"We are Gauteng People": Challenging the Politics of Xenophobia in Khutsong, South Africa

TY - JOUR

T1 - "We are Gauteng People"

T2 - Challenging the Politics of Xenophobia in Khutsong, South Africa

AU - Kirshner, Joshua D.

PY - 2012/9

Y1 - 2012/9

N2 - This article seeks to shed light on the May 2008 violence against foreign Africans living in South Africa, and the issue of xenophobia more broadly, by examining the case of Khutsong, a poor township on the edge of Johannesburg that did not experience xenophobic attacks. Arguing against prevailing explanations that link xenophobia with poverty and deprivation, this study examines the opposition to xenophobia that developed in Khutsong. It highlights the centrality of a community-based organization, the Merafong Demarcation Forum (MDF), in halting the spread of violence. In its recent struggle against municipal demarcation, the MDF nurtured a collective sense of place that granted primacy to provincial boundaries while downplaying ethnic and national divisions. The article argues for the need to examine local social struggles and their intersections with broader political-economic trends when accounting for the presence or absence of violent xenophobia.

AB - This article seeks to shed light on the May 2008 violence against foreign Africans living in South Africa, and the issue of xenophobia more broadly, by examining the case of Khutsong, a poor township on the edge of Johannesburg that did not experience xenophobic attacks. Arguing against prevailing explanations that link xenophobia with poverty and deprivation, this study examines the opposition to xenophobia that developed in Khutsong. It highlights the centrality of a community-based organization, the Merafong Demarcation Forum (MDF), in halting the spread of violence. In its recent struggle against municipal demarcation, the MDF nurtured a collective sense of place that granted primacy to provincial boundaries while downplaying ethnic and national divisions. The article argues for the need to examine local social struggles and their intersections with broader political-economic trends when accounting for the presence or absence of violent xenophobia.

KW - Migration

KW - Municipal demarcation

KW - Social inclusion

KW - South Africa

KW - Urban rights

KW - Xenophobia

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84864917428&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/j.1467-8330.2011.00953.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1467-8330.2011.00953.x

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84864917428

SN - 0066-4812

VL - 44

SP - 1307

EP - 1328

JO - Antipode

JF - Antipode

IS - 4

ER -