Xenophobia and the place of the refugee in the rainbow nation of human rights

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Periodical article

Title:	Xenophobia and the place of the refugee in the rainbow nation of human rights
Author:	Desai, Ashwin
Year:	2008
Periodical:	African Sociological Review (ISSN 1027-4332)
Volume:	12
Issue:	2
Pages:	49-68
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:	South Africa Africa
Subjects:	xenophobia immigrants refugees sociology human rights
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/24487605
Abstract:	The attacks on African foreigners in South Africa in the last decade and a half have been accompanied by a heightened language of hysteria and demeaning 'Othering' of African immigrants. This language was by no means confined to the townships, but was rife in the press, in parliament and institutions of the State like Home Affairs and the South African police. However, the May 2008 xenophobic attacks on African immigrants and refugees in marginal settlements surrounding South Africa's largest cities were different. While the previous violence was limited to one episode in one locale, the May 2008 attacks spread across the country, putting tens of thousands on the move, some 15,000 Mozambicans leaving the country, scores of dead and injured, and thousands seeking sanctuary in camps. This article considers the different sources that contributed to an increasingly xenophobic environment and argues for a fundamental shift in approach to African immigration. Bibliogr., note. [ASC Leiden abstract]