Deconstructing the Migrant/Refugee/Host Ternary in Kigoma, Tanzania: Toward a Borderland Politics of Solidarity and Reparation

Abstract

This article deconstructs the migrant/refugee/host ternary at the Tanzania-Burundi borderlands of Kigoma region. I complicate migrant/refugee binary by presenting different trajectories and outcomes of Burundians participating in agricultural systems surrounding refugee camps. This history of migration and displacement is not new, however, but has been impelled since the rise of European colonization. Though never refugees, Tanzanian ‘hosts’ share a history of internal displacement initiated during colonialism. This host label obscures the diversity present in the region. Finally, I call for borderland solidarity and postcolonial reparations for hosts to redress the history of displacement and marginalization in the region.