Ravi Baghel

Ravi Baghel is an upcoming scholar of great promise, currently studying Globalisation as a part of the Global Studies Programme. His journey to his present field of study has been tortuous to say the least. He has studied Hotel Management and did his Bachelors degree in Chinese culture and language. He has worked as chicken salesman, apprentice waiter, debt collector, telephone sales caller, Chinese translator and interpreter, consultant and fixer. His interests include development, Indian foreign policy and cultural flows. His Passion remains South Asia and its people.

In their chapter, Glimpses through the Cage of Fear: International Students experience Durban, Ravi and Anna Mayr show that crime—or rather talk about crime—is one of the main things to hit outsiders when they arrive in South Africa. The writers provide an account of their experiences as international students: not of crime, but of crime discourse. They discuss the dramatic impact of the fear of crime on their lives, as conveyed in conversations with South Africans and reflected in the security arrangements in their neighbourhood. They consider how this made them feel like prisoners in their home. They were eventually brave enough to go downtown to experience aspects of Durban which they would have otherwise missed out on. Their piece also draws attention to the ways fear of crime restricts the movements of women; they refer to women venturing into public spaces in Durban only if accompanied by their fellow male students.

Reference:
Baghel, Ravi, and Mayr, Anna. 'Glimpses through the Cage of Fear: International Students experience Durban', in Rob Pattman and Sultan Khan (Eds.), Undressing Durban (Durban: Madiba Press, 2007), pp. 228-234.