Abstract This ethnographic study examines how migrant-driven enterprises in Bellville, South Africa, such as cross-border bus operations, mobile restaurants, and vending, serve as spaces of economic survival and sociality. Drawing on concepts of incompleteness, conviviality, hushamwari (‘ethic of friendship’), and Ubuntu (shared humanity), this study highlights the ways in which these migrant forms of entrepreneurship foster interdependence, belonging, and solidarity. While conviviality emphasizes cooperation across diversity, hushamwari offers a deeper understanding of moral obligations, care, and reciprocity in migrant communities. The operationalization of hushamwari within these enterprises creates inclusive spaces that bridge ethnic and national divides. This anthropological approach reveals how these migrant enterprises transcend transactional relationships, contributing to cultural continuity and collective well-being. These grassroots practices of conviviality help foster inclusion and sustainability within Bellville. The study goes on to critique the limitations of state-led frameworks, which often marginalize migrants and ignore their contributions to social cohesion. This paper argues that the interplay of the concepts of incompleteness, mobility, conviviality, Ubuntu, and hushamwari plays a crucial role in navigating precarity, fostering resilience, and challenging exclusionary social and political narratives. Ultimately, it calls for a rethinking of migration and belonging, proposing these locally grounded concepts as tools for fostering peace, cooperation, and social renewal amidst rising global exclusionism.
Tamuka Chekero (Sat,) studied this question.
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