The roots of xenophobia in 19th century imperialism

Abstract

The contribution provides an explanation of inner-African xenophobia as being rooted in the countermovements to 19th century imperialism. Distinctive property rights constituted different modes of production and notions of a common society among Basotho and Tswana people on the one hand and Trekboers on the other, which made them resist the incorporation into an imperial world market by the British Empire. Although the moderate expansive mode of Basotho and Batswana seemed more compatible with the free market approach of the Britons than the exclusive property concept of the Trekboer, the political result was different. We argue that finally the British expansion without conquest could be allied with the Trekboer conquest without integration due to the invention of SACU as the first customs union of the world, which began as Customs Union Convention in 1889. It allowed for a continuation of a pre-Enlightenment exclusionary property right that fuels xenophobia until today.