Insiders and Outsiders

'A remarkable study... Among the many significant theoretical and empirical contributions that Nyamnjoh makes in this study, perhaps most incisive is the intensity with which Africa is incorporated into the consumption practices of global capitalism in that no object, territory or experience is beyond being a locus of often fierce struggle over their disposition and use.' - Professor AbdouMaliq Simone, author For the City Yet to Come: Changing Urban Life in Africa (Duke University Press, 2004). 'By an ethnographic focus on South Africa and Botswana, this book elegantly and convincingly illustrates the ills of bounded citizenship of the nation-state. Whether it is the Makwerekwere or the foreign maids, it shows how certain groups based upon race, ethnicity, gender, class and geography have been systematically constituted as strangers, outsiders and aliens of the nation-state. It shows how modernization as westernization involves using nation-state regimes as the primary juridico-political means by which old inequalities are sustained and entrenched and new inequalities are produced and reproduced. It is a lucidly written book with a purpose and passion. It should be read by all those concerned with modern citizenship and inequalities it institutes.' - Engin F. Isin, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Division of Social Science, York University, Toronto, and author of 'Being Political' 'Labour migration has been a major feature of southern African history for over a century. Yet in the last couple of decades, patterns of mobility in the subcontinent have changed radically. Francis Nyamnjoh's innovative and absorbing text illustrates the new forces driving mobility, their politics and their consequences. He brings a freshness of vision, and a global perspective to the problems. He writes with sharp insight on domestic servants, refugees, on xenophobia and inclusion. This book will be a high priority/must read for anyone interested in regional labour markets, in regional politics, and in changing identities.' - William Beinart, Professor of Race Relations, St Antony's College, University of Oxford