“Xenophobia in South Africa – understandings, responses, remedies”
Published by the Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA), in partnership with the Institute for Social Development (ISD) at the University of the Western Cape
Guest Editor: Dr Dale T. McKinley independent writer, researcher and lecturer, co-founder of Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia as well as Research and Education Officer for the International Labour, Research and Information Group (ILRIG).
This special issue will bring together a collection of articles exploring the emergence, growth, implications and consequences of xenophobic politics and sentiment directed at migrants who have come to South Africa, mostly from the rest of the Continent, to escape war and conflict, political repression and also to seek economic. Importantly, this special issue seeks to explore how and why attitudes can change. What sorts of engagement are productive? Who is able to advance critical dialogue and how can this best be accomplished?
Politicians of all stripes have failed the public interest by directly weaponizing anti-immigrant sentiment, pandering to narrow nationalist and/or ethnic agendas and scapegoating migrants for their own governance and policy failures .
The South African government, long neglectful of immigration policy implementation, has recently finalised a White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection that amongst other highly contested measures, seeks to withdraw the country from international conventions it has ratified to protect refugees and asylum seekers.
How do ‘we’ -- in South Africa and the continent -- think about and act upon these intensified and politically weaponised threats to African unity, solidarity and human rights posed by the marches, riots, violent attacks and social media manipulations against migrants? How do ‘we’ ensure that the ways in which xenophobia is challenged does not further publicize and promote it, but rather develops responses that while recognising legitimate socio-economic grievances and perceptions, seek longer-term alternatives? What policies, economic models and forms of activism can emerge at this moment in this place? We invite thoughtful contributions that explore these concerns.
Approaches could include (but are not limited to): policy, activist, legal, communication, cultural, political and economic theories, methods and lived realities.
Topics could include (but are not limited to): questions about the reason for the trajectory of the ANC away from “the African Renaissance”; time lines, periodisations and historical reflections; structural economic analyses on ‘township economies’ and the pressures on poor communities; voices of workers, students, organisations, and immigrant communities; research methodologies (such as the HSRC polls); responses from other African leaders and the African Union; continental and international perspectives on world crises around immigration, linked as they are to a more generalised rise of the right.
Contributions will be 3000 to 5000-words in length, written as academic articles or as commentaries, with a wide audience in mind.
To propose a contribution for the special issue, please email a working title, 250-word abstract and 100-word author biography toproduction@ifaaza.org by midnight of 30 September 2026. The editorial collective will inform successful applicants by 31 October 2026, and advise them on how to submit their final articles. Full papers will be due on 15 January 2027.
Academic submissions will undergo a double-blind peer review which is handled by the editorial collective. Commentaries and opinions pieces will be reviewed by the guest editor or external subject experts.
New Agenda’s editorial policies and submission requirements can be accessed at https://epubs.ac.za/index.php/newagenda/NAPolicies
The special issue is scheduled for publication in June 2027.
