Conclusion: Paradoxes of Nationality in Theory and Practice

The point of departure of this study is the experience of Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa, namely the challenges they face in the foreign context and which tend to throw them back upon recourse to their nationality for a sense of self-understanding. Whatever else might be said of it, this mode of identification results in part from constant questioning and the problematics of their origins after arriving in South Africa, as well as because of the assistance available through a network of fellow Zimbabwean countrymen and -women.