“How far I go is not my choice”. Immobility, administrative violence and ontological insecurity amongst young people in situations of forced migration in South Africa

Whilst migration has been characterised as a quest for mobility, our research in South Africa has shown how young people in situations of forced migration experience multiple forms of immobility both physical and social as different legal, political, economic and social barriers restrict both their ability to be mobile within physical urban spaces and their social mobility within South African society. This article, based on focus group discussions with young people aged 15–25 in the city of eThekwini-Durban, analyses these multiple forms of immobility which create situations of ontological insecurity whereby these young people cannot project themselves into a stable or positive future adult life. Using Ahmed’s notion of “being stopped”, we show how this “stoppedness” leads to fundamental ontological insecurities amongst these young people as they are unable to develop their life plans in the same way as their South African peers. We also examine their strategies for coping with and resisting this ontological insecurity and stoppedness.