A comparative analysis of the politics surrounding the welcome afforded to refugees in Zambia and South Africa.

While state-based reception is frequently framed as one-off moments such as registration, Refugee Reception in Southern Africa proposes a new understanding whereby reception is a process that reflects the complex dynamics of contemporary refugee arrival. By adopting this understanding, the book demonstrates how reception is a complex and ongoing process of negotiations between refugees and the state. Indeed, the relationship between the refugee and host state often remains fragile and prone to ruptures, especially when less formal reception policies allow refugees to move back and forth between refugee camps and local areas. Nevertheless, through these negotiations, Refugee Reception in Southern Africa shows how reception policies are vital in shaping a refugee’s ability to settle and engage with local communities and labor markets.

Using the cases of Zambia and South Africa, the book explores why some countries maintain encampment reception policies for refugees and others use a more liberal “free settlement” approach, whereby refugees are granted freedom of movement and permitted to settle in cities and towns. This book offers an original and unique perspective on refugee hosting in southern Africa, one that does not look upon persons who flee across a border as a homogenous group whose movement abruptly ends once they arrive in a host state or refugee camp.