The impact of refugee-host community interactions on refugees' national and ethnic identities: The case of Burundian Hutu refugees in Johannesburg

Master of Arts - Forced Migration StudiesThe purpose of this study is to establish the impact of socio-economic interactions between Hutu Burundian refugees (living in Johannesburg) and South African populations on Burundian refugees’ national and ethnic identities. Although this is a case study on Burundian Hutu Refugees in Johannesburg, Rwandan refugees and South Africans were also included for comparative purposes. The snowballing technique was used to identify respondents and in-depth face-to-face interviews were used to collect data. Questions probed respondents’ pre-relocation national and ethnic identity loyalties; the nature and frequency of interactions between them and local populations and other foreign nationals; and the respondents’ current national and ethnic identity loyalties. The study finds that despite regular contact with the host populations, refugee respondents maintained their ethnic and national identities, thus challenging the assumption that to become uprooted and removed from a national territory automatically causes people to lose their identity, traditions, and culture. Further, apart from the adoption of some new situational practices particularly by refugee respondents, the study finds no significant ‘renegotiation’ or ‘contestation’ of group identities in the cosmopolitan Johannesburg as both South Africans and refugees/migrants in the city seem to be firmly holding on to their distinctive identitive ideals. Although not conclusive, the study suggests that the negative nature of interactions between refugees and the host society, which compromises the possibility of assimilation and integration, as well as other internal and external factors such as the refugees’ belief in the temporariness of their situation, may be among important factors that accounted for this maintenance of group identity

Migration, governance and violent exclusion: exploring the determinants of xenophobic violence in post-apartheid South Africa

Dissertation in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Migration and Displacement Studies, School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand April 2016Responding to inadequacies and limitations of current causal explanations for xenophobic violence which has become a long standing feature in post-Apartheid South Africa, this study proposes a Governance Model of Xenophobic Violence that provides a comprehensive empirically-based and theoretically informed causal explanation. It is a multivariate empirical and integrated theoretical explanatory model that identifies and explains the roles of - and the complex interplays between - the key determinants of xenophobic violence consisting of underlying causes, proximate factors and triggers. The six key determinants the model identifies are: deprivation, xenophobic beliefs, collective discontent, political economy, mobilization and governance. This study argues that these determinants and their interconnections in a value-added process constitute the necessary and sufficient conditions for the occurrence of xenophobic violence. I call it the governance model because of the predominant role governance plays in the occurrence of xenophobic violence. With underlying causes (deprivation, xenophobia and collective discontent) already established, the study pays particular attention to the often missed proximate factors and triggers (the political economy of the violence, mobilization and governance). It is through the findings on these new factors that the study introduces new empirical and theoretical insights and innovations to the understanding of, not only, xenophobic violence in South Africa but also collective violence generally. First, this study argues that xenophobic violence in South Africa is just ‘politics by other means and by doing so brings to the fore the often missed centrality of micro-politics and localised political economy factors as key drivers of collective violence particularly communal violence. Second, the study argues that that the triggers of xenophobic violence and of collective violence generally lie in the mobilization processes and not in the grievances and ensuing discontent as argued by many theoretical approaches to collective violence. The study suggests a new theoretical model, the Mobilization of Discontent Model, which captures the increasingly recognised centrality of mobilization as a trigger of collective violence. Third, the study argues that governance is a key determinant of xenophobic and collective violence but not necessary in ways often assumed or prescribed by time-honoured and widely accepted theoretical predictions, particularly those contending that collective violence and other forms of contentious collective action tend to occur in societies where mechanisms of social control have lost their restraining power. By demonstrating that local governance deliberately facilitated the occurrence of xenophobic violence in areas where it occurred by providing what I term micro-political opportunity structures, the study calls into question the common understating of the relationship between governance and collective violence and reveals some aspects of this relationship that are either misunderstood or undetected until now. The Governance Model of Xenophobic Violence this study proposes is an innovation that clearly illustrates the poverty of most explanatory models of collective violence, which makes it an appropriate tool for integrating empirical and theoretical knowledge from different disciplines and for identifying gaps in existing scholarship.MT201

Why history has repeated itself: The security risks of structural xenophobia

The South African government declared last year's xenophobic attacks over on 28 May 2008. As early as July 2008, it began to assure displaced foreigners that conditions were favourable for their return to affected communities, and that it would be safe to do so. Yet in the past year there have been repeated attacks in a number of the same communities that fell victim to immigration-control-by-mob in 2008. Why? In this article we argue that the state's reluctance to protect and assist foreigners in the past perpetuates violence, social instability and injustice – for nationals and non-nationals alike. We examine the source of this reluctance, and show how it creates the conditions for weak protection and judicial responses

Political Mobilisation as the Trigger of Xenophobic Violence in Post-Apartheid South Africa

What triggers xenophobic violence in South Africa? By answering this deceivingly simple but critical question, this paper highlights an often-missed empirical factor and key element in the xenophobic violence causal chain: mobilization. Drawing from extensive, comparative empirical data and global literature, the paper argues that, while macro and micro-level socio-economic and political circumstances are important elements in heightening tensions and creating collective discontent, anger and resentment towards foreign nationals, it is the mobilization of this discontent and not the discontent itself that triggers xenophobic attacks in locations where they occur. Mobilization is the vital connective tissue between discontent and xenophobic violence. Local violence entrepreneurs use well-known mobilization techniques, including haranguing and parochial patronage, to stir crowds into targeted and well-organized violent attacks of foreign nationals in South Africa. While this argument is in line with existing theoretical approaches that emphasize mobilization as a key causal factor in the occurrence of collective violence, the paper provides useful solid empirical backing these still hesitant approaches require to consolidate their explanatory value and efficacy

Desplazados no-nacionales en Sudáfrica

Los desplazamientos internos de no-nacionales en Sudáfrica plantean algunas cuestiones sobre la capacidad del derecho internacional para proteger a este grupo especialmente vulnerable

Wer trägt die Schuld und was gibt es zu gewinnen? Reflexionen zu Raum, Staat und Gewalt in Kenia und Südafrika

The ethnically and xenophobically motivated violence in Kenya and South Africa in the first half of 2008 has raised questions about its causes, the role of the state and the reality of current African societies. This article therefore analyses this violence, stating that although the violence in both countries had historical origins, there were also fundamental differences regarding the reasons for and the objectives of the violence. As a result, the less controlled violence in South Africa was somehow even more dangerous, because it contested state power itself.Die ethnischen bzw. ausländerfeindlichen Gewalttaten, die im Frühjahr 2008 in Kenia und Südafrika ausbrachen, haben Fragen nach den Ursachen, der Rolle des Staates und den gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen in afrikanischen Staaten aufgeworfen. Die Autoren analysieren die Ereignisse und stellen fest, dass die Unruhen in beiden Staaten historische Wurzeln haben, dass es aber gravierende Unterschiede in Bezug auf Motive und Ziele der Gewaltausbrüche gibt. Als ein Ergebnis kann festgehalten werden, dass die weniger kontrollierten Gewalttaten in Südafrika gewissermaßen die Gefährlicheren waren, denn sie stellten die Staatsmacht selbst in Frage

Who to blame and what's to gain? Reflections on space, state, and violence in Kenya and South Africa

The ethnically and xenophobically motivated violence in Kenya and South Africa in the first half of 2008 has raised questions about its causes, the role of the state and the reality of current African societies. This article therefore analyses this violence, stating that although the violence in both countries had historical origins, there were also fundamental differences regarding the reasons for and the objectives of the violence. As a result, the less controlled violence in South Africa was somehow even more dangerous, because it contested state power itself.Die ethnischen bzw. ausländerfeindlichen Gewalttaten, die im Frühjahr 2008 in Kenia und Südafrika ausbrachen, haben Fragen nach den Ursachen, der Rolle des Staates und den gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen in afrikanischen Staaten aufgeworfen. Die Autoren analysieren die Ereignisse und stellen fest, dass die Unruhen in beiden Staaten historische Wurzeln haben, dass es aber gravierende Unterschiede in Bezug auf Motive und Ziele der Gewaltausbrüche gibt. Als ein Ergebnis kann festgehalten werden, dass die weniger kontrollierten Gewalttaten in Südafrika gewissermaßen die Gefährlicheren waren, denn sie stellten die Staatsmacht selbst in Frage