Afrophobia, “black on black” violence and the new racism in South Africa: the nexus between adult education and mutual co-existence
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Date
2022
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Cogent Social Sciences
Abstract
Black South Africans have been widely described in the popular media as
having anti-foreigner sentiments, particularly towards African migrants in the
country. Anchored on labels such as “makwerekwere” (a derogatory word used to
describe African migrants in the country) and “foreigners”, such sentiments have
Unfortunately, this resulted in waves of violent attacks on African migrants, leading to
loss of lives and properties. These actions have been described as being
“Afrophobic”, “Black on Black” violence, and a new form of racism in South Africa.
We contend that these vices cannot be divorced from the history of Apartheid, which
fostered a system of fear of and mistrust for other foreign African nationals through
isolating black South Africans from the international community. In this paper, we
employ Kenneth Waltz’s levels of analysis as an analytical framework to examine
the conceptualisations of Afrophobia, “black on black” violence and the so-called
new racism in South Africa. Using Bronwyn Harris’ thematic classifications of the
Using various hypotheses of the causes of xenophobia, we analyse the rationale behind
the increasing anti-migrant tendencies of black South Africans. Going beyond this
analysis, the paper examines how adult education could help promote tolerance
and co-existence between South Africans and foreign nationals
Description
Research Article
Keywords
afrophobia, racism, apartheid