scholarly journals The Economic Roots of Anti-immigrant Prejudice in the Global South: Evidence from South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 228-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam S. Harris ◽  
Michael G. Findley ◽  
Daniel L. Nielson ◽  
Kennard L. Noyes
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Global South ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Economic Threat ◽  
List Experiment ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
Threat Theory

Most research in developed countries on prejudice toward foreign-born minorities suggests that cultural rather than economic threat motivates xenophobia. Prior studies leave unanswered questions about the origins of anti-immigrant prejudice in developing countries, where one-third of worldwide immigration occurs. Alternatively, developing-country research simply assumes that economic threat drives prejudice in the global South but has not presented credible empirical evidence. In this study, we seek to reliably measure anti-immigrant prejudice and examine possible determinants of prejudice and prejudice-based voting behavior. Through a list experiment conducted on a random sample of South Africans ( N = 1,088), we investigate the predictive power of economic threat theory in explaining prejudice toward immigrants in South Africa. The results show that significant prejudice toward immigrants exists among South Africans and that such prejudice is higher among the unemployed, but these sentiments do not seem to influence vote choice. The evidence suggests that the determinants of anti-immigrant sentiments due to South-South migration are distinct from South-North migration.

scholarly journals Barriers to Household Waste Recycling: Empirical Evidence from South Africa

Recycling ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilma Strydom
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Waste Recycling ◽  
Household Waste ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Local Evidence ◽  
The One ◽  
The Unemployed

A small percentage of South Africans regularly recycle most of their recyclables, which was only 4% and 7.2% in 2010 and 2015, respectively. This empirical quantitative study, the first study on this scale in South Africa, aimed to ascertain the reasons why people do not recycle. This paper reports the results from a survey conducted among a representative sample of 2004 respondents in eleven of South Africa’s large urban areas. Each respondent selected three main reasons why people do not recycle from ten possible options as well as the one main reason. The results show that (i) insufficient space, (ii) no time, (iii) dirty and untidiness associated with recycling, (iv) lack of recycling knowledge, and (v) inconvenient recycling facilities are perceived as the main reasons why people do not recycle. Non-recycling households (74% of the respondents) give high priority to time and knowledge. Low recyclers—those that sporadically recycle few items—and young South Africans give high priority to services (inconvenient facilities and no curbside collection). Lack of knowledge is an important factor for people from dense settlements as well as the unemployed looking for work. Improved recycling services such as regular curbside collections have the potential to overcome time and space barriers. Recycling services as well as recycling knowledge will have to improve to encourage the youth, the unemployed, and those living in informal areas to recycle and realize the opportunities locked in the waste sector. The perceptions of respondents from non-recycling households differ from those from recycling households. The larger representation of non-recyclers in developing countries emphasize the importance of understanding local evidence when comparing and implementing results from developed countries. The learning from this study could also assist other developing countries to encourage household participation in recycling initiatives.

Region of Birth and Child Mortality among Black Migrants to South Africa: Is there a foreign-born advantage?

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany L Green ◽  
Amos C Peters
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Child Mortality ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Black Immigrants ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Region Of Origin ◽  
Child Deaths

Much of the existing evidence for the healthy immigrant advantage comes from developed countries. We investigate whether an immigrant health advantage exists in South Africa, an important emerging economy.  Using the 2001 South African Census, this study examines differences in child mortality between native-born South African and immigrant blacks.  We find that accounting for region of origin is critical: immigrants from southern Africa are more likely to experience higher lifetime child mortality compared to the native-born population.  Further, immigrants from outside of southern Africa are less likely than both groups to experience child deaths.  Finally, in contrast to patterns observed in developed countries, we detect a strong relationship between schooling and child mortality among black immigrants.

scholarly journals “A Sense of an Absent Future.” Pervading Post-apartheid South African Literature: Re-conceptualisations of Temporality in André Brink’s Transitional Writings

Werkwinkel ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 37-58
Author(s):  
Paulina Grzęda
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
African Literature ◽  
Global South ◽  
The Other ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Realist Novels ◽  
The Future ◽  
South African Literature

AbstractNumerous commentators have recently indicated a prevailing sense among South africans of a historical repetition, a pervasive sentiment that the country has failed to shake off the legacy of apartheid, which extends into the present, and possibly also the future. 1 Such an observation has led South African psychologist, derek Hook, to conclude that in order to adequately address the post-apartheid reality and allow the process of working through trauma, there is a need to abandon the linear Judeo-Christian model of time derived from the Enlightenment. Instead, Hook advocates to start thinking of post-apartheid South Africa not as a socio-economically or racially stratified society, but rather as a country of unsynchronized, split, often overlapping temporalities. Thus, he offers to perceive of ‘chaffing temporalities’ of the contemporary predicament. Resende and Thies, on the other hand, call for a need for a reconceptualised approach to temporality not only when dealing with heavily traumatized postcolonial countries such as South Africa, but more generally when addressing the geopolitics of all the countries of the so-called ‘Global South.’ My paper will discuss the manner in which reconceptualised postcolonial temporality has been addressed by South African transitional writings by André Brink. I will argue that, although Brink’s magical realist novels of the 1990s imaginatively engage with ‘the chaffing temporalities’ of the post-apartheid predicament, their refusal to project any viable visions of the country’s future might ultimately problematise the thorough embrace of Hook’s ‘ethics of temporality.’

Democracy and distribution in highly unequal economies: the case of South Africa

2001 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicoli Nattrass ◽  
Jeremy Seekings
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Party System ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
Redistributive Policies ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Core Section ◽  
The Unemployed

Given that incomes in South Africa are distributed very unequally, it might be expected that the establishment of representative democracy would result in the adoption of redistributive policies. Yet overall inequality has not declined since 1994. The electoral and party system provides uneven pressure for redistribution. The fact that poor South Africans have the vote ensures that some areas of public policy do help the poor. The post-apartheid government not only inherited a surprisingly redistributive set of social policies (welfare, education and health care), but has made changes that entail even more redistribution. But these policies do little to help a core section of the poor in South Africa: the unemployed, and especially households in which no one is working. Other public policies serve to disadvantage this marginalised constituency: labour market and other economic policies serve to steer the economy down a growth path that shuts out many of the unskilled and unemployed. The workings of these policies remain opaque, making it unlikely that poor citizens will use their vote to effect necessary policy reforms.

scholarly journals Ubuntu and philoxenia: Ubuntu and Christian worldviews as responses to xenophobia

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mojalefa L.J. Koenane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The Self ◽  
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽  
Common Humanity ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
The World ◽  
Institute Of Technology

Xenophobic attitudes and violence have become regular phenomena in South Africa and other parts of the world. Xenophobia is of great concern not only to South Africans, but also to most developed countries or countries that are considered economically and politically viable by their neighbours, and which offer a safe haven for people who, for whatever reason, are forced to seek refuge elsewhere. Although xenophobia is not unique to South Africa, its most worrying aspect in South Africa is the government’s inability to deal with this evil. The article seeks to challenge South Africa as a dominantly Ubuntu and Judeo-Christian influenced country to fight xenophobia through appealing to Ubuntu values and philoxenia. By Judeo-Christian, I mean religious beliefs and values that are common to both these religions, namely Judaism and Christianity. The article further suggests the ontology that perceives the ‘other’ as an extension of the self. It is argued that South African citizens are collectively responsible for acts of violence against foreign nationals and should thus look for a morally sustainable solution to this evil. The article relies heavily on the work of Kristeva, entitled Strangers to Ourselves, and on the work of Nussbaum, entitled Ubuntu: Reflections of a South African on Our Common Humanity, in Reflections, the Society for Organizational Learning and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

scholarly journals A socio-economic analysis of african female street traders in the Johannesburg CBD

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Lalthapersad-Pillay
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
African Women ◽  
Street Trading ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Labour Legislation ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
Sector Work

In recent years the informal sector in both less developed countries and in developing countries, including South Africa, has undergone rapid growth. In South Africa, high levels of unemployment and poverty have pushed many of the unemployed into self-employment activities in the informal sector. The informal sector is a highly diversified segment, and street trading is one type of survivalist activity. In South Africa, street trading is conducted mainly by African women, who sell mostly fruits, vegetables and cooked foods. The quintessential feature of informal sector work is its precarious nature, especially as it evades the ambit of social security and labour legislation. This article explores the nature of street trading undertaken in the Johannesburg CBD, characterised by poor working conditions, low income, extremely long hours and overcrowding.

Reframing Xenophobia in South Africa as Colour-Blind: The Limits of the Afro Phobia Thesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-444
Author(s):  
Amanuel Isak Tewolde
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Black African ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Online Newspaper ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Realistic Conflict Theory

Many scholars and South African politicians characterize the widespread anti-foreigner sentiment and violence in South Africa as dislike against migrants and refugees of African origin which they named ‘Afro-phobia’. Drawing on online newspaper reports and academic sources, this paper rejects the Afro-phobia thesis and argues that other non-African migrants such as Asians (Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis and Chinese) are also on the receiving end of xenophobia in post-apartheid South Africa. I contend that any ‘outsider’ (White, Asian or Black African) who lives and trades in South African townships and informal settlements is scapegoated and attacked. I term this phenomenon ‘colour-blind xenophobia’. By proposing this analytical framework and integrating two theoretical perspectives — proximity-based ‘Realistic Conflict Theory (RCT)’ and Neocosmos’ exclusivist citizenship model — I contend that xenophobia in South Africa targets those who are in close proximity to disadvantaged Black South Africans and who are deemed outsiders (e.g., Asian, African even White residents and traders) and reject arguments that describe xenophobia in South Africa as targeting Black African refugees and migrants.

Is Xenophobic Violence and Criminality Systemic in Post-Apartheid South Africa? A Critical Analysis of Growing Denialism to 2015 Incidents

Politeia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mbekezeli Comfort Mkhize ◽  
Kongko Louis Makau
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Hate Crime ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Foreign Nationals ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
The Government

This article argues that the 2015 xenophobic violence was allowed to spread due to persistent inaction by state officials. While the utterances of King Goodwill Zwelithini have in part fuelled the attacks, officials tend to perceive acts of xenophobia as ordinary crimes. This perception has resulted in ill-advised responses from the authorities, allowing this kind of hate crime against foreign nationals to engulf the whole country. In comparison with similar attacks in 2008, the violent spree in 2015 is characterised by a stronger surge in criminal activities. The militancy showcased fed a sense of insecurity amongst foreigners, creating a situation inconsistent with the country’s vaunted respect for human rights and the rule of law. Investors lost confidence in the country’s outlook, owing in part to determined denialism in government circles regarding the targeting of foreigners. While drawing from existing debates, the article’s principal objective is to critically examine the structural problems that enable xenophobia to proliferate and the (in)effectiveness of responses to the militancy involved in the 2015 attacks. Of particular interest are the suggested responses that could be effective in curbing future violence. The article concludes that xenophobia is systemic in post-apartheid South Africa. Strong cooperation between the government, national and international organisations could provide the basis for successful anti-xenophobia measures. The article further argues that the country is obliged to find a sustainable solution to the predicament for humanitarian reasons firstly, and in recognition of the support South Africans received from its African counterparts during the liberation struggle.

SOUTH AFRICA IN THE CINEMATIC IMAGINARY: THE STORY OF A WHITE YOUTH IN SKIN

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-178
Author(s):  
Khatija Bibi Khan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Black People ◽  
White Youth ◽  
Multiple Selves ◽  
Social Imaginaries ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Rapid Production ◽  
New Critics ◽  
Good Number

The rapid production of films of diversity in post-1994 South Africa has unfortunately not been matched by critical works on film. Part of the reason is that some of the films recycle old themes that celebrate the worst in black people. Another possible reason could be that a good number of films wallow in personality praise, and certainly of Mandela, especially after his demise. Despite these problems of film criticism in post-1994 South Africa, it appears that some new critics have not felt compelled to waste their energy on analysing the Bantustan film – a kind of film that was made for black people by the apartheid system but has re-surfaced after 1994 in different ways. The patent lack of more critical works on film that engages the identities and social imaginaries of young and white South Africans is partly addressed in SKIN – a film that registers the mental growth and spiritual development of Sandra’s multiple selves. This article argues that SKIN portrays the racial neurosis of the apartheid system; and the question of identity affecting young white youths during and after apartheid is experienced at the racial, gender and sex levels.

The Prophetic Voice of the Church in a Democratic South Africa – A Theological Reflection

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lufuluvhi Maria Mudimeli
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
The State ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black Liberation Theology ◽  
Prophetic Voice ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Church

This article is a reflection on the role and contribution of the church in a democratic South Africa. The involvement of the church in the struggle against apartheid is revisited briefly. The church has played a pivotal and prominent role in bringing about democracy by being a prophetic voice that could not be silenced even in the face of death. It is in this time of democracy when real transformation is needed to take its course in a realistic way, where the presence of the church has probably been latent and where it has assumed an observer status. A look is taken at the dilemmas facing the church. The church should not be bound and taken captive by any form of loyalty to any political organisation at the expense of the poor and the voiceless. A need for cooperation and partnership between the church and the state is crucial at this time. This paper strives to address the role of the church as a prophetic voice in a democratic South Africa. Radical economic transformation, inequality, corruption, and moral decadence—all these challenges hold the potential to thwart our young democracy and its ideals. Black liberation theology concepts are employed to explore how the church can become prophetically relevant in democracy. Suggestions are made about how the church and the state can best form partnerships. In avoiding taking only a critical stance, the church could fulfil its mandate “in season and out of season” and continue to be a prophetic voice on behalf of ordinary South Africans.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document