Selecting Immigrants

This book critically examines the relationship between changes in South Africaas immigration policies, and shifts in the construction of national identity by the South African state. Relating the history of immigration policies from 1910 to 2008, it explores the synergy between periods of significant change in state discourses and policies of migration, and those historical moments when South Africa was reinvented politically or was in the process of active nation building. It is in these periods that the relationship between immigration, nationalism and national identity is most starkly revealed.
In a readable, well-researched and interdisciplinary work, Peberdy provides the first history of South Africaas immigration legislation. It will be of interest not only to academic readers but also those working on immigration policy or interested in South African history and identity.