Xenophobia By Jason Hickel Summary

The topic of the article i read deals with Xenophobia in the township of Alexandra located in the Gauteng province. Xenophobia is defined as the fear of being perceived to be a foreigner. The author, Jason Hickel, briefly gives a background on the hostility that had ensued in 2008. Local residents from the township were attacking people from foreign countries such as Mozambique, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. Foreigners were collectively known as makwerekwere. Throughout the article, Jason Hickel gives several reasons for why xenophobia exists in the township. The article breaks down the issues into three important reasons: poverty, globalization, and witchcraft. The article demonstrates a knowledge of how the global economy impacts the lives of countries who are left out of it.

There’s no way that they can become rich after only three years or so here! There must be something behind it . . . they are using ubuthakathi(witchcraft). There’s no other way to explain it.(Hickel)

Based on the response on a typical woman, I would assume that the nation does not see in world wide impact the global economy is hurting Africa. People tend to know that government officials are corrupt but do not have the financial capabilities to rid the corruption. This causes southern countries to breed a hatred of people within the same continent.

The traditions from their culture is what leads them to believe that the issue lies within witchcraft. I believe if a nation gains to much progress, foreigner influences cause a change in leadership. I would like the author of the novel to have focused on the government ruling and how certain decisions have been made along with a corresponding timeline to have provided a more accurate reason causes of Xenophobia. One topic that might be of interest to the author is the apartheid in South Africa where there was a state of racial segregation between 1948 and 1994 that was enforced in South