BOOK REVIEW CITIZENSHIP IN AFRICA: THE LAW OF BELONGING BY BRONWEN MANBY (HART) 383 PAGES. PRICE £82.62 (ONLINE) ISBN 9781509920792 LUCY HOVIL * Nowhere are challenges over the relevance of citizenship and belonging more pertinent than in Africa, where the history and evolution of ‘citizenship’ as it is typically understood is a turbulent one. While much has been written on the subject, this book fills a significant gap. Citizenship in Africa: The Law of Belonging by Bronwen Manby contributes an in-depth analysis of nationality laws into the established literature on belonging in Africa, 1 arguing that an understanding of nationality law is vital to help understand the broader crisis of citizenship on the continent. It outlines relevant laws and legal processes in detail, but combines this with an astute understanding of the historical and political context in which the law applies — or fails to apply. Chapters 2–4 present a detailed description of how, under colonialism, people were forced to live as second-class citizens (as ‘natives’ rather than Europeans) in a bewildering array of colonial territories governed for the benefit of the coloniser rather than the colonised. As Manby argues, colonialism simultaneously increased the number of ‘strangers’ in any society and also unsettled pre-colonial understandings of belonging. 2 Continuities that were built up over centuries in African societies were decimated by the imposition of colonialism, which included a European conceptualisation of the state and nationality. As a result, the softer lines of belonging that characterised many pre-colonial societies became hardened boundaries, creating a clear demarcation between those who were ‘indigenous’ and those who were newcomers to the land — and, therefore, who had access to rights. Her detailed description of the status of different peoples under empire shows the intertwined layers of legal, political and social complexity that were created during this time. These legacies were inherited by the postcolonial state, which failed to reform this tiered understanding of citizenship. As Manby argues, instead of rediscovering pre-colonial modes of belonging, the postcolonial state adopted laws based on the templates provided by their former colonial masters. 3 Citizenship, therefore, provides a microcosm of the distorted nature of the legacy of colonialism across the continent and the terrible impact it has had. The categories of belonging forged during colonial times became the fault lines along * 1 2 3 The author is a Senior Researcher for the International Refugee Rights Initiative and a Senior Research Associate of the Refugee Law Initiative, London University. lucy@hovil.co.uk. Bronwen Manby, Citizenship in Africa: The Law of Belonging (Hart Publishing 2018) 4. ibid 28. ibid 60.