Afrophobia, “black on black” violence and the new racism in South Africa: the nexus between adult education and mutual co-existence

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 “foreigner”, such sentiments have unfortunately 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 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.

Keywords

• afrophobia
• “black on black” violence
• racism
• South Africa
• apartheid
• adult education