Introduction

This book brings together contributions that analyse different ways in which migration and xenophobia have been mediated in both mainstream and social media in Africa and the meanings of these different mediation practices across the continent.

It is premised on the assumption that the media play an important role in mediating the complex intersection between migration, identity, belonging, and xenophobia (or what others have called Afrophobia), through framing stories in ways that either buttress stereotyping and Othering, or challenge the perceptions and representations that fuel the violence inflicted on so-called foreign nationals.

The book deals with different expressions of xenophobic violence, including both physical and emotional violence, that target the foreign Other in different African countries.