Nereida Ripero Muñiz is a lecturer and researcher based at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has a PhD in Migration Studies from the same university. Her research focuses on the Somali diaspora in sub-Saharan Africa, taking a gender approach and using a variety of methodologies such as ethnography, narrative enquiry or participatory research methods.
About
Originally form Madrid, Spain, I am a lecturer and researcher based in sub-Saharan Africa since 2007. Firstly in Nairobi, where I lectured at United States International University for three years and since 2011 in Johannesburg, where I am currently the Head of Spanish and Latin American Studies at the School of Literature Language and Media of the University of the Witwatersrand.
Over the past decade I developed the academic curriculum of the department, taking into account Africanization and decolonization approaches, expanding the undergraduate and postgraduate programs with the creation of new courses focused on postcolonial and afro Hispanic literatures.
My research is interdisciplinary focusing on diaspora, identities, gender and migration, with special focus on Somali migrant women in the sub-Saharan area. I use a variety of methodologies on my research: ethnography, autoethnography, narrative enquiry and research arts methods.
I recently published the monograph: Cosmopolitan refugees: Somali migrant women in Nairobi and Johannesburg, which discusses my research on the topic over the last 12 years.
Publications
I have published about the Somali diaspora in sub-Saharan Africa, with special interest on processes of in identity formations in diasporic spaces. I have also published on the process of Africanizing the curriculum in south Africa higher education. Below you can see a list of publication with direct links to the books or articles. For any firewalled articles or chapters that you would like to access, please feel free to email me and I will be happy to assist you.
Books
ARTS-BASED RESEARCH METHODS WITH UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES
This practical and interactive resource is the result of a year-long collaboration between researchers at UCL and the University of the Witwatersrand. It brings together arts-based research practices, community knowledge, and academic insights to offer practical, creative approaches for engaging underserved communities through creative approaches such as storytelling, performance, and visual arts. The toolkit features 16 global case studies on topics like homelessness, migration, and identity, and provides best practice guidance on co-creation, trust-building, and ethical engagement. The toolkit highlights the power of arts to make research more inclusive, expressive, and human-cantered. It explores how creative methods can amplify voices often left unheard and support wellbeing, identity, and resilience. It also features multimedia links, quotes, and rich examples designed to inspire and support arts-based research in diverse settings.
Authored by Dr. Nereida Ripero-Muñiz, Kate Shand, Dr. Humera Iqbal and Professor Monica Lakhanpaul. Supported by the UCL-Wits Bilateral Partnership Development Seed Fund.
THE MEANING OF HOME. A toolkit for storytelling interventions with migrant children
The Meaning of Home presents and reflects on a six-week storytelling workshop with children from the Three2Six project at the Dominican Convent School in Belgravia. This booklet describes the activities during the sessions and offers reflections on the processes of and the implications that arts-based interventions have on the psychosocial development of children, the contribution to their mental wellbeing and the improvement of their literacy skills. The booklet aims to be a toolkit to help replicate the workshop in other contexts. It is directed at academics working in the field of arts and migration, and practitioners and community leaders who wish to implement these kinds of interventions with migrant and under-served communities.
Cosmopolitan Refugees: Somali Migrant Women in Nairobi and Johannesburg
Exploring the dynamics of identity formation processes in diasporic spaces, this book analyses how gender, cultural and religious practices are renegotiated in a situation of displacement. The author presents the comparative case study of Somali migrant women in Nairobi and Johannesburg: two cosmopolitan urban hubs in the global South. The book is based on and includes ethnographic observations in Nairobi and Johannesburg, first-person accounts of migration journeys across the African continent and women’s reflections on what it means to be a Somali woman today.
Metropolitan Nomads: A journey through Joburg little Mogadishu
A collaborative project with documentary photographer Salym Fayad, Metropolitan Nomads uses photography an ethnographic approach to take an intimate look to the everyday life of Somali migrants in Johannesburg, where collective stories of migration and survival interweave with eh individual desires and hopes of seeking a better life outside a country shattered by decades of internal conflict.
Book review
Cosmopolitan Refugees: Somali Migrant Women in Nairobi and Johannesburg
“This is a fine book that offers fascinating comparative material from two well-chosen locations to discuss the lives and identity of Somali women migrants in Kenya and South Africa. It is theoretically astute and contains much important ethnographic material. I can see it becoming a key reference for the study of Somali diaspora in particular, and diaspora and identity in general.”
Neil Carrier, University of Bristol
Academic articles
Decolonising and Africanising the Spanish studies curriculum under emergency online teaching: introducing Equatorial Guinean literature in South African higher education. with Thato Senabe,Musa Maseko and Yolanda Reigadas. Anthropology Southern Africa 44(4): 192-205.( 2021)
Agency of Somali Migrant Women in Nairobi and Johannesburg: Negotiating Religious and Cultural Identifications in Diasporic Spaces, African Studies Review, 63 (1): 65-92. (2020)
Metropolitan Nomads: a journey through Jo’burg’s “little Mogadishu”, with Salym Fayad Anthropology Southern Africa, 39(3): 232-240. (2016)
Book chapters
The Port and the Island Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Identity Constructions among Somali Women in Nairobi and Johannesburg, in Neil Carrier and Tabea Scharrer, eds. Mobile Urbanity. Somali Presence in Urban East Africa. New York- Oxford: Berghahn Books, pp. 58-75. (2019)
Challenges in the field, in Nereida Ripero-Muñiz, ed. Metropolitan Nomads: a journey through Jo’burg’s little Mogadishu. MoVE: Johannesburg, pp. 86-92.( 2017)
Nostalgia narratives as reconstructions of identity in the Spanish exile., in Kathleen Thorpe, Anette Horn, Alida Poeti and Vérnonique Tadjo eds., Hospitality and Hostility in the Multilingual Global Village, Stellenbosch: Sun Press, pp. 151-16. (2014)
Other publications
Everyday Mayfair. Security at the Margins blog (2016)
Metropolitan Nomads: Somali Women of Mayfair. Buwa! AJournal on African Women’s Experiences, no. 6: 18–22.( 2015)
Mayar, el barrio somalí de Johannesburgo, EL PAÏS, Planeta Futuro, Blog Seres Urbanos.
PhD Thesis
Contact
Whether you have a research collaboration opportunity, a speaking engagement, or would simply like to discuss migration-related topics, I would be delighted to connect with you. Please feel free to reach out to me using the contact information below. I look forward to engaging in meaningful conversations and contributing to the field of migration research.
Nereida Ripero Muñiz 
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