Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2018

Xenophobia in South Africa

A History

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Redefines and explores the sources of contemporary xenophobia, placing globalization and its discontents in dialogue with critical race theory
  • Presents the first formal analysis of romantic relationships between immigrant and non-immigrant communities in South Africa
  • Examines xenophobic language and terminology, uncovering the semantic and cultural origins of anti-immigrant sentiment and violence

Part of the book series: African Histories and Modernities (AHAM)

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
  2. Introduction

    • Hashi Kenneth Tafira
    Pages 1-14
  3. Is Xenophobia Racism?

    • Hashi Kenneth Tafira
    Pages 15-33
  4. Inside the Mind of a Xenophobe

    • Hashi Kenneth Tafira
    Pages 35-53
  5. Politics of Difference

    • Hashi Kenneth Tafira
    Pages 71-94
  6. Local Woman and Immigrant Lover

    • Hashi Kenneth Tafira
    Pages 95-112
  7. The Immigrant’s Phallus

    • Hashi Kenneth Tafira
    Pages 113-123
  8. Particularisms and Relationships

    • Hashi Kenneth Tafira
    Pages 125-133
  9. Postscript

    • Hashi Kenneth Tafira
    Pages 135-144
  10. Back Matter

    Pages 145-148

About this book

This book is a vivid history of racism in post-apartheid South Africa, focusing on how colonialism still haunts black intraracial relationships. In 2008, sixty-four people died in a wave of anti-immigrant violence in the Alexandra township of Johannesburg; in the aftermath, Hashi Kenneth Tafira went to Alexandra and undertook an ethnographic study of why this violence occurred. Presented here, his findings reframe xenophobia as a form of black-on-black racism, unraveling the long history of colonial dehumanization and self-abnegation that continues to shape South African black subjectivities. Studying vernacular, popular stereotypes, gender, and sexual politics, Tafira investigates the dynamics of love relationships between black South African women and black immigrant men, and pervasive myths about male sexuality, economic competition, and immigrants. Pioneering and timely, this book presents a cohesive picture of the new face of racism in the twenty-first century.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Johannesburg, South Africa

    Hashi Kenneth Tafira

About the author

Hashi Kenneth Tafira is an independent researcher, writer, and consultant, and the author of Black Nationalist Thought in South Africa: The Persistence of an Idea of Liberation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Xenophobia in South Africa

  • Book Subtitle: A History

  • Authors: Hashi Kenneth Tafira

  • Series Title: African Histories and Modernities

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67714-9

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-67713-2Published: 02 November 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-88474-5Published: 25 August 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-67714-9Published: 18 October 2017

  • Series ISSN: 2634-5773

  • Series E-ISSN: 2634-5781

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 148

  • Topics: African History, Social History, Sociology of Racism, Imperialism and Colonialism

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access