‘We are not criminals, we are just victims of circumstances’: An exploration of experiences of Nigerian immigrants' men that married South African women in Johannesburg

Pseudo names are used in this article to protect the identity of interviewees.

Abstract

The world is full of ethnic, racial and religious divisions and intermarriage between members of different groups can be seen as an indication that divisions are overcome. Marriage is a union between individuals that imply family ties and social sanctioning. Similarly, intermarriage is considered to be a major pointer of overcoming social distance among groups and cohesion of societies. In other words, intermarriage has been argued to be a channel through which members of different groups relate and interact with one another in a more positive way and see each group as being socially equal without any form of prejudice or discrimination. However, intermarriages between Nigerian men and South African women exist in South Africa amongst the institutionalised xenophobia and anti-Nigerian sentiments. It is on this note that this study examines how Nigerian-South African couples negotiate and adapt to the discriminations directed towards Nigerian husbands by their friends and families, and how this changed the perception of their friends and families over time.The study is based on data gathered from a four-month ethnographic fieldwork in Johannesburg and the data were collected through participant observations and in-depth interviews of 15 Nigerian-South African couples, friends and families. This study also uses Alba and Nee's ‘intermarriage and assimilation theory’ in order to show how marriages between Nigerian men and South African women led to breakdown in xenophobic attitudes of wives' families and friends.

Keywords:

• Nigerian–South African couples
• prejudice and discriminations
• South African wives families and friends
• anti-Nigerian sentiments