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  • Insiders and Outsiders: Citizenship and Xenophobia in Contemporary Southern Africa
  • Yakubu M. Azindow
Francis B. Nyamnjoh . Insiders and Outsiders: Citizenship and Xenophobia in Contemporary Southern Africa. Dakar, Senegal: CODESRIA/London: Zed Books, 2006. Distributed in the U.S. by Palgrave Macmillan, New York. x + 273 pp. Notes. References. Index. $85.00. Cloth. $29.95. Paper.

In this remarkable study in CODESRIA's Africa in the New Millennium series, Francis Nyamnjoh aptly demonstrates how belonging is variously construed, claimed, and contested in South Africa and Botswana. The study reveals that globalization and citizenship are highly hierarchical processes affecting individuals and communities differently. Indeed, the growing importance of identity politics and more exclusionary ideas of citizenship is matched by the desire to identify differences and distinguish between "insiders" (citizens) and "outsiders" (immigrants). In both South Africa and Botswana, where the economies are relatively more prosperous than in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, xenophobia against immigrants from other African countries is on the rise and permeates virtually every social and economic class.

Chapters 1 and 2 investigate citizenship, mobility, and xenophobia in South Africa and Botswana, respectively. The study reveals how in South Africa black African immigrants are being described as Makwerekwere, particularly by South African blacks. The term Makwerekwere represents not only a black immigrant who lacks competency in local South African languages, but also one who hails from a country assumed to be economically and culturally backward in relation to South Africa. For most xenophobic South Africans, "Makwerekwere and modernization are like a clash of night and day" (40). Similarly, chapter 2 documents local attitudes toward foreigners and discusses tensions over entitlements among ethnic groups in Botswana. While every Botswana national can claim to be a legal citizen, [End Page 175] some are perceived by the majority Tswana groups as less "authentic" nationals; citizens from the majority Tswana ethnic group have to various degrees claimed for themselves the status of landlords, making ethnic minorities tenants.

The remaining chapters in Insiders and Outsiders focus on the situation of household workers globally and in Southern Africa in particular. Chapter 3 documents the exploitation of domestic employees and the coping strategies adopted by them. It appears ironic that in a country where wealth is purportedly more abundant, they are still subjected to ruthless exploitation, regardless of whether they are citizens or migrants. For Nyamnjoh, "not even the fact of sharing intimate spaces seems to encourage more humane attitudes to maids among employers" (19). Discussing gender and domesticity in Botswana, chapter 4 further demonstrates the intricate interplay of various gender and class hierarchies at work. Although all nationals may be citizens by law, females have fewer chances than males of realizing their citizenship. To be sure, not every female national is disadvantaged to the same degree, as class and ethnicity make it possible for some to be further disadvantaged by their employers. The book also discusses how differentiation between domestic workers as citizens and as immigrants forestalls any possibility of organized political action against their exploitation. In Botswana they are underpaid and overworked, whether they are Batswana or Zimbabwean. Employers look for reliable and diligent household help, but as Nyamnjoh writes, "they do not invest much in what it takes to have such a zombie" (170). Indeed, most employers in Botswana prefer Zimbabwean maids, not only because they are cheaper and easier to exploit but also because they are not as conscious of their rights as their Batswana counterparts. As citizens, Batswana maids consider themselves as "insiders."

To be sure, xenophobia excludes rather than celebrates differences. Although xenophobia in Southern Africa is influenced by the increase in crime and unemployment, the solution to these ills does not lie in getting rid of migrants, but rather in cultivating greater equality and justice, so that nationals can access their citizenship in more meaningful ways without having to scapegoat migrants who often contribute to the growth of the economy. It is therefore necessary to redefine citizenship in ways that create space for excluded nationals and immigrants.

In short, the publication of Nyamnjoh's Insiders and Outsiders represents a timely effort to understand the prospects of globalization in Africa. The book provides an important analysis for...

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