Re-reading xenophobic discourses from an ubuntu perspective: a study of the plight of ‘makwerekwere’ in Mhlongo’s After Tears

ABSTRACT

Classification of African migrants in South Africa as undesirable, economic parasites, illegals, among other derogatory terms, characterises current xenophobic discourses and foregrounds frontiers that divide people in Africa. Xenophobia violates the philosophy of ubuntu/Vumunhu/Umunhu and the parable of the Good Samaritan which define humanity as diverse but collective. Drawing from this philosophy and parable as prisms through which xenophobic discourses can be analysed, we interrogate notions of African/ness and neighbour/liness in contemporary South Africa. African humanity is heterogeneous and existing xenophobic attitudes and practices provide sites for academic inquiry to generate deep understanding. Mhlongo’s After Tears identifies fault lines which need to be sutured vis-à-vis the current fear and hatred of strangers. The varied forms of xenophobia reflect nuanced but interconnected dynamics, such as historical legacies and socio-economic divisions that mask differences, which feed into makwerekwere metadiscourse. African immigrants become imagined as real sources of problems in South Africa today.

KEYWORDS:

• After Tears
• fictional discourse
• immigrants
• parable of the Good Samaritan
• ubuntu/Unhu/Vumunhu philosophy
• xenophobia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Esther Mavengano

Esther Mavengano is a lecturer who teaches Linguistics and Literature in the Department of English and Media Studies at Great Zimbabwe University. She holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics and Literary studies obtained from the North-West University, South Africa. Her research areas include the interface of linguistics and poetics. She has interests in Language policy and planning, Sociolinguistics, Language practices and linguistic ideologies, Media and political discourses, Gender, Translingual practices in fictional writings, Identity issues in contemporary transnational Anglophone African literature, Discourse Analysis, Stylistics, Zimbabwean literature, Language education in ‘multi’ contexts and COVID-19 pandemic. She has published in reputable international journals, including Cogent Arts and Humanities, African Identities, Literator, Journal of Multicultural Discourses, among others. She is a member of the Circle/ Southern Africa and Zimbabwean Circle Chapter.

Tobias Marevesa

Tobias Marevesa is a New Testament senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, under the Joshua Nkomo School of Arts and Humanities at the Great Zimbabwe University where he teaches New Testament Studies and New Testament Greek. He holds a PhD obtained from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is also Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Theology and Religion (RITR) in the College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa (UNISA). His areas of interest are New Testament studies and politics, Pentecostal expressions in Zimbabwean Christianity, culture, human rights and gender-based violence. He has also published in the area of New Testament studies and conflict-resolution in the Zimbabwean political landscape.

Paul Nepapleh Nkamta

Paul Nepapleh Nkamta is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, School of Languages, Faculty of Humanities, North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, Republic of South Africa. His research interests include linguistic inequality in advertising, multilingualism and multiculturalism. He has recently become interested in reading literacy among first and second language English speakers. He has published widely in peer reviewed journals, such as Cogent Arts and Humanities, African Identities, South African Journal of African Languages, African Renaissance, Journal of Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, and Transylvanian Review, among others.