"They steal our jobs and they steal our women" - An exploration of women's negotiation of xenophobia and violence in South Africa

2008年和2015年，南非各地爆发了针对外国人的大规模暴力事件，据报道共有70人死亡，数百人受伤，数十人被强奸，数十万人流离失所(Hiropoulos，2015；Misago等人，2015)。从那时起，被称为“仇外”的暴力每年在该国夺走更多人的生命(Misago等人，2015年)。在英国，在2008年经济危机之后，以及2016年围绕脱欧公投的分裂运动期间，公众对外国公民的言论和行为变得越来越敌意。2015至2016年间，警方记录的“仇恨犯罪”数量增加了29%，而被内政部描述为“种族恶化”并与仇外心理报告有关的犯罪增加了41%(O‘Neill，2017；Rzepnikowska，2018)。政治和主流媒体的叙述和学术文献往往聚焦于与仇外心理有关的暴力，将男性置于这些辩论的前台，而女性的观点、作用和经历被忽视(见Morrice 2016；Sigsworth等人，2008年为例外)。在媒体报道和学术界，妇女大多被定位为沉默的受害者或脆弱的旁观者、母亲或亲属或壮观的仇外暴力的被动目标(Maluleke，2015；Akinola，2017)。在以基于性别的暴力和家庭暴力水平高和报告不足而闻名的环境中，这种定位只会让妇女沉默，使她们成为受害者。由于妇女约占南非移民的48%，英国的52%，两国人口的50%以上(Hiralal，2017；Rienzo&Vargas-Silva，2017)，对妇女多样化经历的缺乏关注限制了对仇外心理的准确理解。我的博士研究以“厚重的”人种学描述(米尔斯等人，2010)为背景，以南非和英国的历史和女权主义文学为基础，考察了仇外心理如何体现在生活在南非约翰内斯堡和英国伦敦这两个多元文化城市的不同女性的日常生活和空间中。该研究探讨了性别与仇外心理之间的关系，探讨了这些城市内两个社会经济不同空间的妇女如何克服基于国籍的歧视，将范围扩大到暴力以外，以了解对妇女日常生活、社区和生计的影响。这项研究使用交叉性的概念框架来研究相互关联的身份和社会位置如何会倍增以歧视妇女(Bouilly等人，2016；Gouws，2017：20)。通过审查这些经历如何塑造妇女与其他妇女、男子以及与社会结构和机构的关系，这项研究将为广大受众产生对现代仇外心理的微妙的社会人类学理解。使用深度访谈、参与者观察和基于艺术的方法的混合方法，目的是为参与的妇女创造一个安全的空间，处理她们日常的仇外心理经历，提供关于复杂的社会现实和“日常”、具体化和情感体验的意义(Bagnoli，2009；Fraser和al-Sayah，2011，Stavropolou，2018)。通过冲突解决文献和我在调解方面的培训(Thomas，2016；Behfaret al，2008；O‘Brien，2005)，目的是以具有情感素养和敏感性的方式解决冲突(Orbach，2016)。通过相互支持地分享和拆解他们的经验，参与者形成了新的解释或加强了彼此的共鸣，并提供了对当代仇外心理的见解。在两个充斥着关于移民和权利的令人担忧的全国性辩论的环境中，这项研究将超越同质叙事，认识到移民和黑人女性经历的复杂性和多样性。

In 2008 and again in 2015, mass violence directed at foreign nationals broke out across South Africa, with collectively 70 people reported dead, hundreds injured, dozens raped and hundreds of thousands displaced (Hiropoulos, 2015; Misago et al, 2015). Since then, violence termed 'xenophobic' has claimed additional lives in the country every year (Misago et al, 2015). In the UK, following the economic crisis of 2008, and during the divisive campaigns over the EU referendum in 2016, public discourses and behaviours towards foreign nationals has turned increasingly hostile. The number of 'hate crimes' recorded by the police rose by 29% between 2015 and 2016, while offences described as 'racially aggravated' by the Home Office and linked to reports of xenophobia increased by 41% (O'Neill, 2017; Rzepnikowska, 2018). Political and mainstream media narratives and academic literature often focus on the violence associated with xenophobia, placing men in the foreground of these debates, whilst women's perspectives, roles and experiences are neglected (see Morrice 2016; Sigsworth et al, 2008 for exceptions). In media reports and in academia, women are mostly positioned as silent victims or vulnerable bystanders, mothers or relatives or passive targets of spectacular xenophobic violence (Maluleke, 2015; Akinola, 2017). In environments known for high and under-reported levels of gender-based and domestic violence , this positioning only serves to silence women and render them as victims.As women constitute approximately 48% of migrants in South Africa, 52% in the UK, and more than 50% of the populations in both countries (Hiralal, 2017; Rienzo & Vargas-Silva, 2017), the lack of attention to a diversity of women's experiences restricts an accurate understanding of xenophobia. Contextualised by 'thick' ethnographic description (Mills et al, 2010) and grounded in South African and British historical and feminist literature, my PhD research examines how xenophobia manifests in the quotidian lives and spaces of different women living in two multicultural cities; Johannesburg in South Africa and London in Britain. The study interrogates the relationship between gender and xenophobia, exploring how women in two socio-economically diverse spaces within these cities navigate discrimination based on nationality, broadening the scope beyond violence to understand the impacts on women's daily lives, communities and livelihoods. This study uses the conceptual framework of intersectionality to examine how interconnecting identities and social locations can multiply to discriminate against women (Bouilly et al, 2016; Gouws, 2017: 20). By examining how these experiences shape women's relationships - with other women, with men, and with social structures and institutions, the study will produce a nuanced socio-anthropological understanding of modern xenophobia for a broad audience. Using a mixed methodology of in-depth interviews, participant observations and arts-based methods, the aim is to create a safe space for participant women to process their experiences of quotidian xenophobia, providing meaning about complex social realities and 'everyday', embodied and emotional experiences (Bagnoli, 2009; Fraser and al-Sayah, 2011 in Stavropolou, 2018). Informed by conflict resolution literature, and my training in mediation (Thomas, 2016; Behfar et al, 2008; O'Brien, 2005) the aim is to address conflict in an emotionally literate and sensitive way (Orbach, 2016). Through supportively sharing and unpacking their experiences together, participants develop new interpretations or enhance feelings of empathy with each other, as well as provide insights into contemporary xenophobia. In two environments marked by fraught, national debates about migration and rights, this research will go beyond homogenous narratives, recognising the complexity and diversity of the migrant and black, female experience.