Kassa’s study provides a significant contribution to the literature on urban refugees and urban citizenship in southern cities. It provides a useful application of Lefebvre’s theoretical work to the context of the southern city and contributes a wealth of empirical data on Ethiopian urban refugees in Nairobi.

Urban Studies

Refugee Spaces and Urban Citizenship in Nairobi: Africa's Sanctuary City represents an important contribution to the field of forced migration theoretically and empirically, especially given the scarcity of existing knowledge. It also offers useful implications for practitioners, particularly in light of the increasing trend toward urbanization in forced displacement situations. Overall, the book provides interesting insights into the lives of self-settled Ethiopian refugees.

African Studies Review

Overall, the author brings an interesting body of literature from urban studies to refugee studies and gives a compelling and original account of how some refugees are able to achieve a significant level of integration and positively contribute to the economic life of the city.

Journal Of Refugee Studies

Using Lefebvre’s 'right to the city' as his foil and set in the context of Kenyan history and state policy, Derese Kassa takes us inside the rich and nuanced experiences of Ethiopian refugees in Nairobi— economic agents striving to retain their humanity and dignity in the face of corruption and police harassment. Asserting a 'right to the nation-state,' the author grapples with the meanings of refugee, immigrant, and citizen. Too often theorizing runs west to east, north to south. The circumstances of these African 'stranded strangers' provide lessons that flow in the reverse.

Cynthia Negrey, University of Louisville

This book on African refugees living in Nairobi is a welcome addition to the literature on African urbanization. Until now, much of this literature has focused on the problems of managing rapidly growing cities under conditions of poverty for large groups of the population. This study takes a more imaginative look at the conditions of life, and prospects for integration of a previously ignored group – refugees from neighboring countries. Using detailed information from 30 Ethiopians in Nairobi (out of a total estimated urban refugee population of up to 100,000 in that city), we are treated to a fascinating account of the conditions and challenges of an increasingly important group of urban dwellers. Although they face daily challenges of police misconduct and (for most) only distant prospects for full local citizenship, refugees undertake many important economic and social roles in this capital city, and add considerably to its cultural diversity and potential.

Richard Stren, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto

Kassa has written a terrific book exploring urban citizenship and the efforts of Ethiopian refugees in Nairobi to secure a place in the city to live and work. The book is extremely well-written and accessible. It is suitable for use in undergraduate and graduate courses in urban politics, urban sociology, race and ethnicity, African politics, and immigration and migration.

Ronald K. Vogel, Ryerson University