Abstract
Love relationships between black South African women and immigrant men have not been given adequate attention by researchers of migration, refugee studies, and those concerned with anti-immigrant attitudes and violence. This chapter argues that cross-border love relationships provoke sexual jealousies between the two sets of men: South African and black African immigrant. These are eventually expressed in anti-immigrant violence, such as the events that occurred in May 2008. The chapter contends that in order to gain a full understanding of this kind of violence, one needs to grasp the dynamics of love relationships between black South African women and black African immigrant men and the influence of pervasive community myths such as immigrants stealing jobs and taking local women.
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Notes
- 1.
The 2008 violence first emanated from the male Madala hostel and spread throughout the township . The hostel is one of many apartheid creations which housed single-sex migrants.
- 2.
IFP (Inkatha Freedom Party) is/was a major political party in South Africa.
- 3.
African National Congress (ANC) is a liberation movement which is now the ruling party in South Africa.
- 4.
Conversation with Mrs. Dlomo, 9 June 2009.
- 5.
Conversation with a female South African woman, 25 June 2009.
- 6.
Conversation with Father Cairns, 10 June 2009.
- 7.
AmaKalanga is one of many insulting terms used by South Africans to refer to non-nationals .
- 8.
Conversation with an unemployed South African young man, 26 June 2009. Kew, Marlboro, and Wynberg are industrial areas surrounding Alexandra.
- 9.
There are, of course, women who are employed in various occupations. It seems to me that doesn’t displace the need for their security and comfort.
- 10.
In the past two years the South African government has offered a special dispensation for Zimbabwean nationals to acquire legal status in the country. I am not sure if this has had any significant impact on the relations of production. The ID book has a social life that determines exclusion and inclusion and is reminiscent of the apartheid era. Alexandra residents continue to refer to the ID book with apartheid lexicon as pass. It is significant in the construction of citizenship at both local community and governmental levels.
- 11.
Confederation of South African Trade Unions, South Africa’s major trade union.
- 12.
Conversation with an elderly South African woman, 10 July 2009.
- 13.
Conversation with one of my key participants, 14 July 2009.
- 14.
Conversation with a female South African, Nosizwe, 11 July 2009.
- 15.
Ibid.
- 16.
Conversation with a female South African, 13 July 2009.
- 17.
Conversation with a South African woman, 13 July 2009.
- 18.
I heard the term “stupid blondes” from one middle-class female participant I conversed with, who grew up in Alexandra but has since moved up the social ladder and now lives in the suburbs. I have not heard this term used in the township , though.
- 19.
Conversation with a South African man, 30 June 2009.
- 20.
Conversation with a female participant, 7 July 2009.
- 21.
Conversation with Nomxolisi, 4 July 2009.
- 22.
In different townships it’s known by different names – for example, kota (quarter) and spatlo and there is also a variant of this meal called spykos.
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Tafira, H.K. (2018). Local Woman and Immigrant Lover. In: Xenophobia in South Africa. African Histories and Modernities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67714-9_6
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