‘Us’ and ‘Them’: the discursive construction of ‘the Other’ in Greenmarket Square, Cape Town

Abstract

This paper is based on research done on intercultural communication at Greenmarket Square in the heart of Cape Town, South Africa. The Square is well known as a market for informal traders (mainly from other parts of Africa), local people and tourists from all over the world. Using originally collected discursive evidence from market traders, the particular focus of this paper is to show how two groups of traders in the market Á South Africans and Africans from other countries, respectively Á discursively construct each other. By taking a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach to transcribed interviews conducted with traders from both groups, we were able to extract discursive constructions of 'the Other', which revealed considerable intergroup stereotypes, intra-continental racism and xenophobia. The paper considers the causes of these discursive constructions, such as dominant ideologies, the dominant political discourses emanating from the South African state itself as argued by Neocosmos in 2008, and the spaces (real and imagined) in which these different actors find themselves.Hierdie artikel spruit uit navorsing oor interkulturele kommunikasie te Groentemarkplein in die hart van Kaapstad, Suid-Afrika. Groentemarkplein is bekend as 'n mark vir informele handelaars (hoofsaaklik uit ander dele van Afrika), plaaslike inwoners en toeriste uit baie ander lande. Deur gebruik te maak van oorspronklike diskursiewe data verkry van handelaars in die mark, kyk hierdie artikel na die wyse waarop twee groepe handelaars Á Suid-Afrikaners en Afrikane van ander lande respektiewelik Á mekaar diskursief konstrueer. Die toepassing van Kritiese Diskoers Analiese (KDA) op die getranskribeerde onderhoude gevoer met handelaars uit albei groepe het ons in staat gestel om te sien hoe 'Die Ander' diskursief gekonstrueer word, en hierdie konstruksies het aansienlike intergroep stereotiepes, interkontinentale rassisme en xenofobia ingesluit. Die artikel bedink die oorsake van hierdie diskursiewe konstruksies, soos dominante ideologieë, die dominante politieke diskoerse vanuit die Suid-Afrikaanse staat, soos geopper deur Neocosmos (2008), en die tasbare sowel as onsigbare ruimtes waarin hierdie verskillende rolspelers hulself bevind.

‘Mei nu, mei nu, tai gui le!’: to use or not to use Chinese language in Beijing's Silk Market

“…Indeed, a person who possesses the ability to perform 'guanxi,' or social networking is likely to become adept at bargaining, by being personable and following the give-andtake routines of the bargaining dance in the market place, and creating ties where they previously did not exist. Dyers' and Wankah's (2012) study of Greenmarket Square in Capetown shows that a kind of negative 'guanxi,' in the form of xenophobia, is created between African migrant vendors who are not South African, through the use of French, and other actions, which seem neutral, but are perceived as 'acting white,' thus creating alienation and friction between various migrant groups hawking merchandise in the same square. Language thus can either enable social networks and connections to exist, or act as a device of polarization, depending on how it is performed, and perceived.…”

“…The notion of the market itself and the practice of bargaining or more precisely interactions between people in commercial transactions can be considered communicative acts, which in turn might take different forms in various contexts and locales. Ample study has been conducted on different types of markets, ranging from the cornershop in Germany to a garage sale in the United States, to a public outdoor market in France, all of which contribute to the theorization of markets and how they are conceived of by their consumers/inhabitants (de la Pradelle, 1995;Dyers & Wankah, 2012;Everts, 2010;Gregson & Rose, 2000;Herrmann, 2004).…”

Embodied Othering Encounters with Muslim(‐Looking) Passengers: Riding across Amsterdam, Tallinn, Leipzig, and Turku1

“…The foreignness, the geopolitical distance between the heard language, for example, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Tamil, Bengali, or any other non-white languages that sound "brown" (Devadoss 2020), and the main white spoken language, in this case, Dutch, German, Finnish, and Estonian, leads to the (re)construction of the Other (Dyers and Wankah 2012). The issue lies in the inability to understand the conversation thus portraying anxiety related to the Other.…”

Encountering the Other

“…The further probing by Hafez showed that the real issue lies in the inability of the Dutch person to understand the conversation thus portraying anxiety related to the Other which cannot be confronted by gaining knowledge of their practices or intention by listening to what is said. The foreignness, the geopolitical distance between the heard language, e.g., Arabic, Turkish, Farsi, Tamil, Bengali, or any other non-white languages that sound 'brown' (Devadoss, 2020), and the main white spoken language, in this case, Dutch, has turned to be the source of the construction of the Other (Dyers & Wankah, 2012). The auditory experience, thus, refers to hearing and listening and the ways through which everyday socio-spatial relations are (re)produced through the sensorial perception of sounds and spoken languages (Haldrup et al, 2006).…”