Sudanese migrants in a Maltese context : the process of identity formation

Abstract

I carried out my research from August 2006 to January 2007. Although I spent much of the time in Hal Far Open Centre (a tent village), it was not confined only to this place. Sometimes I visited the Marsa Open Centre and I also knew some Sudanese who hired their own apartment and we sometimes met in their home or at coffee shops. To understand the knowledge I got from Sudanese migrants in Malta, it is essential to look at the type of interaction Thad with the group, because this inevitably influences what is said, omitted, and the general behaviour of the persons I talked to and interacted with. Also as interaction becomes more intense with time, it brings a change, or a development, in what they say and in their attitude in general. It is also important to look at the difficulties I had during my ethnographic research and how I tried to overcome them. In the following chapters, I will to attempt to explore these questions: • What are those 'collective belongings' that form the basis on which a transnational Sudanese community is symbolically constructed? • How do these 'collective belongings' link up with the formation of individual and collective identities? • Do multiple identities exist within the individuals, and if so, how are these constructed and negotiated? • In what ways does the Maltese context shape a certain 'identity' and to what extent can this be negotiated by Sudanese migrants? • How do the public political discourses on migration by the Maltese population help us understand the discourses of Sudanese migrants?