People without fathers

Mozambicans in Swaziland 1888-1993

Bibliographic Data

ID4603386
AuthorsJodie Mcgregor (0000-0002-9028-4363, corresponding author), Joann Mcgregor
Year1994
Volume20
Issue4
Pages545-567
Publication date1994-12-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03057079408708421
OpenAlexW2122284599
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited24

This article considers recent influxes of Mozambicans into Swaziland in the light of historical patterns of migration and incorporation. It explores the perspectives of national and local leaders, migrants and refugees, revealing the weakness of accounts of outsiders’ integration which focus only on the views of national institutions and the public discourse of the hosting society. The distinction between ‘refugees’ and ‘economic migrants’ distorts the causes of migration and is blind to local, historically constructed notions of hospitality and community membership; it can also be damaging when used insensitively in international assistance programmes. The article argues that an assertion of Swazi identity and shared history as a strategy to legitimate community membership and to ascertain rights to distributed goods can succeed only in specific circumstances. By situating claims to kinship, common ethnicity and neighbourhood in a broader historical and political‐economic context, it shows them to be contingent, and continually renegotiated. By focusing on differentiation within the chiefdoms of Swaziland's border with Mozambique, it shows the varied costs and benefits of hosting refugees, and highlights the way in which hospitality and exploitation coexist

Political science · Sociology · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · South African History and Culture

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