‘Africa Must Be … One Place, One Country’: Xenophobia and the Unmediated Representation of African Migrants in South Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 251-266
Author(s):  
Pragna Rugunanan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
African Migrants

Language and the geopolitics of (dis)location: A study of Zimbabwean Shona and Ndebele speakers in Johannesburg

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gugulethu Siziba ◽  
Lloyd Hill
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Strong Association ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Migration Literature ◽  
African Migrants ◽  
Social Positioning ◽  
Language And Ethnicity ◽  
The City

AbstractThe Zimbabwean diaspora is a well-documented phenomenon. While much research has been done on Zimbabwean migration to South Africa, the role that language plays in this process has not been well researched. This article draws on South African census data and qualitative fieldwork data to explore the manner in which Zimbabwean migrants use languages to appropriate spaces for themselves in the City of Johannesburg. The census data shows that African migrants tend to concentrate in the Johannesburg CBD, and fieldwork in this area reveals that Zimbabwean migrants are particularly well established in two suburbs—Yeoville and Hillbrow. The article explores migrant language repertoires, which include English, Shona, Ndebele, and a variant of Zulu. While many contributions to the migration literature tend to assume a strong association between language and ethnicity, the article shows how this relationship is mediated by geographic location and social positioning within the city. (Language, migration, Johannesburg, South Africa, Zimbabwe)*

Do migrants lives matter? A comparison of causes of death between African migrants from SADC countries and South Africans in the post-Apartheid era (2002-2015)

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-468
Author(s):  
Lorena Núñez Carrasco ◽  
Abha Jaiswal ◽  
Jairo Arrow ◽  
Michel Kasongo Muteba ◽  
Bidhan Aryal
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
South African ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Content Type ◽  
South Africans ◽  
African Migrants ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Migrants historically and currently form an integral part of South Africa. Their importance and contribution to the country’s economy and development are undeniable. Yet, life for African migrants in South Africa is becoming increasingly difficult. An analysis of migrants mortality until now has not been conducted. The purpose of this paper is to compare the trends of the cause of death among South African Citizens (RSA) and African migrants from countries that form part of the South African Development Community (SADC), that make up nearly 70% of the migrants in the country. Design/methodology/approach Using Stats SA data of all registered deaths in South Africa (2002-2015), this paper compares all causes of death (COD) between RSA and SADC migrants. This paper studies the patterns in COD among these population groups for the years 2002 to 2015 in deaths due to infectious diseases and unnatural causes. Logistic regression was used to quantify the odds of dying due to infectious disease and unnatural causes for each population group. This paper included a calculation of the odds of dying due to assault, as a sub-group within unnatural deaths. Findings A total of 7,611,129 deaths were recorded for the local South African population and 88,114 for SADC migrants for the period under study (2002–2015). The burden of mortality for both infectious diseases and unnatural causes was higher for SADC migrants as compared to RSA. SADC migrants were 1.22 times more likely to die from infectious diseases than RSA (P < 0.001, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.12, 1.23). Similarly, SADC migrants were 2.7 times more likely to die from unnatural causes than South Africans (P < 0.001, 95% CI (2.17, 2.23). The odds of dying from assault was the same as that of unnatural causes. Also, it was found that women were more likely to die from infectious diseases (OR = 1.11, P < 0.001, 95% CI (1.11, 1.11) compared to men, regardless of nationality. Research limitations/implications The bias resulting from migrants who return home to die due to illness, described in the literature as the salmon bias, is present in this paper. This paper, therefore, concludes death due to infectious diseases could be higher among migrants. Practical implications The heightened mortality among SADC migrants can be related to the impact of social determinants of health such as living and working conditions and barriers to access to health care. Moreover, the higher probability of death due to unnatural causes such as assaults constitute a proxy to estimate the impact of xenophobic violence observed in the country over the past decade. Policy interventions should focus on migrant health-care systems. Also, programmes to mitigate and curb xenophobic sentiments should be carried out to address the growing disparity of preventable unnatural causes of death. Originality/value This study offers the first quantification of mortality due to infectious diseases and unnatural causes among RSA and SADC migrants.

Introduction

Learning Zulu ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Sanders
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Black African ◽  
African Migrants ◽  
Privileged Status ◽  
Correct Form ◽  
History Of ◽  
Secret History

This book examines how the idea of learning Zulu became intertwined with issues of property, proprietorship, and appropriation. Drawing on the author's experience in trying to learn Zulu, the book explains how, in South Africa, the signifier “Zulu” had come to have a unique and privileged status. In this introduction, the author reflects on the play Ngicela uxolo, by Nkosinathi I. Ngwane, and how he began to understand the secret history of language, and language learning more specifically. He shares how some black African migrants were forced, under threat of violence, to pronounce shibboleths in Zulu. He also narrates the colonial- and apartheid-era elevation of “Zulu” involving intensive white appropriation and translation and shows that when missionaries in mid-nineteenth-century Natal standardized the Zulu language by writing grammars and compiling dictionaries, they also made Zulu—in its “pure” or correct form—a yardstick for being good, both morally and politically.

scholarly journals Understanding South African Xenophobia Through the Prism of J. M. Coetzee’s Summertime ‘Scenes from a Provincial Life’

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 69-82
Author(s):  
Polona Zajec
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
The Other ◽  
African Society ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
African Migrants ◽  
Pan African ◽  
Cultural Responses

The xenophobic violence and discrimination that greets African migrants in post-apartheid South Africa highlights a social and political issue that threatens the idea(l) of the open pan-African society. The article looks at this xenophobia through the lens of J. M. Coetzee fictionalized memoir Summertime ‘Scenes from a Provincial Life’ and tries to develop a new understanding of South Africa’s relationship to the African ‘other’ – or to the ‘other’ Africa, relevant not only in the context of postcolonial studies but also in a more global perspective on social and cultural responses to processes of migration.

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