Larissa Denk
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Jubuntu – practices and narratives of diaspora charity of Jewish South Africans
My doctoral research explores the correlation of practices and presentations of giving and their meaning for diasporic belonging for Jewish South Africans in Cape Town. Therefore, I aim to analyse which charitable acts of giving, like charity, donating and volunteering are aimed at Jewish or non-Jewish causes, how they are individually and collectively presented and how ambiguities inherent to gift giving are rationalised. In this context I want to explore how through these acts of giving individuals and institutions manifest their diasporic belonging to the (imagined) home, the host society and the local and global diaspora. Instead of focussing on remittances, transnationalism and displacement, I want to show how diaspora charity is a means to emplace members of the local diaspora community in the post-apartheid society and sustain local cohesion. In three stages from 2015-2017 I have conducted fieldwork in the Cape Town Jewish community for several months.