Portrayal by a selection of South African media of Nigerians residing in South Africa
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2011
Authors
Amaechi, Celestine Emeka
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ
Many young (21โ50 years) Nigerians are located across the length and breadth of the South African Republic. The cities of Gauteng are home to the bulk of these people from all walks of life. Unofficially, there are approximately 50 000 Nigerians living in limbo as refugees (Tromp, 2006:8). Indeed, the Nigerian community in diaspora has become part and parcel of the great nation of South Africa.
In the South African community, there is a stereotyping of Nigerians with regard to issues relating to justice, crime, security and home affairs. The South African media has severely โaccusedโ Nigerians, especially those in the private sector of the economy, of causing certain suburban problems and with the mayhem often found in the city centres. That a gigantic number of 50 000 undocumented Nigerians are said to reside in South Africa, clearly supports the allegation that โforeigners are unacceptably encroaching on the informal sector and therefore on the livelihoods of our huge numbers of unemployed peopleโ (Danso & McDonald, 2001:124). In the words of Fowler (1991:121): โIt stands to reason that a
newspaper is likely to project such beliefs as are conducive to the commercial success of its proprietors generallyโ. The South African media, i.e. television, radio and print media play a role in the entrenchment of this stereotyping. It is therefore of value to launch an investigation into how Nigerians are portrayed by the South African media, and by newspapers in particular.
The project will serve as a relevant contribution to the field of Critical Linguistics (CL) and it is hoped that it will provide study material for aspiring critical linguists and teachers of language. Furthermore, as the South African print media has published widely on the activities and attitudes of Nigerian nationals residing here, it has become necessary to conduct research on this phenomenon thereby, thus setting the stage for other researchers to delve further into this domain.
๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ง๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐ง ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ ๐๐จ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ!
___________________________________________________________________
Description
Dissertation (M.A.(Language Practice))--University of the Free State, 2011