Foreign nationals who run small shops in suburbs close to Johannesburg have been subjected to another bout of violent looting. The most recent outbreak of xenophobia has left people asking why these kinds of incidents keep recurring. Loren Landau argues that part of the answer lies in the way in which the issue of migration is framed – and how stories about migrants are told. Described as “victim journalism”, the problem isn’t particular to South Africa. Unless it’s addressed, negative attitudes towards migrants will persist.
The world’s understanding of oceans is massively influenced by a colonial narrative: firstly, the idea that seas were simply vast unoccupied spaces, and secondly that only the movement of people and goods across oceans warranted serious recording and analysis. A new project is trying to undo these limitations by bringing together global south scholars from different disciplines. Isabel Hofmeyr explains.
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Four people died in the latest violence and looting to hit shops owned by foreign nationals in Soweto, Johannesburg.
Sowetan/Thulani Mbele
Loren B Landau, University of the Witwatersrand
Framing xenophobic violence as a question of immigrant victimisation invites divisions between neighbours.
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Arts + Culture
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Isabel Hofmeyr, University of the Witwatersrand
A new project takes a different look at the role of oceans.
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Business + Economy
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Seth Asare Okyere, Osaka University; Anastasia Amoako-Arhen, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST); Matthew Abunyewah, University of Newcastle
Policymakers in Africa approach rural and urban development separately. This needs to change.
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Environment + Energy
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Eleanor Scerri, University of Oxford
Rainforests may have played far more of a role in shaping human evolution than previously thought.
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From our international editions
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Alastair Hay, University of Bristol
Alexander Fleming's work has helped countless people over the last nine decades.
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Kamran Siddiqi, University of York
A common smoking cessation drug doesn't appear to work for shisha smokers.
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Chip Colwell, University of Colorado Denver
It's a comforting falsehood that once an artifact joins a museum's collection, it's safe for eternity. Museums face many foes in the fight to preserve – a lack of funds might be the biggest.
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