In both South Africa and India, reports of discrimination, abuse and violence against black migrant Africans are frequent and widespread. Both the cities of Cape Town and New Delhi, have a history of violent attacks against black Africans in particular. In both cities there are racial, ethnic and cultural dimensions that need to be understood to address this trauma. This project revolves around an examination of the practices and experiences of discrimination and violence that African migrants have encountered in these two cities. It seeks to explore the cultural imaginaries underlying the constitution of Africans as suspicious and reprehensible others, and the ways in which African migrants have navigated and transcended exclusionary spaces. I will be turning to particular methodologies to unpack those ways of thinking, speaking, feeling and living that might shed light on how these exclusionary practices are constituted and experienced.