Migration and National Identity in South Africa, 1860–2010

Abstract

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.

The Complex Sources of Immigration Control

“…The account so far is somewhat mired in the specificities of its case (Klotz 2013). South Africa could be seen as an anomaly, possessing high deportation rates because of its rather odd history.…”

“…Hence, it is important to offer some contextual clarification about the case. During the Apartheid era, South Africa promoted immigration from historically "white" and European countries, while strictly limiting black immigration from surrounding states (Peberdy 2000;Klotz 2013). After the transition to democratic rule and a principle of non-racialism, the African National Congress government de-racialized its immigration policy.…”

“…South Africa's deportation numbers are made all the more puzzling by the fact that the country was, on paper, liberalizing during the post-Apartheid period (Klotz 2013). After the passage of a new constitution in 1995, South Africa introduced a wide range of laws to ensure democratic accountability, rule of law, and the protection of human rights.…”

How far does ‘societal security’ travel? Securitization in South African immigration policies

“…Waever's portrayal of European nationalism can be criticized on other grounds, for example that it overly homogenizes diverse traditions; he later acknowledges that his characterization best fits ethnonationalism manifest in Western and Northern countries, such as Germany (Waever, 1993: 36). Rather than to engage in extensive debate over the nature of nationalism, our point is simply that South Africa has historically manifest stronger ethno-nationalism than the other Anglo settler states, not least in immigration (Bradlow, 1978;Klotz, 2013;Peberdy, 1999). 3.…”

“Racial Classification Is Meaningless”: Why Racial Classification in South Africa Is Unintelligible for Some Eritrean Refugees

“…Historically, race has intimately been intertwined with nation and citizenship. The apartheid regime instituted racial classification with a purpose to confer South African citizenship rights to white Europeans, while excluding those classified as black from incorporating into the white polity (Chipkin, 2007; Klotz, 2013; Neocosmos, 2006). In contrast, the black liberation thought's main aim was to establish a racial democracy and multiracial nation building.…”