Book Reviews by Mandisi Majavu
Uncommodified Blackness is a sobering reflection on racism in Australia and New Zealand, focused ... more Uncommodified Blackness is a sobering reflection on racism in Australia and New Zealand, focused on the experiences of male African refugees. Centering the spatiality and persistence of colonial logics, the book offers valuable insights for studies of refugees and migration, global African and urban geographies, and the past-presents of white supremacy.
Papers by Mandisi Majavu
This article explores and theorizes anti-Black racist discourses that shape the ways in which the... more This article explores and theorizes anti-Black racist discourses that shape the ways in which the Australian media and other mainstream Australian institutions talk about and view Black Africans. It argues that the long-standing racist trope of synonymizing Blackness with criminality is widespread in Australia. Thus, among other things, this paper theorizes the Australian media narrative of ‘African gangs’ who are supposedly causing havoc in the State of Victoria, Australia. It argues that the January 2018 media reporting about the so-called ‘African gangs’ is a good example that illustrates how the long-standing racist trope of conflating Blackness with criminality is employed in Australia. The discussion is framed within a Black/African Diaspora theoretical framework that allows this study to conceptualize and connect the lived experiences of Black people globally.
This article uses a newly developed theoretical concept – the 'uncommodified blackness' image, to... more This article uses a newly developed theoretical concept – the 'uncommodified blackness' image, to accentuate the discursive methods in which the humanness of Africans is denied in subtle and commonplace ways in Australia. In other words, the concept of uncommodified blackness is used in this study to theorise both the racist infrahumanisation and the blatant racist dehumanisation that Africans are subjected to in Australia. An analysis of semi-structured interviews with 11 research participants suggests that, through the image of uncommodified blackness, the participants are viewed by mainstream Australia as dysfunctional and dirty Others who ought to be avoided in public transport. Participants' lived experiences imply that mainstream Australia regards them as outsiders and perpetual refugees who are failing at 'integration'.
This article aims to disrupt the grand-narrative about African civil wars in Australian and New Z... more This article aims to disrupt the grand-narrative about African civil wars in Australian and New Zealand refugee scholarship. To that end, this article investigates the impact of the Cold War and European colonialism in political conflicts that have produced millions of refugees in Africa to illustrate the point that many of the conflicts from which African refugees fled from are partly attributable to the actions of Western powers. This study also argues that the refugee crises in Africa are partly a product of a global system that has been shaped by colonialism and white supremacy, with a key finding that the political analyses of African civil conflicts and wars in Australian and New Zealand refugee scholarship largely focuses on issues such as ethnocentrism or African dictators, without highlighting the global historical context within which African political conflicts occur. Thus, this article shows that this ahistorical reading of African political conflicts enable Australian and New Zealand scholarship on African refugees to conveniently leave out 'unthinkable facts' in the framework of Western thought about Africa.
Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 2013
Drafts by Mandisi Majavu
Some public schools in Melbourne are implementing policies based on the perception that African p... more Some public schools in Melbourne are implementing policies based on the perception that African pupils look threatening. The New Change Young African Women’s Group recently told the parliamentary committee on migration that several Melbourne schools have effectively banned pupils of South Sudanese descent from congregating in groups of three or more.
Books by Mandisi Majavu
The first € price and the £ and $ price are net prices, subject to local VAT. Prices indicated wi... more The first € price and the £ and $ price are net prices, subject to local VAT. Prices indicated with * include VAT for books; the €(D) includes 7% for Germany, the €(A) includes 10% for Austria. Prices indicated with ** include VAT for electronic products; 19% for Germany, 20% for Austria. All prices exclusive of carriage charges. Prices and other details are subject to change without notice. All errors and omissions excepted. M. Majavu Uncommodified Blackness The African Male Experience in Australia and New Zealand Series: Mapping Global Racisms ▶ Provides a new theoretical concept with which to understand racism and xenophobia directed at Africans ▶ Offers important insights into the experience of being African and male in Australia and New Zealand ▶ Addresses the question of African-ness: a question that has not been well examined in this part of the world This book is a study of the lived experience of African men in Australia and New Zealand. The author employs a relational account of racism which foregrounds how the colonial shaped the contemporary, with the settler states of contemporary Australia and New Zealand having been moulded by their colonial histories. Uncommodified Blackness examines the changing racial conditions in Australia and New Zealand, inspired by the view that as racial conditions change globally, prevailing racial modalities in these two countries must be reexamined and theory must be developed or revised as appropriate. Students and scholars across a range of social science disciplines will find this book of interest, particularly those with an interest in refugees, immigration, race and masculinity.
This book is a study of the lived experience of African men in Australia and New Zealand. The aut... more This book is a study of the lived experience of African men in Australia and New Zealand. The author employs a relational account of racism which foregrounds how the colonial shaped the contemporary, with the settler states of contemporary Australia and New Zealand having been moulded by their colonial histories. Uncommodified Blackness examines the changing racial conditions in Australia and New Zealand, inspired by the view that as racial conditions change globally, prevailing racial modalities in these two countries must be reexamined and theory must be developed or revised as appropriate. The book describes and theorises developing racial trends and communicates these views between the countries involved.
Students and scholars across a range of social science disciplines will find this book of interest, particularly those with an interest in refugees, immigration, race and masculinity.
Uploads
Book Reviews by Mandisi Majavu
Papers by Mandisi Majavu
Drafts by Mandisi Majavu
Books by Mandisi Majavu
Students and scholars across a range of social science disciplines will find this book of interest, particularly those with an interest in refugees, immigration, race and masculinity.
Students and scholars across a range of social science disciplines will find this book of interest, particularly those with an interest in refugees, immigration, race and masculinity.