Welcome to Our Hillbrow

by

Phaswane Mpe

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Welcome to Our Hillbrow makes teaching easy.
Refentše’s cousin is a police officer who lives in an apartment in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Cousin houses Refentše when he gets into the University of Witwatersrand, and he takes Refentše to school on the first day. Cousin is good to Refentše, but he is prejudiced toward the “Makwerekwere” (a slur for people who immigrate to South Africa from other African countries). Refentše knows that Cousin treats immigrants very badly in his position of power as a police officer. Refentše also notes that this makes Cousin a bit of a hypocrite, since he always roots for other African teams in the World Cup (especially when they’re playing against European teams) but can’t seem to break his prejudices when it comes to daily life in Johannesburg.

Cousin Quotes in Welcome to Our Hillbrow

The Welcome to Our Hillbrow quotes below are all either spoken by Cousin or refer to Cousin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Regret and Redemption Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

Like most Hillbrowans, Cousin took his soccer seriously. You and he had had many disagreements on the subject of support for foreign teams—especially those from elsewhere in Africa. You often accused him of being a hypocrite, because his vocal support for black non-South African teams, whenever they played against European clubs, contrasted so glaringly with his prejudice towards black foreigners the rest of the time. Cousin would always take the opportunity during these arguments to complain about the crime and grime in Hillbrow, for which he held such foreigners responsible; not just for the physical decay of the place but the moral decay.

Related Characters: Refentše , Cousin
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:
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Welcome to Our Hillbrow PDF

Cousin Quotes in Welcome to Our Hillbrow

The Welcome to Our Hillbrow quotes below are all either spoken by Cousin or refer to Cousin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Regret and Redemption Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

Like most Hillbrowans, Cousin took his soccer seriously. You and he had had many disagreements on the subject of support for foreign teams—especially those from elsewhere in Africa. You often accused him of being a hypocrite, because his vocal support for black non-South African teams, whenever they played against European clubs, contrasted so glaringly with his prejudice towards black foreigners the rest of the time. Cousin would always take the opportunity during these arguments to complain about the crime and grime in Hillbrow, for which he held such foreigners responsible; not just for the physical decay of the place but the moral decay.

Related Characters: Refentše , Cousin
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis: