Migration, Borders, and Borderlands
Making National Identity in Southern African Communities
John Aerni-Flessner editor Munyaradzi Mushonga editor Chitja Twala editor Grey Magaiza editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:30th Oct '23
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Compiling various perspectives from borderlands across the SADC region, Migration, Borders, and Borderlands: Making National Identity in Southern African Communities, edited by Munyaradzi Mushonga, John Aerni-Flessner, Chitja Twala, and Grey Magaiza, provides a synthesis of the experiences of borderland residents in this economically and socially integrated region. This book reframes debates around nationalism and belonging in southern Africa as it uses the idea of a “borderscape” to argue that nations are made at the border and in the contestations that take place in the borderlands. Understanding borders and bordering in the SADC region is crucial to understanding how policies made in oft-distant national capitals have played out among borderlands residents over time. The contributors present why national citizens in SADC so often end up in countries distant from where they were born and reside, and why leaders need to be cognizant of this. Exploring gender, history, policy, and the ways that people have moved across borders despite a myriad of restrictions stretching from the early twentieth century to the present, this collection centers the voices and experiences of the most marginal to make the plea for a more humane border regime in Southern Africa and globally.
[The]... authors manage to clarify the complex and shifting factors and outcomes
of the unique border policies, histories, regulations, and cultures of the region, managing to
capture the complexity of borders and migration in the region, particularly both existential
but also tangible ramifications that state regulation of borders – typically in unequal, punitive,
and prejudicial policies – have on local communities around the borders.
Migration, Borders, and Borderlands is a distinctive work characterized by historical nuances of various aspects of borders and migrations. Most of the existing books on borders, migrations and attendant disputes and conflicts are largely pivoted on the present, but this volume takes us back to detailed historical case studies that are as enlightening as they are groundbreaking. This is a most welcomed addition to the studies of borders in Southern African historiography and will definitely appeal to a wide audience of readers across disciplines. -- Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, University of Bayreuth
Mushonga, Aerni-Flessner, Twala, and Magaiza present a compelling collection of nuanced analyses of the complex and enduring legacies of borders in Southern Africa. In their robust critical engagement with several borderlands, the contributors provide novel insights into the agentic ways in which borders are traversed, manipulated, endured, and undermined by their constituent communities. It sets a new benchmark for historical and contemporary inquiry on borders and identity formation in the region and is likely to become a standard reference for future research. -- Jared McDonald, University of the Free State
The book provides interesting historical insights on borders and mobility in Southern Africa. This is a welcome contribution to the emerging scholarship on mobility and borders in countries of the south, away from the usual focus on Europe and North America. -- Christopher Changwe Nshimbi, University of Pret
ISBN: 9781666942804
Dimensions: 236mm x 158mm x 24mm
Weight: 635g
322 pages