Racist connotations in xenophobic outbreaks: An Afrocentric evaluation

• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Author: Malesela Edward Montle
• Date: 01 December 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2772

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Racist connotations in xenophobic outbreaks: An Afrocentric

evaluation

Malesela Edward Montle

Department of Languages (English Studies),

School of Languages and Communication

Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of

Limpopo, Sovenga, Limpopo, South Africa

Correspondence

Malesela Edward Montle, Department of

Languages (English Studies), School of

Languages and Communication Studies,

Faculty of Humanities, University of Limpopo,

Sovenga, Limpopo, South Africa.

Email: edward.montle@ul.ac.za;eddiemontle@

yahoo.com

The democratic jurisdiction in Africa meant to re-instil peace in the continent, unite

her people and champion the philosophy of Ubuntu. It has endeavoured to eradicate

the enduring legacies of colonial hegemony and assert a new identity distinguished

by autonomous ideologies. Despite the dispensation of these efforts, African socie-

ties are still bedevilled by colonial fragments. This is evinced by the appalling racist

undertones and xenophobic spells that are overbearing in Africa in the democratic

wave. Today, the African continent is vexed by the increasing rate of xenophobic

outbreaks that sometimes appear to be anchored in racist connotations. This, inter

alia, menaces African humanism and social development in African societies. This

qualitative paper has aimed to uproot racist precipitants in xenophobic attacks. It is

theoretical in nature and evaluates the rapport between racism and xenophobia from

an Afrocentric perspective. The study has found that the xenophobic sentiments in

the present day are framed within the imaginings of race. It has illuminated racial

identity as a catalyst for xenophobia.

KEYWORDS

apartheid, colonialism, democracy, identity, racism, Ubuntu, xenophobia

1|INTRODUCTION

The African democratic forces sought to harmonise Africa and heal

her people from the pain that colonialists had inflicted upon them dur-

ing their administration. These liberation movements envisioned

Africa as a peaceful, equal, and united society. This is braced by the

vision of the African Union (AU): ‘An integrated, prosperous and

peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic

force in the global arena’. The pilgrimage to utter rehabilitation and

social transformation encountered colonial splinters that impeded the

efforts to develop the African continent. These wreckages of colonial-

ism include patterns of division such as racism and xenophobia.

Tembo (2016, p. 102) notes that Africa reflects on the division

between ‘the majority of life forms of the native (traditional societies)

and that of so-called civilised society that colonialism had created’.

The colonial brigades sought to eternise separation in the African con-

tinent. In the pre-colonial times, Africa was enshrined in oneness and

it is the colonialists that introduced borders amongst the kingdoms

(Betram et al., 2013). This point could be validated by the comparison

between the pre-colonial and colonial maps of Africa illustrated

below:

According to Figures 1and 2, the advent of colonialists in the

African continent marks the genesis of division in the continent.

Figure 1illustrates the state of Africa prior to colonisation where

there were no fixed borders amongst the African kingdoms. Figure 2

on the other hand, depicts Africa subsequent to the colonial invasion.

The European elites: Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy,

Portugal, and Spain divided and shared African states amongst them-

selves to colonise. Thus, Figure 2portrays a demarcated Africa. There-

fore, Africa has undergone a major transition from being borderless to

being bordered owing to the arrival of colonial forces in the continent.

The culture of division that the colonialists perpetuated in the

African continent has kept on evolving until today despite the colonial

government being subdued and dethroned by democratic movements

many years ago. The African community cries out against the per-

turbing xenophobic epidemics that erupted predominantly in

South Africa. This African society has been demonised by xenophobia

more than other states in the continent. Scholars aver that it is

Received: 15 April 2021 Revised: 3 September 2021 Accepted: 9 October 2021

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2772

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https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2772