Xenophobia in Niq Mhlongo’s Dog Eat Dog and Kopano Matlwa’s Period Pain

  • Aklilu Dessalegn Zewdu Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
  • Abiye Daniel Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20884/1.jli.2023.14.1.8269

Abstract

Xenophobia has been thematized in South African literature by post-apartheid novelists, and they addressed it in different manners. Two post-apartheid authors who dealt with the issue of xenophobia are Niq Mhlongo and Kopano Matlwa in their novels Dog Eat Dog and Period Pain, respectively. This paper aims to examine how Mhlongo and Matlwa portray xenophobia in their novels and explore the ways they employ to neutralize xenophobia. The paper also discusses the causes of xenophobia pointed out in the novels. Therefore, a critical analysis of the novels has been made by the writer using detailed reading and textual evidence. The analysis indicates that South Africans view black foreigners as job stealers, criminals, drug dealers, witches, and bringers of disease. The writers infused the view of black foreign characters on xenophobia to debunk the negative stereotype and attempted to neutralize it by featuring non-xenophobic protagonists. The article also concludes that Mhlongo and Matlwa reveal the role of the media and the scapegoating hypothesis as the causes of xenophobia.

References

Choane, M., Shulika, L., Mthombeni, M. (2011). An Analysis of the Causes, Effects and Ramifications of Xenophobia in South Africa. Insight on Africa, 3(2): 129 42. doi:10.1177/0975087814411138.

Claassen, C. (2017). Explaining South African Xenophobia. Afrobarometer working paper No. 173: 1-22. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2974065.

Crush, J. (2008). The Perfect Storm: The Realities of Xenophobia in Contemporary South Africa (rep., pp. i-61). Waterloo, ON: Southern African Migration Programme. SAMP Migration Policy Series No. 50.

Dumani, N. (2015). Xenophobia in South Africa. CERS Working Paper. Retrieved from https://cers.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/97/2016/04/Xenophobia-in-South-Africa-Nomsa-Dumani.pdf

Ejoke, U., Ani, K. (2017). A Historical and Theoretical Analysis of Xenophobia in South Africa. Journal of Gender. Information and Development in Africa, 6(1&2): 163–85. JGIDA.

Elzinga, J. (2022). Studies on Xenophobia in South Africa: A Meta-Analysis. Leiden University.

Harris, B. (2002). Xenophobia: A new pathology for a new South Africa? In Hook, D. & Eagle, G. (eds) Psychopathology and Social Prejudice, 169-184, Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press.

Ikpor, A. (n.d). Xenophobia and Nigeria - South Africa Relations. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/40290539/PhD_Proposal_Xenophobia_and_Nigeria_South_Africa_Relations

Kaziboni, A. (2022). Apartheid Racism and Post-apartheid Xenophobia: Bridging the Gap. Migration in Southern Africa, edited by P. Rugunanan and N. Xulu-Gama, IMISCOE Research Series. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-92114-9_14.

Kristeva, J. (1982). Power of Horror. New York: Colombia University Press.

Matlwa, K. (2016). Period Pain. South Africa: Jacana Media.

Mgogo, Q., Osunkunle, O. (2021). Xenophobia in South Africa: An Insight into the Media Representation and Textual Analysis. Global Media Journal, 19(38): 1-8.

Mhlongo, N. (2004). Dog Eat Dog. Athens: Ohio University Press.

Ngom, M. (2019). The Myth of the “Rainbow Nation”: Xenophobia, Sexual Violence, and Racial Tensions Period Pain by Kopano Matlwa. International Journal of English, Literature and Social Sciences, 4(6): 2062-2074. https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.46.68

Olofinbiyi, S. (2022). Anti-immigrant Violence and Xenophobia in South Africa: Untreated Malady and Potential Snag for National Development. Insight on Africa, 14(2): 193–211. doi:10.1177/09750878221079803.

UNHCR. (2015, February). Protection from xenophobia: An evaluation of UNHCR’s regional office for Southern Africa’s xenophobia related programmes. https://www.unhcr.org/research/evalreports/55cb153f9/protection-xenophobia-evaluation-unhcrs-regional-office-southern-africas.html

Winstanley, L. (2018). The Re-emergence of South African Nationalism in Kopano Matlwa’s Period Pain. Journal of European Association for Studies of Australia, 9(2): 56-65.

“World Report 2009: South Africa”. Human Rights Watch. 11th of October 2022. .
Published
2023-06-30
How to Cite
ZEWDU, Aklilu Dessalegn; DANIEL, Abiye. Xenophobia in Niq Mhlongo’s Dog Eat Dog and Kopano Matlwa’s Period Pain. Jurnal Lingua Idea, [S.l.], v. 14, n. 1, p. 57-70, june 2023. ISSN 2580-1066. Available at: <https://jos.unsoed.ac.id/index.php/jli/article/view/8269>. Date accessed: 14 mar. 2025. doi: https://doi.org/10.20884/1.jli.2023.14.1.8269.
Citation Formats
Issue
Vol 14 No 1 (2023): June 2023
Section
Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with Jurnal Ilmiah Lingua Idea agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. 
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.