as discussed in the next chapter.
I NTRODUCTION
When we are here [association meetings] it is as if we are at home, we eat our 'home food' and speak our language at times, we even sing and dance just like we do at home, no one calls us makwerekwere. This is relevant in the case of Sierra Leoneans, when they learned that some of their South African friends were not happy with their 'home food', they used it to distance themselves from their friends. These accounts also speak to the reluctance of these migrants to compromise their identity enterprise; rather, they chose to maintain their identity by continuing to cook and eat their 'home food' despite the negative reactions they received from their local friends.
While there is evidence here of the use of “native food” as a boundary separating these migrants from the rest of the people living in Durban, my observations revealed that the boundary was not impermeable, but rather porous.
C OLLECTIVE IDENTITY
In contrast to these 'negative' food-related relationships, some Sierra Leonean men are married to South Africans. Moses' wife's preference for South African food may be one of the reasons why she was never present in any year of the Association Meetings that I observed; all the me etings h ad. However, she attended the picnic where lunch was a mix of South African food and Sierra Leonean food.
In fact, most of the South African and none of the Sierra Leonean partners attended this event.
U SING ( HOME ) FOOD TO MAINTAIN HOME IDENTITY
Moses said that a few days after he arrived in South Africa he came across a woman selling bitter leaves on the street. For the first time in South Africa they had something that they could identify with wonderful memories and that served as an important tool to preserve who they are, being Sierra Leone. This is seen when some Sierra Leoneans prefer to wear their cultural clothes, speak their mother tongue and eat their 'home food' while in South Africa.
Billy said he was doing it to maintain his Sierra Leonean identity, and Max said: “Even though I'm in South Africa, I'm still doing what I used to do back home because it's the way I was. aised".
I DENTITY ( FOOD ) SHOCK
Identity is related to socialization; it is also related to family relationships and residential areas. I don't mind that because it's part of who she is, she's a South African, so she prefers her food. I think it's a Sierra Leonean thing, but people from Cameroon and Kenya do it too.
The difference between the rice commonly available in South Africa and that which Sierra Leoneans grew up eating challenges the food preferences of these migrants as Goodman's narrative expresses how he would rather not eat it and make it a 'home meal' here in the South. Africa.
C ONCLUSION
I NTRODUCTION
S TUDY CHALLENGES
The biased narratives about Sierra Leone and individuals from that country in the academic literature limited this research, as there was not much scientific literature to compare the findings to. Grounded Theory is useful for creating knowledge about a group's behavioral patterns (see McCallin, 2003). Because grounded theory is both a theoretical and methodological approach, it allowed for thematic conceptualization of the primary data I had collected.
Although it was time-consuming, it was still useful for this study, as it allowed me to contextualize and put into perspective a familiar narrative.
R EVIEW OF L ITERATURE
To make sense of all the data collected, this study used two social science theories; social capital theory and social identity theory. This study interrogated the relationship between migrants and how heritage was maintained and strengthened through access to "food at home". This theory opened an opportunity for this study to engage with issues of collective identity.
This comment applies to the Sierra Leonean community in Durban (as far as this study reveals).
C RITICAL A PPRAISAL OF C HAPTERS
For these migrants, “home food” served as an identity marker, in some cases setting them apart from the rest of the South African community. For Sierra Leoneans, “home food” was an important channel through which home identity could be maintained in the receiving country. The environment in which 'home food' was eaten was 'conducive' for these migrants, because they ate as a group and shared from the same plate.
Desperate for 'home food', sometimes Sierra Leoneans visit Nigerian restaurants for 'home food'.
C ONCLUSION
The role of migrant associations in adaptation, integration and development:. the case of Nigerian migrant associations in Accra, Ghana. In search of Adonis: marriage strategies and gender identity in Greek transnational migration", The Greek Review of Social Research. If you can't access your favorite 'home food', what South African dish do you supplement your cravings with.
12. Do you or any of your friends know people who regularly go "home" and return with "homemade food" that they sell here, what kind of food they sell.
