The xenophobic attacks that started in Alexandra, Johannesburg in May 2008 before quickly spreading around the country caused an outcry across the world and raised many fundamental questions: Of what profound social malaise is xenophobia – and the violence that it inspires – a symptom? Have our economic and political choices created new forms of exclusion that fuel anger and distrust? What consequences does the emergence of xenophobia hold for the idea of an equal, non-racial society as symbolised by a democratic South Africa?
On 28 May 2008 the Faculty of Humanities in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg convened an urgent colloquium that focused on searching for short and long-term solutions. Nearly twenty individuals – mostly Wits academics from a variety of disciplines, but also two student leaders, a journalist and a bishop – addressed the unfolding violence in ways that were conversant with the moment, yet rooted in scholarship and ongoing research.
Go Home or Die Here emanates directly from the colloquium. It hopes to make sense of the nuances and trajectories of building a democratic society out of a deeply divided and conflictual past, in the conditions of global recession, heightening inequalities and future uncertainty. The authors hoped to pose questions that would lead both to research and to more informed, reflective forms of public action. With extensive photographs by award-winning photographer Alon Skuy, who covered the violence for The Times newspaper, the volume is passionate and engaged, and aims to stimulate reflection, debate and activism among concerned members of a broad public.
Daftar Isi
Foreword – Bishop Paul Verryn
Introduction – Eric Worby, Shireen Hassim and Tawana Kupe
Chapter 1 A Torn Narrative of Violence – Alex Eliseev
Chapter 2 I Did Not Expect Such a Thing to Happen – Rolf Maruping
Chapter 3 (Dis)connections: Elite and Popular ‘Common Sense’ on the Matter of ‘Foreigners’ – Daryl Glaser
Chapter 4 Xenophobia in Alexandra – Noor Nieftagodien
Chapter 5 Behind Xenophobia in South Africa – Poverty or Inequality? – Stephen Gelb
Chapter 6 Relative Deprivation, Social Instability and Cultures of Entitlement – Devan Pillay
Chapter 7 Violence, Condemnation, and the Meaning of Living in South Africa – Loren B Landau
Chapter 8 Crossing Borders – David Coplan
Chapter 9 Policing Xenophobia – Xenophobic Policing: A Clash of Legitimacy – Julia Hornberger
Chapter 10 Housing Delivery, the Urban Crisis and Xenophobia – Melinda Silverman and Tanya Zack
Chapter 11 Two Newspapers, Two Nations? The Media and the Xenophobic Violence – Anton Harber
Chapter 12 Beyond Citizenship: Human Rights and Democracy – Cathi Albertyn
Chapter 13 We Are Not All Like That: Race, Class and Nation after Apartheid – Andile Mngxitama
Chapter 14 Brutal Inheritances: Echoes, Negrophobia and Masculinist Violence – Pumla Dineo Gqola Chapter 15 Constructing the ‘Other’: Learning from the Ivorian Example – Véronique Tadjo
End Notes
Author Biographies
Tentang Penulis
Véronique Tadjo is a senior lecturer and the head of French Studies in the School of Literature and Language Studies, Wits University.