Migration and National Identity in South Africa, 1860–2010

Traces the evolution of South African immigration policy since the arrival of Indian contract laborers through to the aftermath of the May 2008 attacks.

Audie Klotz (Author)

9781107026933, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 September 2013

294 pages, 13 b/w illus.
22.3 x 14.4 x 2 cm, 0.46 kg

“This book raises the bar in the field of migration politics. Klotz deploys her well-known penchant for methodological rigor and enviable theoretical chops to explain how states generate xenophobic violence. Along the way, she resolves the problem of South African exceptionalism, reconstitutes historical institutionalist theory and identifies – alarmingly – that the so-called liberal consensus on immigration is more fragile than we had thought. This is essential and valuable reading for anyone interested in questions of state formation, migration, and identity.” – Darshan Vigneswaran, University of Amsterdam

An extraordinary outbreak of xenophobic violence in May 2008 shocked South Africa, but hostility toward newcomers has a long history. Democratization has channeled such discontent into a non-racial nationalism that specifically targets foreign Africans as a threat to prosperity. Finding suitable governmental and societal responses requires a better understanding of the complex legacies of segregation that underpin current immigration policies and practices. Unfortunately, conventional wisdoms of path dependency promote excessive fatalism and ignore how much South Africa is a typical settler state. A century ago, its policy makers shared innovative ideas with Australia and Canada, and these peers, which now openly wrestle with their own racist past, merit renewed attention. As unpalatable as the comparison might be to contemporary advocates of multiculturalism, rethinking restrictions in South Africa can also offer lessons for reconciling competing claims of indigeneity through multiple levels of representation and rights.

Introduction
1. Historiographies of migration
2. Asians and the ambiguity of imperial subjecthood
3. Apartheid and the dilemma of African citizenship
4. Refugees and the post-apartheid paradox of rights
5. The end of exceptionalism.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP]