A new understanding of state-based refugee reception that reflects the complex dynamics of contemporary refugee arrival. It is no longer realistic (if it ever was) to understand persons who flee across a border as a homogeneous group whose movement abruptly ends once they arrive in a host state or refugee camp. Through a comparative analysis of the politics surrounding the welcome afforded to refugees, this book offers an original perspective on refugee hosting in Southern Africa. Using the cases of Zambia and South Africa, the book explores why some countries maintain encampment reception policies for refugees, and others use more liberal 'free settlement' approaches, whereby refugees are granted freedom of movement and permitted to settle in cities and towns. While state-based reception is frequently framed as one-off moments, such as registration, Refugee Reception in Southern Africa examines reception as a complex and ongoing process of negotiations between refugees and state, with reception policies vital in shaping a refugee's ability to settle and engage with local communities and labour markets. With its new 'refugee reception' framework and in-depth case studies full of concrete examples, this book is a significant theoretical and methodological contribution to migration studies more broadly.
"Nicholas Maple's well-formulated and detailed new book on Zambia and South Africa... will be of interest to academics and students of (forced) migration studies, political science, international relations, urban studies, and political geography. The book's conceptual approach could also be of interest to scholars exploring similar descriptive or explanatory frameworks for their research. It would be of particular interest to practitioners and policymakers, especially in the Global South, due to its comparative approach and strong emphasis on explaining the decision-making of state actors at various levels.
-Rohini Mitra, Centre for Development Research, University of Bonn, Germany"
