Contested alien spaces and the search for national identity: a study of ethnicity in light of xenophobic violence on migrants in South Africa

Abstract

Despite great strides made in transforming the State from authoritarian rule to multi-party democracy since 1994, the government of South Africa is facing the challenge of high influx of migrants especially from African countries north of the Limpopo River. The project of building a Rainbow Nation has been mainly centred on racial transformation but the high influx of migrants especially from African countries resulted in the reproduction of new forms of hatred and resentment. The new African migrants increased the competition of accessing national resources in a country with high inequalities yet with plenty of resources. It may be suggested that the increase in xenophobic violence since the early 2000s might be posited in a broader context. This study insisted on the argument that the xenophobic violence against African immigrants in South Africa is also embodied in the new ethnic constructions of nationalism in Africa in the era of globalisation where human mobility has become an important element in defining the African political landscape and access to resources. Historically, tensions and conflicts among ethnic groups in colonial and post-colonial sub-Saharan Africa, in general, also manifested the competitions resulted from the desire to control national resources and safeguarding social order. Xenophobic violence reflects discriminatory tendencies which are not only driven by the desire to legitimise entitlements to national resources but also of perceiving African non-nationals as a threat to social order and ethnic identity.

Mixed Narrative Discourses: Analysing the South African Government’s Response to Xenophobia in 2015

“…The connection between urban poverty, xenophobia and violence in industrialised and developing countries is not a uniquely South African phenomenon (Rodgers 2010;Morapedi 2007;McKnight 2008). However, fragile economies and political instability in certain regions in Africa have triggered large flows of migrants from their home countries to South Africa (Tevera 2011;Crush & Tevera 2010;Rusinga et al 2012). This has produced competitive multicultural urbanscapes and administrative challenges in such cities as Durban and Johannesburg.…”

“…During service delivery demonstrations, foreigners were particularly targeted (Relief Web 9 December 2010). Allan and Heese (n.d.) use 'relative deprivation' to explain the feeling of exclusion and rejection (by the government and society) among protesters, in which foreigners became scapegoats for poor service delivery by the government (Pambazuka News 15 December 2010; Rusinga et al 2012). Tevera (2013), however, argues that this explanation does not expound why other poor urban communities have remained calm, or why only foreign nationals are mostly targeted during the violence.…”

“…Nevertheless, in certain areas in Gauteng and Cape Town, local community leadership allegedly held meetings to find strategies to eradicate shops owned by foreigners (Rusinga et al 2012). Some scholars (Misago 2009;Misago et al 2009) thus blame the lack of institutional structures and trusted local leadership structures in the affected areas.…”

Differentiation of femininities in contemporary Kerala: evidence from left-behind families of women transmigrant

“…Nevertheless, along with these intermingling of diverse cultures, these cities have also become sites of identity conflicts and contestations. Anti-immigration policies are increasingly used to reclaim 'national' identity pushing the immigrants to the margins (Kofman, 2005;Rusinga et al, 2012). Indian transmigrants have been adversely affected by the rising efforts towards nationalization in the Gulf countries (Oommen, 2016;Zachariah et al, 2016).…”