Otherness without boundaries: an autoethnographic perspective from an aboriginal South African survivor of local xenophobia

Abstract

In this article, I interrogate the concept of othering by foregrounding xenophobia, which has been ‘trending’ since the dawn of democracy in South Africa. I use lived experiences to assert that xenophobia is not confined to tussles between ‘foreign’ nationals and South African ­citizens but also manifests as ‘local xenophobia’ where South African citizens from ‘elsewhere’ in the country are maligned by ‘locals’ in areas to which they migrate. To underscore the ubiquitous and multifaceted nature of othering, and because it resonates with literature on ­xenophobia, I discuss sobriquets/nicknames as one example among various manifestations of otherness. Furthermore, I contend that self-subjugation as an unconscious process is, possibly, the pillar of othering and, that every human is a tacit or overt otherer. In conclusion, I assert that Ubuntu as an architectonic capability should be redefined and used to drive collective human efforts towards addressing othering.

Keywords:

• Otherness
• racism
• self-subjugation
• xeno-antipátheia
• xenophobia

Acknowledgments

I thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which culminated in the improvement of this text.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Even though the events in this text are real, all names of people used here are fictional.

2 In South Africa, this is the main classifying category for the Zulu, Xhosa, Swati and Ndebele ethnic groups.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Headman Hebe

Headman Hebe is an environmental education senior lecturer at the Department of Science and Technology Education, University of South Africa (UNISA). He holds a PhD (Curriculum Studies) from Stellenbosch University. His research interests include environmental education, science education, curriculum studies, early childhood education and psychology.