Abstract
Despite its chequered history in relation to human rights issues, South
Africa has been playing host to peoples displaced and dispossessed by
geographies of anger and war, poverty, economic meltdown and other
human rights atrocities. Perceiving South Africa as a sanctuary, there has
been a steady wave of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees coming
to the country in search of better personal and professional prospects.
Qualified teachers have been among the sizeable cohort of professionals
seeking a new home in South Africa. This article reports on qualitative
research, which comprised a sample of seven refugee teachers. It
provides pen portraits of their bio/geographical pre-flight, flight and
settlement experiences as they emerged from individual interview data.
The article draws on theoretical insights from postcolonial theory, deconstructionist
conceptions of hospitality and critical feminist notions of
communities of practice to explore the personal and professional experiences
of these teachers who hold part-time employment at a private
school. Some of the participants also hold temporary posts at public
schools in Johannesburg. Proceeding from the contention that teachers
frame their identities in relation to how they feel about themselves politically,
professionally, and emotionally the article explores the dialectic of
refugee teacher as a guest and a host in classrooms in a foreign country.
It argues that notwithstanding the non-negotiable imperative that the
rights of refugee children remain high on the national redress educational
agenda; of equal importance is the necessity to be cognisant of refugee
teachers who are teaching in the South African education system.