What is Xenowatch?
Developed by the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at the University of Witwatersrand, Xenowatch is an open source system for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping that allows crowdsourcing of information and data on xenophobic discrimination incidents in South Africa using the following reporting methods: Email, WhatsApp and Call. Xenowatch tracks, verifies, records and analyzes all forms of xenophobic discrimination as well as responses or interventions by all relevant stakeholders including government and civil society. It serves as an early warning system that notifies authorities and civil society about threats and violence and calls for immediate and appropriate response. Xenowatch data is analyzed to identify violence causal factors and characteristics of communities at risk in ways that can inform early warning and more effective conflict prevention/resolution interventions.
Featured Project:
The Mobility Governance Lab (MGL) explores the governance of mobility at multiple scales across the global south. It is an autonomous, critical space working to realise principles of innovation, independence, and equitable partnership.
Reports & Publications
From Deprivation to Mobilization: Towards a Multideterminant Model of Xenophobic Violence in South Africa
Drawing on extensive and comparative qualitative data from a nearly two-decade long and ongoing research, this article responds to inadequacies and limitations of current causal explanations for xenophobic violence in South Africa. The article argues that existing explanations are inadequate as many lack empirical backing and others are incomplete due to their reductionist approach. To…
WORKSHOP: Movement Building
Validation Workshop on Strategic Engagements for Migrant Rights Key stakeholders, including civil society organisations and representatives from migrant and refugee-led organisations, convened at the Sunnyside Park Hotel in Johannesburg for the Validation Workshop on Strategic Engagements on Movement Building for Migrant Rights in South Africa. The workshop served as a critical platform for dialogue, collaboration,…
![[WATCH] - “Trump’s acceptance of Afrikaners as refugees into the United States is an assault across many fronts.”](https://www.xenowatch.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Loren_AlJazeera_Interview_12May2025.png)
[WATCH] – “Trump’s acceptance of Afrikaners as refugees into the United States is an assault across many fronts.”
“Trump’s acceptance of Afrikaners as refugees into the United States is an assault across many fronts.” Loren Landau, a professor of migration and development at Oxford University, shares his thoughts on the message the Trump administration is sending by granting some white South Africans refugee status in the US. The first group of 49…
