the disgust of xenophobia

Opinion

Who is the “foreigner”?

By Ntendeni Luvhengo

Before I begin with the topic, let me make it clear that I have put the word “foreigner” in inverted commas because a light bulb moment once stoke my mind that made me start to question the use of this word and its connotation. I have also put the phrase “from overseas” in inverted commas because I started scrutinising this phrase too. These two phrases are the focus of this comment.

I originally wrote this article for mirror newspaper in Venda and it did not make it to the paper. The senior editor of the newspapers had a brief look at it and corrected me to use the phrase “who is a foreigner?” instead of “who is the foreigner?”. I accepted the change but I realised that I had to explain why I used the word “the’ instead of the word “a”.

The reason is that I wanted to create a scenario with the word “the” taking into account that the definite article intensifies the meaning of this opinion more than “a”. I wanted to create a scenario where two people would be sitting on a bench, one form Africa and the other from overseas. While these two are sitting next to each other, a father would come with the child and ask the child “who [of the two] is the foreigner?” expecting the child to answer. I wrote the whole opinion imagining this scenario. I also did not want to use the article “a” because it does not put the two groups of people in relation to each other as “the” would do. “The” reminds me that I am talking about one group in relation to the other and not in isolation.

I was sitting at a dinner table having the last meal of the day with my fellow girls from my university residence, Olive Schreiner at Rhodes University. While we were busy sweeping away the boredom of the day, as usual, we started discussing anything that could strike our minds. One of the topics that were raised was the topic of “foreigners”. I was not there when the topic started but I was surprised by the frequent use of the word. The reason why this word struck me was that it has a derogatory message underneath it that we take for granted. The word “foreigner” generally means ‘outsider, alien, non-belonging, savage, primitive’, amongst others. When I asked one of the girls at the table why she called those from other African countries “foreigners”, she said that it was the word used in the dictionary and that there was nothing wrong with the word. She also said that she did not find the word offensive. The light bulb moment struck me when I asked if she would call any American, European or Australian a “foreigner” and she answered that she would rather call them “form overseas’. I want to express how I feel about the way South Africans (I do not mean to over-generalize) see themselves and those from different countries. I find it interesting and controversial to call those other Africans “foreigners” while we call those from the first worlds “from overseas”. We call other Africans “foreigners” because we think that they are outsiders and less worthy, compared to ourselves and those from the first worlds. I say this because we even go to a length of calling Americans, European and Australians with the phrase “from overseas” instead of the one-word noun phrase “foreigners”. It would make at least some sense (not a lot of sense though) if we called those from the first worlds “foreigners” and those form other African countries “from other African countries” because we share soil with the latter. We find it hard to call those from overseas “foreigners” while we have no problem with the word that we use for those who share the same soil with us. I am not buying the excuse of of using the word just because it is from the dictionary. The connotation of the word is the one that matters.

Another point that I want to make is that we still have our minds colonised. Colonisation might be over in the papers but we are still colonised in the mind to think that those “from overseas” are more superior to us in a way that they deserve to belong to our country when they visit, better than those who share African soil with us. While I was thinking of this word and its connotation, I was reminded of a friend who once told me that, when South Africans (again I do not mean to say all South Africans) go to visit other African countries, they says statements such as, “We are going to visit Africa.” This meaning that we have started to think that we are in another planet and that African countries are another entity far away from us. At the moment, I have no word that people could use as a substitute to the word “foreigners”. My reason to writing this opinion is to stimulate thinking and to teach people to scrutinise the words that they use before they use them. This is also because I believe that language shapes the nation and the views that the nation has (thanks to my Linguistics lessons). It is the connotation that matters and not the dictionary meaning, so next time I ask you about the words that you use, do not give me the dictionary as an excuse because I will not but that. I however need not to impose my ideas on other people or make others believe in what I believe. I am very aware of the freedom of speech, choice and expression and aware that people have to choose what they believe in, what they say and how they call other people. I am however encouraging people to criticise their thoughts, beliefs and language. We also have to criticise the way we think about those who we call “others” to us and ask ourselves if we would be happy and comfortable being in the positions in which we put them

“Start thinking”, Ntendeni Luvhengo.