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Title Food insecurity, xenophobia, and political legitimacy: exploring the links in post-COVID-19 South Africa
Full text https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/42928/1/Disasters%20-%202024%20-%20Dlamini%20-%20Food%20insecurity%20%20xenophobia%20%20and%20political%20legitimacy%20%20exploring%20the%20links%20in%20post%E2%80%90COVID%E2%80%9019.pdf
Date 2024
Author(s) Dlamini, Khulekani T.; Hull, Elizabeth
Abstract Food insecurity in South Africa was critical prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, but the problem deepened quickly during the pandemic when government controls caused job losses, a food supply collapse, and escalating hunger. The food and fuel price hikes and political instability that followed led to the July 2021 'unrest', which left more than 350 people dead. Behind this lay a crisis within the governing African National Congress. In this paper, we draw on in-depth interviews and ethnography with individuals working in food-based livelihoods to investigate how people continued to secure food, and how rural food systems were affected. Against a backdrop of hunger, social unrest, and xenophobic hostility, we consider how people perceive the state in a rural area of KwaZulu-Natal. We argue that weak governing institutions and South Africa's exposure to globally-triggered spikes in food and fuel prices are leading to food insecurity. Hunger, in turn, is contributing to a crisis of legitimation for the state.
Language en
Publisher Wiley
Relation https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/42928/; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/disa.12667; 10.1111/disa.12667
Type of publication Journal Article; PeerReviewed
Format text
Rights cc_by_4
Identifier Dlamini, Khulekani T. and Hull, Elizabeth (2024) 'Food insecurity, xenophobia, and political legitimacy: exploring the links in post-COVID-19 South Africa.' Disasters. pp. 1-16. (Forthcoming)
Repository London - SOAS, University of London
Added to C-A: 2024-11-11;08:57:19