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The book is a response to the dominant discourse of South Africa as unwelcoming to African immigrants. Acknowledging the reality of xenophobia against African migrants in South Africa, it explores the positive spaces of interactions between South Africans and African migrants that do not necessarily result in tension. Hence, the book is about conviviality, cohabitation, interdependency and the production of a multicultural rainbow nation. South Africa, its constitution and representation as a multicultural society is the perfect context to experiment with the ideas in the book. Part of the objectives is therefore to demonstrate, as contained in the title, the ambivalence of this relationship which the popular discourse of xenophobia has silenced.

Christopher Isike is a Professor of African Politics and International Relations at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is the current President of the African Association of Political Science (AAPS) and Editor-in-Chief of Africa’s foremost political science journal, Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies. Christopher also serves on the editorial board of several reputable international journals such as International Political Science Abstracts. He conducts research from an Africanist lens, and apart from African immigration to South Africa, Christopher’s research interests include African soft power politics, peace and conflict studies, women and political representation in Africa, rethinking state formation in Africa, human factor development, and politics in a digital era. In 2020, he was appointed by the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture as a Social Cohesion Advocate of South Africa.

Efe Isike is currently a Policy and Development scholar and expert who coordinates the Mastercard Scholarship Program (MCSP) in the Department of Education Innovation at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Previously, she lectured for 7 years in the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Zululand, South Africa. Her research interests include African Migration Studies, Gender and Development Studies and Conflict Transformation.