Social Media and Xenophobic Solidarity in Post-colonial Africa

Abstract

In recent times, there is a resurgence of aggressive consciousness by citizens of most
African countries, firmly fashioned and sustained through social media. Social media
in this way effectively play roles of mobilizing and (re)constructing national identities
and solidarities in ways that citizens regularly enter into violent confrontations with
foreign nationals, often stereotyped as threats to the prosperity of citizens. In some
African countries, executive orders have been given by heads of government that saw
the vicious expulsion of millions of foreign nationals. With the advent of distance-andtime-
shrinking information and communication technologies, social media platforms
such as Facebook‚ Twitter‚ YouTube and WhatsApp are relied upon in rousing support
for national interests and in-group solidarity. Through a systematic review of national
immigration policies and content analysis of Facebook newsfeeds in selected countries
of East/Central, West and Southern Africa (Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Somalia, Ghana, Uganda, and South Africa), this
paper examines how social media strengthen in-group solidarities with the attendant
consequences of loss of lives, properties, and inter-state diplomatic relations in postcolonial
Africa. The paper concludes that while encouraging freedom of expression
within the continent, social media also bolster freedom to hate as both citizens and
foreign nationals become more distrustful of one another, thereby exacerbating competition,
rivalry and xenophobia. As citizens exercise their right to voice their opinions,
they also actively dehumanize foreign nationals. The paper recommends that kin and
friendship networks should become the sphere within which interventions for antixenophobia
campaigns occur in post-colonial Africa, as these hold the social capital to
bridge the divide between citizens and foreign nationals in attempts to achieve peaceful
co-existence.