Immigration and subterranean sovereignty in South African cities

Border control—entry, exit, and movement within a territory—is inextricably tied to globally dominant definitions of spatial control and sovereignty. Under the Manichean rubric that informs much work on contemporary governance, where states are unable to systematically regulate movement into and within space, such spaces appear as only partially governed. However, such designations are premised on a state-centric perspective of governance that ignores other critical forms of regulation and control that emerge when state power is inconsistent or when states act in “irregular” ways. Through its “worm’s-eye” view, this chapter argues that the various actors involved in regulating human mobility—states, citizens, and migrants themselves—act as catalysts for transforming the practice of sovereignty. Where public commitments to law are questionable and enforcement institutions weak, socially rooted regimes of control have emerged to regulate what might outwardly appear as South Africa’s ungoverned spaces.