Twitter and the politics of representation in South Africa and Zimbabwe’s xenophobic narratives during the covid-19 pandemic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18820/24150479/aa54i2/10Keywords:
South Africa, Zimbabwe, social media, representation, xenophobia, Covid-19Abstract
The article analyses xenophobic narratives on Twitter in South Africa and Zimbabwe during the Covid-19 pandemic from March 2020 to July 2021. The study uncovers the politics of representation through discourse analysis of purposively sampled tweets. The article argues that xenophobic views perpetuated on Twitter during the Covid-19 pandemic period had the potential to influence negative attitudes towards Zimbabwean and other immigrants in South Africa. I show that Twitter was used as a platform to disseminate negative representations of Zimbabwean and other immigrants in South Africa. Political leaders on both sides of the border also utilised these representations to maintain their power. On the other hand Twitter played a critical part in mending the rift between Zimbabwean immigrants and some South Africans as it opened up communication between mainstream culture and other cultures. Regardless of this, social media platforms such as Twitter must be monitored and researched to understand the dynamics of representation of others, registering the need to respect and honour the constitutionally recognised freedom of expression.
Downloads
References
Ahmed K. 2015. Taking on antisocial media’s racist rants, one post at a time. TimesLive. 1 February. Available at: http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/2015/02/01/taking -on-antisocial-media-s-racist-rants-one-post-at-a-time [accessed 8 November 2022].
Ahuja K, Banerjee D, Chaudhory K and Gidwani C. 2021. Fear, xenophobia and collectivsism as predictors of well-being during coronavirus disease 2019: an empirical study from India. International Journal of Social Psychiatry 67(1): 46-53.
Bosch T. 2017. Researching audiences in the age of social media. In: P Fourie (ed). Media studies: social (new) media and mediated communication today. Cape Town: Juta.
Burton G. 2002. More than meets the eye: an introduction to media studies. London: Hodder Arnold.
Campbell C (ed). 2017. The Routledge companion to media and race. London and New York: Routledge.
Chenzi V. 2020. Fake news, social media and xenophobia in South Africa. African Identities. DOI:10.1080/14725843.2020.1804321.
Chibita M and Ugangu W. 2017. Social media policy in Africa. In: P Fourie (ed). Media studies: social (new) media and mediated communication today Cape Town: Juta.
Choli M and Kuss D. 2021. Perceptions of blame on social media during the coronavirus pandemic. Computers in Human Behaviour 124(3): 106895. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106895.
Cohen M and Naidoo. 2020. South Africans must put locals first post virus, Mboweni says. Bloombergquint.com. 24 April. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-24/south-africa-must-put-locals-first-post-virus-mboweni-says [accessed on 4 January 2021].
Covid-19 Online resource and news portal. Available at: https://sacoronavirus.co.za [accessed on 31 December 2020].
Croucher S, Nyuyen T and Diyoko R. 2020. Prejudice toward Asian Americans in the Covid-19 pandemic: the effects of social media use in the United States. Frontiers in Communication 5(article 39). DOI:3389/fcomm.2020.00039.
Digital 2022: South Africa. Available at: https://datareportal.com/reports [accessed on 5 September 2022].
Digital 2022: Zimbabwe. Available at: https://datareportal.com/reports [accessed on 5 September 2022].
Eliseeva A. 2020. South Africa: xenophobia on the rise as Covid- 19 roils planet. New Frame. 15 May. Johannesburg. allafrica.com/stories. Available at: https://www.newframe.com/xenophobia-on-the-rise-as-covid-19-roils-the -planet [accessed on 5 January 2021].
Fake news about xenophobia on social media aimed at ruining brand SA-govt. 2019. News24.com. 3 April. Available at: https://www.news24.com/fake-news-about-xenophobia-on-social-media-aimed -at-ruining-brand-SA-govt-20190403 [accessed on 4 November 2020].
Finn B and Kobayashi L. 2020. Structural inequality in the time of COVID-19: urbanization, segregation and pandemic control in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dialogues in Human Geography 10(2): 217-220.
Fourchad L and Segatti A. 2015. Introduction of xenophobia and citizenship: the everyday politics of exclusion and inclusion in Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 85(1): 1-12.
Gattichi G and Maseko L. 2020. Xenophobia surges as Covid- 19 slams South African economy. Bloomberg Businessweek. 20 December. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-20/xenophobia-surges-as-covid-19-slams-south -african-economy [accessed on 5 January 2021].
Hall S (ed). 1997. Representation. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Harris B. 2001. A foreigner experience: violence, crime and xenophobia during South Africa’s transition. Violence and transition series Vol. 5. Johannesburg: SA Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.
Hine C. 2000. Virtual Ethnography. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Livingstone S. 2004. The challenge of changing audiences: or what is the audience researcher to do in the age of the internet. European Journal of Communication. Vol 19(1): 75-86.
Mavengano E, Marevesa T and Nkamta P. 2022. Re-reading xenophobic discourses from an Ubuntu perspective: a study of the plight of ‘makwerekwere’ in Mhlongo’s After Tears. Journal of Multicultural Discourses. https://doi.org/10.1080/17447143.2022.2116449.
Mbembe A. 2015. Achille Mbembe writes about Xenophobic South Africa. Africa is a Country. 16 April. Available at: https://africasacountry.com/2015/04/achille-mbembe-writes-about-xenophobic-south-africa [accessed on 4 July 2021].
Ministry of HealthZW@MoHCCZim. Available at: https://twitter.com [accessed on 31 December 2020].
Mogweku M. 2005. African Union: xenophobia as poor intercultural information. Ecquid Novi:African Journalism Studies 26(1): 5-20.
Mpofu S and Barnabas S. 2016. Citizen journalism and moral panics: a consideration of ethics in the 2015 South African xenophobic attacks. African Journalism Studies 37(4): 115-136.
Mutsvairo B, Columbus S and Leijendekker I. 2014. Reconnoitering the role of (citizen) journalism ethics in the emerging networked public sphere. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 35(3): 4-22.
Neocosmos M. 2008. The politics of fear and the fear of politics: reflections on xenophobic violence in South Africa. Journal of Asian and African Studies Vol 43(6): 586-594.
Nyamnjoh F. 2010. Racism, ethnicity and the media in Africa: reflection inspired by studies of xenophobia in Cameroon and South Africa. Africa Spectrum 45(1): 57-93.
Pei X and Mehta D. 2020. #Coronavirus or #Chinesevirus?!: understanding the negative sentiment reflected in tweets with racist hashtags across the development of COVID-19. Preprint from arXiv. 17 May 2020. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.08224v1.
Pinetah E. 2017. Illegal aliens and demons that must be exorcised from South Africa: framing African migrants and xenophobia in post-apartheid narratives. Cogent Social Sciences. Article: 1391158. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2017.1391158
Solomon H and Kosaka H. 2013. Xenophobia in South Africa: reflections, narratives and recommendations. South African Peace and Security Studies 2(2): 5-30.
A look at South Africa’s R37 million border fence with Zimbabwe – built to stop the spread of the coronavirus. 2020. Businesstech. 11 May. Available at: https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/396733/a -look-at-south-africas-r37-million-border-fence-with-zimbabwe-built-to-stop-the-spread-of-the-coronavirus [accessed on 6 January 2021].
Tella O. 2016. Understanding xenophobia in South Africa: the individual, the state and international system. Insight on Africa 8(2): 142-158.
Twitter public and private accounts @twitter.com. Accessed on 13 March 2020 (in response to an announcement by Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize on 13 March 2020), 15 March 2020, 28 March 2020, 10 May 2020, 31 May 2020, 1 September 2020, 3 September 2020, 4 January 2021,5 January 2021,#CloseBeitbridgeBorder – 5 January 2021, 6 January 2021,12 January 2021, 12 March 2021, 4 July 2021, 2 July2021, 6 July 2021, 30 December 2021.
Yanow D. 2007. Qualitative-interpretive methods in policy research. In: F Fischer, G Miller and MS Sidney (eds). Handbook of public policy analysis: theory, politics, and methods. Boca Raton, FL: CRC/Taylor and Francis.
##submission.downloads##
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Elizabeth Hove
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
