Pragmatic Living in Motion: Two Chinese 'Migrants' and their Meanderings in the 'City of Gold'

Abstract

This essay unpacks the personal stories and experiences of two Chinese individuals who have lived in Johannesburg for a considerable time. It offers contextualised glimpses about ageing and living in a city in which inequality, excess, violence, and the mundane coexist in a complicated tension. By using ‘pragmatic living’ as a lens for social inquiry, the essay pursues two aims. One is to challenge more compartmentalised ways of examining such lives, which often transcend migrant, diasporic, transnational, and localised characteristics; the other is to find ways to discard or cut across rigid analytical binaries.