A Suspended Sentence: Administrative Limbo in South Africa's Deportation System

The country's powerful policing and administrative machinery, formerly tasked with maintaining racial segregation under Apartheid, now generates hundreds of thousands of deportations each year. Many migrants who are in South Africa illegally end up spending long times in detention, waiting for the finalisation of their case.

When looking at this particular group, it becomes increasingly difficult to explain deportation in terms of conventional theories of citizenship - whether they be about the resolution of class conflict, state autonomy or evolving distinctions between insider and outsider. With this in mind, this paper looks for alternative empirical material and theoretical resources, to explain the processes of subjectification and contestation that are helping to shape the South African deportation system.