XENOPHOBIC SENTIMENTS: THE MEETING POINT OF JULIO-CLAUDIAN ROME AND RAMAPHOSA’S SOUTH AFRICA

ABSTRACT: Migration of people to various places is a permanent feature of human history. For example,shifting from a nomadic economy to a system based on food production in the past allowed people to settlepermanently in a place and hold claim to it. Such a situation is known to have induced creation of group identityand led to stereotype relationship between host communities and foreign migrants with far reaching effects.Xenophobia,an age old phenomenon, is one of the products of thestereotype. This paper goes back in time toreview xenophobic sentiments in Rome during the reign of the Julio-Claudian emperors in which large numbersof foreign migrants were attracted to Rome due to the empire’s economic prosperity and opportunities forwealth creation. In doing this, the paper digs up the forms, causes, patterns, and consequences of xenophobicactions. Then, following an exploration of contemporary South-African xenophobic sentiments, which matchclosely withthe Romans’, the work makes a comparative assessment tofind sociological parallels between theancient and modern states which share common hopes forthe migrants. The paper particularly identifiesxenophobia as a form of social depravity that requires all moral strength to root it out.

Keywords: Roman, Xenophobia, Migration, Sentiments, Foreign Migrants, Stereotype,Co-exist, South-African