Rethinking the boundaries of self-Other and the logics of de/coloniality in Harare North and One Foreigner’s Ordeal: a decolonial perspective

Abstract

The African fictive landscape has been occupied with the subject of self-Other boundary in the context of xenophobia, geopolitics, racist tradition and migration, yet the topic has remained topical. Too often the term xenophobia has been used to mean the hatred of a stranger or foreigner, ignoring or under-estimating other opaque dynamics of xenophobia which could serve us in very important ways. The main contention of this study is that the definition of xenophobia in Africa should be expanded to mean the fear of difference whether one is white or black, national or non-national. This is meant to stir conversations that revisit the troubled terrain of self-Other boundaries in the context of nuanced forms of exclusionary practices in the postcolonial era. The study taps into literary writings which provide complex fictive cultural avenues to construct depth analyses of binary logics and the complexity of becoming in contemporary times. The study is located within the terrain of decolonial theorisations with the aim to enrich reflections on intricate mechanisms of exclusions that arise from the fear of difference and counter strategies that interject exclusionary discourses.