The phenomenon of xenophobia as experienced by immigrant learners in Johannesburg inner city schools
Loading...
Date
2010
Authors
Krüger, Deirdré
Osman, Razia
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Education, University of the Free State
Abstract
This article aims to describe how xenophobia is experienced by a small selection of immigrant participants
in five inner city schools in Johannesburg. The May 2008 xenophobic violence prompted the investigation.
Theoretically, the article is also concerned with ways to combat xenophobia in schools with a view to
bringing about fundamental social change aimed at deconstructing ‘anti-xenophobia education’, as
the term has been coined. The methodology for the qualitative inquiry took the form of a triple-layered
case study: the layers consist of the various groups of participants: immigrant learners, South African
learners and educators. Sixteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted and the main method
of data analysis was content analysis using Tesch’s (Creswell, 1994: 155) method of sorting the content
of communications. The findings support the need for anti-xenophobia education in the schools under
scrutiny. The immigrant participants reported very little compassion, rather humiliation and degradation
in the form of unjust stereotyping, prejudice, bias and discrimination. Although cosmopolitanism featured,
‘otherness’ is far from being incorporated into an all-embracing ‘us’. Distrust between immigrant and
South African learners emerged and both groups stereotyped the other as violent, although lack of trust
and fear as pervasive issues seemed to underlie the stereotyping.
Description
Keywords
Xenophobia, Inner city schools, Johannesburg, Anti-xenophobia education, Immigrant learners
Citation
Kruger, D., & Osman, R. (2010). The phenomenon of xenophobia as experienced by immigrant learners in Johannesburg inner city schools. Perspectives in Education, 28(4), 52-60.