Stories of us and them : Xenophobia and political narratives
| dc.contributor.advisor | Roodt, Vasti | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Cilliers, Judy-Ann | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.other | Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Philosophy. | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-02-07T11:20:49Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-04-28T12:02:32Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-02-07T11:20:49Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-04-28T12:02:32Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2020-03 | |
| dc.description | Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2020. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation aims to make sense of xenophobia as a specific idea of belonging and exclusion based on the idea of foreignness. I provide a conceptual and normative framework to help us understand xenophobia in terms of its origins, expressions, moral harms, and effects. The secondary aim of this dissertation is to determine how our individual and political identities contribute to individual xenophobic prejudices and acts of discrimination, as well as the construction and upholding of a xenophobic social and political order. Towards this latter aim I argue for a narrative conception of identity, and show how narratives can be xenophobic, but how they can also be conducive to creating a non-xenophobic world. To achieve these dual aims, my argument is worked out in five phases. Firstly, I distinguish xenophobia from racism, arguing that xenophobia differs in its origins and in its effect, which also constitutes its moral harm. The harm in xenophobia lies in a specific form of civic ostracism that excludes particular groups from benefits of civic membership based on ascriptions of foreignness that in turn is based on ideas about belonging. Secondly, I show that xenophobia’s origins lie in our ideas about foreignness and belonging, and it manifests in the prejudices that result from ingroup-outgroup differentiation. This is a response to the fear we feel in the face of strangers and the unfamiliar, a remnant of our evolutionary history. I suggest that in our early days as a species, antagonism toward the outgroup gave the ingroup the evolutionary advantage. Xenophobia is therefore a reaction to insecurity about our place and existence in the world, and the third phase of my argument considers place, belonging, and the harms of displacement. These themes are approached from the perspective of the xenophobe and the victim of xenophobia. Regarding the former, I show how a sense of the precariousness of one’s own belonging can lead one to seek belonging in the false home offered by nationalism and other exclusionary identities and groupings, with xenophobic discrimination as the result. This excludes the victim of xenophobia from the possibility of belonging, making them vulnerable to the particular harms of displacement. The fourth phase considers the narrative theory of identity, connecting our sense of belonging to our identities and to the narratives we tell about ourselves, our groups, outsiders, and the places we are situated in. The narratives we share and the identities which result from them can be more or less xenophobic, and in the final phase of this dissertation I analyse xenophobic narratives and provide directions that counternarratives can follow to counter xenophobia, on the institutional and individual level. A novel direction for implementing such narratives is provided, inspired by xenophobia’s origins in human evolution: playing and games, strategies which are conducive to relationship formation and collaboration. If xenophobia is a response to apprehensions of belonging, as this dissertation argues, a solution to xenophobia needs to be found rethinking our identities, our place in the world, and in promoting trust and collaboration. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verhandeling streef daarna om sin te maak van xenofobie as ’n spesifieke opvatting oor tuishoort en uitsluiting, gegrond op die idee van vreemdelingskap. Ek bied ’n konseptuele en normatiewe raamwerk om xenofobie te probeer verstaan in die lig van die oorsprong, morele kwaad en uitwerking daarvan. ’n Verdere doel is om te bepaal hoe ons individuele en politieke identiteite bydra tot individuele xenofobiese vooroordele en dade van diskriminasie, asook tot die konstruksie en instandhouding van ’n xenofobiese sosiale en politieke orde. Daarom argumenteer ek ten gunste van ’n narratiewe opvatting van identiteit. Ek toon aan dat narratiewe xenofobies kan wees, maar tog ook kan meewerk tot die skepping van ’n nie-xenofobiese wêreld. Om hierdie tweeledige doel te bereik, verloop my argument in vyf fases. In die eerste plek onderskei ek xenofobie van rassisme ten opsigte van oorsprong sowel as uitwerking (wat ook die morele kwaad konstitueer). Die kwaad van xenofobie lê in ’n vorm van sosiale uitbanning, waardeur spesifieke groepe uitgesluit word uit die voordele van burgerlike lidmaatskap, op grond van die vreemdelingskap wat aan hulle toegeskryf word, as gevolg van spesifieke idees oor tuishoort. In die tweede plek toon ek aan dat xenofobie se oorsprong lê in ons opvattings van vreemdelingskap en tuishoort, en dat dit gemanifesteer word in die vooroordele wat voortvloei uit ingroep-uitgroep-differensiasie. Dit is’n respons op die vrees wat ons ervaar teenoor vreemdelinge en die onbekende, wat ’n oorblyfsel is van ons evolusionêre geskiedenis waarin antagonisme teenoor die uitgroep stellig vroeër die ingroep ’n evolusionêre voordeel gegee het. Xenofobie is daarom ’n reaksie op die onsekerheid oor ons plek en voortbestaan in die wêreld. Daarom handel die derde fase van my argument oor plek, behoort en die skade van ontworteling. Dit word benader vanuit die oogpunte van die vreemdelinghater sowel as die slagoffer van xenofobie. Wat eersgenoemde betref, toon ek aan hoe die wisselvalligheid van jou eie gevoel van behoort daartoe kan lei dat jy tuiskoms soek in die skyntuistes wat gebied word deur nasionalisme en ander uitsluitende identiteit en groeperings, met xenofobiese diskriminasie as resultaat. Dit sluit dan die slagoffer van xenofobie uit van die moontlikheid om te behoort, sodat hulle uitgelewer word aan die skade wat ontworteling aanrig. Die vierde fase kyk na die narratiewe teorie van identiteit. Dit verbind ons gevoel van tuishoort aan ons identeite en aan die narratiewe wat ons vertel oor onsself, ons groepe, buitestaanders en die plekke waar ons leef. Hierdie narratiewe en die identiteite wat daaruit voortvloei kan in mindere of meerdere mate xenofobies wees. In die laaste fase van hierdie verhandeling analiseer ek daarom xenofobiese narratiewe en dui ek die rigtings aan wat teennarratiewe kan volg om xenofobie teen te werk, op institusionele sowel as individuele vlak. ’n Nuwe rigting word ook aangedui om dit te implementeer, geïnspireer deur die oorsprong van xenofobia in menslike evolusie: spel as strategie wat bevordelik is vir die vorming van verhoudings en samewerking. As xenofobie ’n respons is op vrese oor tuishoort, soos in hierdie verhandeling beredeneer word, dan moet ’n oplossing daarvoor gevind word in nuwe denke oor ons identiteite en plek in die wêreld, sodat ons vertroue en samewerking kan bevorder. | af_ZA |
| dc.description.version | Doctoral | en_ZA |
| dc.format.extent | xi, 232 pages | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/107760 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University. | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | Stellenbosch University. | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Xenophobia | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Political narratives | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Foreigners -- Social aspects | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Prejudices -- Political aspects | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Identity (Philosophical concept) | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Belonging (Social psychology) | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | UCTD | |
| dc.title | Stories of us and them : Xenophobia and political narratives | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |