Who Is My Neighbour?: A Moral Reflection on Human Dignity and Xenophobia

Xenophobic attitudes towards migrants and refugees reflect a sentiment which rejects strangers as the Other. In response to Pope Francis’ appeal to educate conscience and using the normative and pragmatic tasks of Osmer’s framework of Practical Theology as a basis, this paper aims to outline the construct of human dignity as found in three dominant moral views in Africa, viz., Christianity, Islam and Ubuntu. Furthermore it investigates the use of the metacognitive strategy of critical reflection to effect a recognition of a shared core humanity and explores the translation of conscious awareness to praxis as envisaged by Paulo Freire in conscientisation .