Description
Book SynopsisIn
From Migrants to Refugees Jill Rosenthal tells the history of how Rwandan migrants in a Tanzanian border district became considered either citizens or refugees as nation-state boundaries solidified in the wake of decolonization. Outlining the process by which people who have long lived and circulated across the Rwanda-Tanzania border came to have a national identity, Rosenthal reveals humanitarian aid’s central role in the ideological processes of decolonization and nation building. From precolonial histories to the first Rwandan refugee camps during decolonization in the 1960s to the massive refugee camps in the 1990s, Rosenthal highlights the way that this area became a testing ground for novel forms of transnational aid to refugees that had global implications. As local and national actors, refugees, and international officials all attempted to control the lives and futures of refugee groups, they contested the authority of the nation-state and the international refu
Trade Review“Jill Rosenthal’s detailed history of border making and border crossing reveals both the identification of people with place and its blurring by extensive movement across space.
From Migrants to Refugees is a compelling and important contribution to our understanding not only of the cross-border consequences of the Rwandan quagmire but also of the relationship in an unequal world between international organizations, African people, and an African state.” -- Frederick Cooper, author of * Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present *
“In this conceptually adventurous, empirically rich, and engagingly written book, Jill Rosenthal brings a new perspective to histories of Tanzanian nationalism and to the comparative study of nationalism in postcolonial Africa. At the same time, she contributes to histories of decolonization, sovereignty, and state making by showing how these questions were worked through in a border region.
From Migrants to Refugees moves the field in exciting and innovative ways.” -- Emma Hunter, author of * Political Thought and the Public Sphere in Tanzania: Freedom, Democracy, and Citizenship in the Era of Decolonization *
Table of ContentsAbbreviations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Part I: The Making of Migrants
1. Tracing a Boundary: Cultural Connections and Mandate Separation 23
2. Canalization and Control: Unbounded Migrants 43
3. Developmental Disappointment: Continuities in Late Colonial and Early Independence Ngara 57
Part II: The Making of Refugees
4. Developmental Refugees: The Politics of Rwandan Refugee Settlement in Ngara District, 1959–1969 77
5. Citizens and Refugees: The Politics of Refugee Aid 95
6. Conflicting Sovereignties: Competition at Mwesi Refugee Settlement, 1963–1970 113
Part III: The Making of Citizens
7. Of “Natural” Citizens and “Natural” Illegality:
Ujamaa,
Magendo, and Naturalization in Ngara District, 1970–1984 139
8. Competition and Backstabbing: The International Response to the Rwandan Refugee Crisis, 1994–1996 158
9. Of
Génocidaires and Humanitarians: The Rwandan Refugee Emergency n Ngara District 176
Conclusion: The Business of Nationalism and Humanitarian Aid 193
Notes 205
Bibliography 285
Index 301
