David M. Matsinhe was Senior Lecturer of Social Innovation and International Development at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University. His ongoing projects are Tales of Manhood in Africa and Fragments of African Memory. David was a Policy Analyst focusing on migration and social innovation at Employment and Social Development Canada. His research interests are social innovation, international development, historical sociology of emotions, group relations and collective behaviour, nationalism and violence. David holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Alberta.
Crisis, Identity and Migration in Post-Colonial Southern Africa, 2018
This contribution discusses the significance of Mozambique in the historical evolution of labour ... more This contribution discusses the significance of Mozambique in the historical evolution of labour migration patterns in Southern Africa. The preponderance of this place in the development of labour migration has been assured by its geographical location, historical chance as well as political and institutional features. From our perspective, the inclusion of Mozambique in this collection should consider at least four structural aspects, of which three have received scant attention in the regional migration debates. The first is the usual historical migration patterns of people, predominantly men. Here, we remind the reader that to call these migrants ‘Mozambicans’ and their hosts ‘South Africans’ is anachronistic. In so doing, we take the reader through a line of flight from the careless use of colonial identifications to describe both the migrants and their hosts. The second is the significance of Mozambique’s geographical location in Southern Africa as the proverbial path to the Promised Land, that is, South Africa, for migrants from all across this continent and Asia. The third is the problematic economic development within Mozambique as a contributor to the broader lines of flight within the story of labour migration in the Southern African region.
African Youth Cultures in a Globalized World: Challenges, Agency and Resistance, 2015
The 2010 protests broke out following wheat and fuel price hikes on the global market which sent ... more The 2010 protests broke out following wheat and fuel price hikes on the global market which sent shock waves of social upheaval throughout the world. The ‘cost of living’ protests prompted the editorial director of STV, Jeremias Langa, to write: "These protests underscored three decades of young people’s frustration and disillusionment with the power and status quo in Mozambique." But most importantly, the intersection of neoliberal economics, generation and gender were central characteristic features of the structural organization of these protests. The youth, most notably young men, have been the major protagonists of protest against an unbearable neoliberal weight. This chapter analyses the life trajectories of seven Mozambican young men in their quest for respectable masculinities and a decent life within glocal3 socio-economic constraints of a neoliberal ordering. In this chapter, I use masculinities to refer to socially constructed and taken for granted cultural ‘we-images’, ‘we-ideals’ and beliefs within the stock of common sense through which men perceive themselves vis-à-vis others within a given human figuration. I also use neoliberalism to refer to the Western ideology in favour of unfettered economic liberalization, privatization, free trade, open markets, deregulation, end of government’s interventionist policy in the economy and end of government spending in social services. This ideology led to the design and implementation of the infamous structural adjustment programmes locally known as Programa de Reabilitação Económica (PRE) and blamed for the disintegration of the social fabric. In the context of these ongoing neoliberal figurational changes, masculine identities are moving and changing targets. Their identity formation is shaped by specific historical and socio-emotional contours and struggles, including lack of firsthand experience with colonial oppression, life dominated by institutions of formal/Westernized education, marginalization in the labour market, complex family life and disdain for government and political figures. Therefore, my analysis is structured around education, labour, family and politics of the postcolony, that is, the institutional axes through which their youthful ideals and identities (we-ideals and we-identities) came into being. The analysis draws on the thesis of individualization to understand malcontent urban masculinities in the African postcolony, especially within the context of unending contradictions between the demands of traditional expectations and pressures of glocal neoliberal transformations.
Apartheid Vertigo, the dizzying sensation following prolonged oppression and delusions of skin co... more Apartheid Vertigo, the dizzying sensation following prolonged oppression and delusions of skin colour, is the focus of this book. For three centuries, the colour-code shaped the state and national ideals of South Africa, created social and emotional distances between social groups, permeated public and intimate spheres of life alike, and dehumanized Africans of all nationalities. Two decades after the demise of apartheid, despite four successive black governments, apartheid vertigo still distorts postcolonial reality.
The colour-code, notably the aversion toward Africa and blackness, still prevails, but now in postcolonial masks. Despite political freedom, to a greater or lesser extent, a vast section of the black citizenry has adopted the code, and adapted it to fit the new reality. This vertiginous reality is manifest in the neo-apartheid ideology of Makwerekwere - the postcolonial colour-code mobilized to distinguish black outsiders from black insiders. Apartheid vertigo ranges from negative sentiments to outright violence against black outsiders, including insults, humiliations, extortions, searches, arrests, detentions, deportations, tortures, rapes, beatings, and killings. Ironically, the victims are not only the outsiders against whom the code is mobilized but also the insiders who mobilize it.
Drawing on evidence from interviews, observation, press articles, reports, research monographs and history, this project deconstructs the idea of visible differences between black nationals and black foreign nationals. It demonstrates that in South Africa violent conflict lurks on the surface of everyday life and it can burst through the fragile limits set upon it, with the potential to escalate into ethnic cleansing.
Food insecurity and starvation are the starkest human rights problem among traditional cattle bre... more Food insecurity and starvation are the starkest human rights problem among traditional cattle breeders in the Gambos, Angola. This report documents how the encroachment of commercial ranchers on the communal grazing land eroded food security among the Vanyaneka and Ovaherero pastoralists in this region. This is the milk region where traditional cattle breeders harvest, process and consume milk and its derivatives (butter, cheese, milk fat and yoghurt). However, dairy, their most important food, has been in short supply after commercial cattle ranchers seised the pastoralists' grazing land. Since then, the pastoralists' cows have been going hungry and producing less milk. The oxen have been undernourished and weak to pull the ploughs in the fields to grow food. Because the region is semiarid and dry with low rainfall, the women have always depended on cattle dung to fertilise their fields. However, with little to eat, the cattle produced less fertiliser. Amnesty International research reveals that the root cause of food insecurity in this region is the seisure of 67% of the pastoralists' communal grazing land by commercial cattle ranchers. Historically, this communal grazing land mitigated the impact of cyclical droughts among the shepherds of the region. How could the Angolan Government and the ranchers expect the pastoralists to survive, knowing that for centuries they have depended on this grazing land to withstand cycles of droughts? It did not and does not have to be this way.
This contribution discusses the significance of Mozambique in the historical evolution of labour ... more This contribution discusses the significance of Mozambique in the historical evolution of labour migration patterns in Southern Africa. The preponderance of this place in the development of labour migration has been assured by its geographical location, historical chance as well as political and institutional features. From our perspective, the inclusion of Mozambique in this collection should consider at least four structural aspects, of which three have received scant attention in the regional migration debates. The first is the usual historical migration patterns of people, predominantly men. Here, we remind the reader that to call these migrants ‘Mozambicans’ and their hosts ‘South Africans’ is anachronistic. In so doing, we take the reader through a line of flight from the careless use of colonial identifications to describe both the migrants and their hosts. The second is the significance of Mozambique’s geographical location in Southern Africa as the proverbial path to the Pr...
The 2010 protests broke out following wheat and fuel price hikes on the global market which sent ... more The 2010 protests broke out following wheat and fuel price hikes on the global market which sent shock waves of social upheaval throughout the world. The ‘cost of living’ protests prompted the editorial director of STV, Jeremias Langa, to write: "These protests underscored three decades of young people’s frustration and disillusionment with the power and status quo in Mozambique." But most importantly, the intersection of neoliberal economics, generation and gender were central characteristic features of the structural organization of these protests. The youth, most notably young men, have been the major protagonists of protest against an unbearable neoliberal weight. This chapter analyses the life trajectories of seven Mozambican young men in their quest for respectable masculinities and a decent life within glocal3 socio-economic constraints of a neoliberal ordering. In this chapter, I use masculinities to refer to socially constructed and taken for granted cultural ‘we-images’, ‘we-ideals’ and beliefs within the stock of common sense through which men perceive themselves vis-à-vis others within a given human figuration. I also use neoliberalism to refer to the Western ideology in favour of unfettered economic liberalization, privatization, free trade, open markets, deregulation, end of government’s interventionist policy in the economy and end of government spending in social services. This ideology led to the design and implementation of the infamous structural adjustment programmes locally known as Programa de Reabilitação Económica (PRE) and blamed for the disintegration of the social fabric. In the context of these ongoing neoliberal figurational changes, masculine identities are moving and changing targets. Their identity formation is shaped by specific historical and socio-emotional contours and struggles, including lack of firsthand experience with colonial oppression, life dominated by institutions of formal/Westernized education, marginalization in the labour market, complex family life and disdain for government and political figures. Therefore, my analysis is structured around education, labour, family and politics of the postcolony, that is, the institutional axes through which their youthful ideals and identities (we-ideals and we-identities) came into being. The analysis draws on the thesis of individualization to understand malcontent urban masculinities in the African postcolony, especially within the context of unending contradictions between the demands of traditional expectations and pressures of glocal neoliberal transformations.
The end of formal apartheid in South Africa has been accompanied by realignment of social structu... more The end of formal apartheid in South Africa has been accompanied by realignment of social structures, including multi-racialization of wealth and poverty, shifting asymmetric power balances between social groups, emotional anomie within individuals often described as identity crisis. This paper delves into one of these transformations: The emergence of the black middle class in post-apartheid South Africa. This post-liberation demographic, popularly dubbed as Black Diamonds, has received considerable attention in the print and electronic media. The groups increasing socioeconomic clout has led marketers to develop and deploy marketing strategies and practices to soothe and exploit its social and emotional sensibilities for their economic bottom line. In this paper, the analysis will focus on the groups changing socioemotional dynamics, including social spaces, aspirations, habits, tastes, and practices.
Insurgents have attacked towns and villages in Cabo Delgado, the poorest province in Mozambique. ... more Insurgents have attacked towns and villages in Cabo Delgado, the poorest province in Mozambique. The government has responded by sending in the military to stamp out the assailants, using 'whatever it takes', amid suspicions that foreign fighters from Tanzania have radicalised local youth who are behind the violence. Other measures to counter the violence include an extrajudicial state of emergency and the suppression of information.
Insurgents have attacked towns and villages in Cabo Delgado, the poorest province in Mozambique. ... more Insurgents have attacked towns and villages in Cabo Delgado, the poorest province in Mozambique. The government has responded by sending in the military to stamp out the assailants, using 'whatever it takes', amid suspicions that foreign fighters from Tanzania have radicalised local youth who are behind the violence. Other measures to counter the violence include an extrajudicial state of emergency and the suppression of information.
Crisis, Identity and Migration in Post-Colonial Southern Africa, 2018
This contribution discusses the significance of Mozambique in the historical evolution of labour ... more This contribution discusses the significance of Mozambique in the historical evolution of labour migration patterns in Southern Africa. The preponderance of this place in the development of labour migration has been assured by its geographical location, historical chance as well as political and institutional features. From our perspective, the inclusion of Mozambique in this collection should consider at least four structural aspects, of which three have received scant attention in the regional migration debates. The first is the usual historical migration patterns of people, predominantly men. Here, we remind the reader that to call these migrants ‘Mozambicans’ and their hosts ‘South Africans’ is anachronistic. In so doing, we take the reader through a line of flight from the careless use of colonial identifications to describe both the migrants and their hosts. The second is the significance of Mozambique’s geographical location in Southern Africa as the proverbial path to the Promised Land, that is, South Africa, for migrants from all across this continent and Asia. The third is the problematic economic development within Mozambique as a contributor to the broader lines of flight within the story of labour migration in the Southern African region.
African Youth Cultures in a Globalized World: Challenges, Agency and Resistance, 2015
The 2010 protests broke out following wheat and fuel price hikes on the global market which sent ... more The 2010 protests broke out following wheat and fuel price hikes on the global market which sent shock waves of social upheaval throughout the world. The ‘cost of living’ protests prompted the editorial director of STV, Jeremias Langa, to write: "These protests underscored three decades of young people’s frustration and disillusionment with the power and status quo in Mozambique." But most importantly, the intersection of neoliberal economics, generation and gender were central characteristic features of the structural organization of these protests. The youth, most notably young men, have been the major protagonists of protest against an unbearable neoliberal weight. This chapter analyses the life trajectories of seven Mozambican young men in their quest for respectable masculinities and a decent life within glocal3 socio-economic constraints of a neoliberal ordering. In this chapter, I use masculinities to refer to socially constructed and taken for granted cultural ‘we-images’, ‘we-ideals’ and beliefs within the stock of common sense through which men perceive themselves vis-à-vis others within a given human figuration. I also use neoliberalism to refer to the Western ideology in favour of unfettered economic liberalization, privatization, free trade, open markets, deregulation, end of government’s interventionist policy in the economy and end of government spending in social services. This ideology led to the design and implementation of the infamous structural adjustment programmes locally known as Programa de Reabilitação Económica (PRE) and blamed for the disintegration of the social fabric. In the context of these ongoing neoliberal figurational changes, masculine identities are moving and changing targets. Their identity formation is shaped by specific historical and socio-emotional contours and struggles, including lack of firsthand experience with colonial oppression, life dominated by institutions of formal/Westernized education, marginalization in the labour market, complex family life and disdain for government and political figures. Therefore, my analysis is structured around education, labour, family and politics of the postcolony, that is, the institutional axes through which their youthful ideals and identities (we-ideals and we-identities) came into being. The analysis draws on the thesis of individualization to understand malcontent urban masculinities in the African postcolony, especially within the context of unending contradictions between the demands of traditional expectations and pressures of glocal neoliberal transformations.
Apartheid Vertigo, the dizzying sensation following prolonged oppression and delusions of skin co... more Apartheid Vertigo, the dizzying sensation following prolonged oppression and delusions of skin colour, is the focus of this book. For three centuries, the colour-code shaped the state and national ideals of South Africa, created social and emotional distances between social groups, permeated public and intimate spheres of life alike, and dehumanized Africans of all nationalities. Two decades after the demise of apartheid, despite four successive black governments, apartheid vertigo still distorts postcolonial reality.
The colour-code, notably the aversion toward Africa and blackness, still prevails, but now in postcolonial masks. Despite political freedom, to a greater or lesser extent, a vast section of the black citizenry has adopted the code, and adapted it to fit the new reality. This vertiginous reality is manifest in the neo-apartheid ideology of Makwerekwere - the postcolonial colour-code mobilized to distinguish black outsiders from black insiders. Apartheid vertigo ranges from negative sentiments to outright violence against black outsiders, including insults, humiliations, extortions, searches, arrests, detentions, deportations, tortures, rapes, beatings, and killings. Ironically, the victims are not only the outsiders against whom the code is mobilized but also the insiders who mobilize it.
Drawing on evidence from interviews, observation, press articles, reports, research monographs and history, this project deconstructs the idea of visible differences between black nationals and black foreign nationals. It demonstrates that in South Africa violent conflict lurks on the surface of everyday life and it can burst through the fragile limits set upon it, with the potential to escalate into ethnic cleansing.
Food insecurity and starvation are the starkest human rights problem among traditional cattle bre... more Food insecurity and starvation are the starkest human rights problem among traditional cattle breeders in the Gambos, Angola. This report documents how the encroachment of commercial ranchers on the communal grazing land eroded food security among the Vanyaneka and Ovaherero pastoralists in this region. This is the milk region where traditional cattle breeders harvest, process and consume milk and its derivatives (butter, cheese, milk fat and yoghurt). However, dairy, their most important food, has been in short supply after commercial cattle ranchers seised the pastoralists' grazing land. Since then, the pastoralists' cows have been going hungry and producing less milk. The oxen have been undernourished and weak to pull the ploughs in the fields to grow food. Because the region is semiarid and dry with low rainfall, the women have always depended on cattle dung to fertilise their fields. However, with little to eat, the cattle produced less fertiliser. Amnesty International research reveals that the root cause of food insecurity in this region is the seisure of 67% of the pastoralists' communal grazing land by commercial cattle ranchers. Historically, this communal grazing land mitigated the impact of cyclical droughts among the shepherds of the region. How could the Angolan Government and the ranchers expect the pastoralists to survive, knowing that for centuries they have depended on this grazing land to withstand cycles of droughts? It did not and does not have to be this way.
This contribution discusses the significance of Mozambique in the historical evolution of labour ... more This contribution discusses the significance of Mozambique in the historical evolution of labour migration patterns in Southern Africa. The preponderance of this place in the development of labour migration has been assured by its geographical location, historical chance as well as political and institutional features. From our perspective, the inclusion of Mozambique in this collection should consider at least four structural aspects, of which three have received scant attention in the regional migration debates. The first is the usual historical migration patterns of people, predominantly men. Here, we remind the reader that to call these migrants ‘Mozambicans’ and their hosts ‘South Africans’ is anachronistic. In so doing, we take the reader through a line of flight from the careless use of colonial identifications to describe both the migrants and their hosts. The second is the significance of Mozambique’s geographical location in Southern Africa as the proverbial path to the Pr...
The 2010 protests broke out following wheat and fuel price hikes on the global market which sent ... more The 2010 protests broke out following wheat and fuel price hikes on the global market which sent shock waves of social upheaval throughout the world. The ‘cost of living’ protests prompted the editorial director of STV, Jeremias Langa, to write: "These protests underscored three decades of young people’s frustration and disillusionment with the power and status quo in Mozambique." But most importantly, the intersection of neoliberal economics, generation and gender were central characteristic features of the structural organization of these protests. The youth, most notably young men, have been the major protagonists of protest against an unbearable neoliberal weight. This chapter analyses the life trajectories of seven Mozambican young men in their quest for respectable masculinities and a decent life within glocal3 socio-economic constraints of a neoliberal ordering. In this chapter, I use masculinities to refer to socially constructed and taken for granted cultural ‘we-images’, ‘we-ideals’ and beliefs within the stock of common sense through which men perceive themselves vis-à-vis others within a given human figuration. I also use neoliberalism to refer to the Western ideology in favour of unfettered economic liberalization, privatization, free trade, open markets, deregulation, end of government’s interventionist policy in the economy and end of government spending in social services. This ideology led to the design and implementation of the infamous structural adjustment programmes locally known as Programa de Reabilitação Económica (PRE) and blamed for the disintegration of the social fabric. In the context of these ongoing neoliberal figurational changes, masculine identities are moving and changing targets. Their identity formation is shaped by specific historical and socio-emotional contours and struggles, including lack of firsthand experience with colonial oppression, life dominated by institutions of formal/Westernized education, marginalization in the labour market, complex family life and disdain for government and political figures. Therefore, my analysis is structured around education, labour, family and politics of the postcolony, that is, the institutional axes through which their youthful ideals and identities (we-ideals and we-identities) came into being. The analysis draws on the thesis of individualization to understand malcontent urban masculinities in the African postcolony, especially within the context of unending contradictions between the demands of traditional expectations and pressures of glocal neoliberal transformations.
The end of formal apartheid in South Africa has been accompanied by realignment of social structu... more The end of formal apartheid in South Africa has been accompanied by realignment of social structures, including multi-racialization of wealth and poverty, shifting asymmetric power balances between social groups, emotional anomie within individuals often described as identity crisis. This paper delves into one of these transformations: The emergence of the black middle class in post-apartheid South Africa. This post-liberation demographic, popularly dubbed as Black Diamonds, has received considerable attention in the print and electronic media. The groups increasing socioeconomic clout has led marketers to develop and deploy marketing strategies and practices to soothe and exploit its social and emotional sensibilities for their economic bottom line. In this paper, the analysis will focus on the groups changing socioemotional dynamics, including social spaces, aspirations, habits, tastes, and practices.
Insurgents have attacked towns and villages in Cabo Delgado, the poorest province in Mozambique. ... more Insurgents have attacked towns and villages in Cabo Delgado, the poorest province in Mozambique. The government has responded by sending in the military to stamp out the assailants, using 'whatever it takes', amid suspicions that foreign fighters from Tanzania have radicalised local youth who are behind the violence. Other measures to counter the violence include an extrajudicial state of emergency and the suppression of information.
Insurgents have attacked towns and villages in Cabo Delgado, the poorest province in Mozambique. ... more Insurgents have attacked towns and villages in Cabo Delgado, the poorest province in Mozambique. The government has responded by sending in the military to stamp out the assailants, using 'whatever it takes', amid suspicions that foreign fighters from Tanzania have radicalised local youth who are behind the violence. Other measures to counter the violence include an extrajudicial state of emergency and the suppression of information.
This report examines adverse human rights impact related to the corporate conduct of Haiyu Mozamb... more This report examines adverse human rights impact related to the corporate conduct of Haiyu Mozambique Mining Co., Lda in Nagonha, Nampula province, northern Mozambique. The report focuses on what the company did or failed to do in acquiring the right to land for mining activity in Nagonha, what it did or failed to do in its operations in Nagonha, and what it did or failed to do in response to the villagers’ demand for compensation and resettlement following a mining-related flood. The report looks specifically at the breach of the right to adequate housing and decent living standards ensuing from Haiyu’s destruction of the wetland, and the related destruction of one-fifth of the village by the freak flood. The report also examines the Mozambican Government’s failure to protect, promote and fulfil the right to adequate housing and living standards in the village of Nagonha.
Food insecurity and starvation are the starkest human rights problem among traditional cattle bre... more Food insecurity and starvation are the starkest human rights problem among traditional cattle breeders in the Gambos, Angola. This report documents how the encroachment of commercial ranchers on the communal grazing land eroded food security among the Vanyaneka and Ovaherero pastoralists in this region. This is the milk region where traditional cattle breeders harvest, process and consume milk and its derivatives (butter, cheese, milk fat and yoghurt). However, dairy, their most important food, has been in short supply after commercial cattle ranchers seised the pastoralists' grazing land. Since then, the pastoralists' cows have been going hungry and producing less milk. The oxen have been undernourished and weak to pull the ploughs in the fields to grow food. Because the region is semiarid and dry with low rainfall, the women have always depended on cattle dung to fertilise their fields. However, with little to eat, the cattle produced less fertiliser. Amnesty International research reveals that the root cause of food insecurity in this region is the seisure of 67% of the pastoralists' communal grazing land by commercial cattle ranchers. Historically, this communal grazing land mitigated the impact of cyclical droughts among the shepherds of the region. How could the Angolan Government and the ranchers expect the pastoralists to survive, knowing that for centuries they have depended on this grazing land to withstand cycles of droughts? It did not and does not have to be this way.
In May 2008, a series of attacks took place all over South Africa as black South Africans armed w... more In May 2008, a series of attacks took place all over South Africa as black South Africans armed with clubs, machetes and torches descended on informal settlements and shanty towns. Non-South Africans from mostly Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and other nationals were targeted in these attacks. The Link’s Africa page editor Awakhiwe Dlodlo talks about the soon-to-be published book called Apartheid Vertigo, by Mozambican-Canadian author David Matsinhe, that examines the root causes of discrimination and xenophobic violence in post-apartheid South Africa.
In May 2008, a series of attacks took place all over South Africa as black South Africans armed w... more In May 2008, a series of attacks took place all over South Africa as black South Africans armed with clubs, machetes and torches descended on informal settlements and shanty towns. Non-South Africans from mostly Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and other nationals were targeted in these attacks. The Link’s Africa page editor Awakhiwe Dlodlo talks about the soon-to-be published book called Apartheid Vertigo, by Mozambican-Canadian author David Matsinhe, that examines the root causes of discrimination and xenophobic violence in post-apartheid South Africa.
Uploads
Books by David Matsinhe
The colour-code, notably the aversion toward Africa and blackness, still prevails, but now in postcolonial masks. Despite political freedom, to a greater or lesser extent, a vast section of the black citizenry has adopted the code, and adapted it to fit the new reality. This vertiginous reality is manifest in the neo-apartheid ideology of Makwerekwere - the postcolonial colour-code mobilized to distinguish black outsiders from black insiders. Apartheid vertigo ranges from negative sentiments to outright violence against black outsiders, including insults, humiliations, extortions, searches, arrests, detentions, deportations, tortures, rapes, beatings, and killings. Ironically, the victims are not only the outsiders against whom the code is mobilized but also the insiders who mobilize it.
Drawing on evidence from interviews, observation, press articles, reports, research monographs and history, this project deconstructs the idea of visible differences between black nationals and black foreign nationals. It demonstrates that in South Africa violent conflict lurks on the surface of everyday life and it can burst through the fragile limits set upon it, with the potential to escalate into ethnic cleansing.
Papers by David Matsinhe
The colour-code, notably the aversion toward Africa and blackness, still prevails, but now in postcolonial masks. Despite political freedom, to a greater or lesser extent, a vast section of the black citizenry has adopted the code, and adapted it to fit the new reality. This vertiginous reality is manifest in the neo-apartheid ideology of Makwerekwere - the postcolonial colour-code mobilized to distinguish black outsiders from black insiders. Apartheid vertigo ranges from negative sentiments to outright violence against black outsiders, including insults, humiliations, extortions, searches, arrests, detentions, deportations, tortures, rapes, beatings, and killings. Ironically, the victims are not only the outsiders against whom the code is mobilized but also the insiders who mobilize it.
Drawing on evidence from interviews, observation, press articles, reports, research monographs and history, this project deconstructs the idea of visible differences between black nationals and black foreign nationals. It demonstrates that in South Africa violent conflict lurks on the surface of everyday life and it can burst through the fragile limits set upon it, with the potential to escalate into ethnic cleansing.