Soft Architecture: Afro-Indian Spatial Strategies Under Hard Migrations

Paper Abstract: This work draws attention to the material spatial practices that accompanied conditions of reclamation by migrants in new contexts, specifically those where the hard infrastructures of arrival spaces presented a pre-existing and exclusionary frame. It explores the value of soft architectural practices in creating meaning and agency for migrant communities in the making of their spaces. Upon entering a hard place of arrival, migrants have often used soft architectures in both the literal construction of their spaces and through the soft spatial systems tied to certain micro-transactions and community organisations. These soft spatialities are related to shared immaterial and material qualities of African and Indian material cultures with strong historical links and imaginings associated with identities, contemporary aspirations, and rituals. The passage of Indians to South Africa, and subsequently the flows of communities, commodities, and ideas, marks the point at which two continents, Asia and Africa, have connected with each other since 1860. Within the South African Indian diaspora these collective identities can be made tangible through the tactility of plants, food, and textile. These cultural forms have interchangeable modalities, sometimes existing in fixed architecture but elsewhere rather seen as portable, mental and ritual elements connected to temporary and variable experiences. This thesis argues that these ephemeral practices form a legitimate and valuable architecture of the city, while both mediating and disrupting traditional architectural forms. The work explores participatory and creative research methods, representing the dynamic and performative nature of people, objects, rituals, symbols, and knowledge.