Increasing numbers of Africans now live in Europe transnationally. The panel will discuss the diverse forms of their transnational linkages examining (a) how transnational networks affect economic behaviour abroad and back ‘home’; (b) how simultaneous engagement in two or more countries affects identities and political and religious affiliations; (c) how exile relates to ‘development’.
Migration between Africa and Europe has a long history, but during the last quarter of the twentieth century difficult economic, political and environmental conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, and demands for labour in the ‘North’, drew increasing numbers of migrants to European countries including countries with previously few if any colonial/post-colonial links with the continent. The revolution in information and communication technologies, however, has meant that many Africans in Europe are now able to live ‘transnationally’, maintaining significant social, economic and cultural ties with their countries of origin, and with fellow-migrants living elsewhere. These transnational contacts result in flows of people, goods, money, and ideas, and the creation of new institutions that cross national boundaries.
These transnational dynamics have led to major changes in the norms and rules that guide the behaviour of migrants at home and abroad, and present new problems for investigation. Building on the pioneering work of Khalid Koser (New African Diasporas, ed. 2002), the panel will discuss the diverse forms these changes take. Specifically, we welcome papers examining
(a) how transnational networks affect economic behavior both in migrant communities abroad and back ‘home’;
(b) how migrants’ simultaneous engagement in two or more different countries affects identities and political and religious affiliations;
(c) how exile relates to ‘development’.
A concern with gender relations and with families and households is likely to cross-cut these topics.
The panel will enable the growing number of senior and junior researchers in these fields to highlight similarities and differences in transnational dynamics according to different countries of origin and European contexts
The Panel will occupy three conference sessions. Session 1 will be devoted to papers from senior researchers in the field while Sessions 2 and 3 will include shorter presentations from junior researchers (including doctoral research students) in the process of completing their research.
Session 1
This paper draws on data from a survey of 500 Zimbabweans in Britain to examine transnational activities and aspirations to contribute towards the development of Zimbabwe from abroad or through return. It will examine social networks and economic links with Zimbabwe but also links with other Zimbabweans in the diaspora.
In this article we argue that funerals are increasingly multi-sited events and show that a multi-locational research design can best bring out the dynamics around changing funeral practices. Taking a funeral as a case study, we follow the organizers in different geographical locations (Ghana and The Netherlands) in the decisions, finances and practices regarding the funeral. We identify the effects of funeral spending on local economic development through a multiplier analysis, tracing where money flows to, both geographically (places) and economically (sectors). Our analysis brings into question the common perception that funerals are purely consumptive events and rather shows that funeral spending supports various economic sectors in Ghana; and that money flows into various local economies as well as the global economy. Analysis of the decision-making processes reveals that funerals are, on the one hand, a contestation over resources, but on the other also an occasion in which migrants reaffirm social and economic ties with their home communities. We conclude that remittances for funerals need to be included in studies on the effects of remittances for developing countries because they can constitute a large proportion of the total volume of remittances. We also suggest that policy making should focus on formalizing investments in funerals in order to mitigate the income shock that funerals entail for the organizers.
The paper compares two different West African communities in Italy. The mostly male Senegalese migrants generally belong to the Mouride Sufi brotherhood, whose vertical and horizontal ties are reproduced in transnational networks, and these often help migrants organise their business activities as well as their temporary settlement within the receiving contexts. Ghanaians in Italy are Christians with a growing number of pentecostalists. They have a balanced gender ratio and, unlike the Senegalese who are strongly identified with the project of return, Ghanaians families tend to want to settle in Italy. Yet transnational connections and activities (remittances, home associations, investment in housing or entrepreneurial activities) are frequent among Ghanaians too. Despite differences, there are also similarities. The paper focuses on the complex politics of interplay with the receiving contexts and explores the potentials and obstacles for the enhancement of transnational linkages and translocal development.
Portugal was known to be an emigration country until some decades ago, when it became an immigration one. One of the largest group of newcomers is constituted by Africans, coming from the ancient Portuguese colonies. This paper focuses on how religion and ritual traditions from their home country are manipulated by people from Guinea-Bissau in order to recreate their identity in the urban world of Lisbon.
This research concerns recently arrived immigrants to the UK and explores their work strategies and trajectories in a globalized and segmented labour market, illustrating the importance of immigrant social networks, both transnational and local, in the process of settlement and integration into a culturally diverse society.
Session II
In this paper I will present my ongoing doctoral research on Senegalese migrant women in Paris. Since Senegal’s independence in 1960, there has been increasing interdisciplinary interest in the significance of Senegalese migrant communities; this has focused on national, international and transnational forms of Senegalese migration. In recent years experts have examined the transnational practices of Senegalese men, and their profound impacts on economic development and politics in Senegal. However very little is known about Senegalese migrant women and their contribution to the wider processes of Senegalese migration. My doctoral research will examine the daily lives of migrant women, and will comprise an examination of the social place and transnational activities of migrant women living between Senegal and Paris. It will highlight the absence of Senegalese migrant women from the fields of both migration and development studies. In summary, I will foreground both the processes reshaping gendered social systems, and the ways in which migrant women contribute to and influence economic and political development in Senegal.
The Senegalese Mouride brotherhood is often considered a transnational success story. But even if this is justified, does the success of the brotherhood as a whole mean success for all of its members? I will explore the question of (un)successful Mouride livelihood by focusing on the differentiated community of the Mourides in Brescia, the 'Touba of Italy'. Special attention will be paid to how people's livelihood opportunities are influenced both by social processes within the local and translocal Mouride network and in the wider societal context.
My research focuses on Ghanaian immigrants in London as providers of health care. I am interested in how they treat in their communities and how they engage with public services as health workers. Combining a Medical Anthropological approach with a transnational lens I focus on medicoscapes which evolve transnationally through therapeutic professionals on the move.
This paper concerns the problem of adaptation of Africans in Russia, their interactions with Soviet and then Russian citizens, evaluation of mutual understanding and searches for social conflict resolution. I analyze problems of different categories such as African students, refugees, African elite etc. I also give an overview of different organizations dealing with Africans in Russia.
The purpose of my paper is to analyze the situation of West African immigrants in France with reference to housing and job opportunities, political participation, representation in the public sphere, and cultural and religious identities. I will also examine the various challenges faced by the second generation. I wish to explore the multiple ways all these issues have evolved and interplayed with state immigration policies. First, I will give a historical perspective on West African immigration in France, by focusing on the major turning points. Second, I will look at the different mechanisms of exclusion of immigrants, and the different forms these mechanisms took over the years. Finally, I will turn to the different factors that influenced this evolution and the way immigrants responded to it.
Session III
Looking at individual and collective identity processes, the research stresses practices and discourses of social exclusion and inclusion among the Eritrean community in Milan. Different generations of arrival and ambiguous political personas provide multiple ways of being Eritrean. Narratives and performances display political and generational unities and divisions through both dynamism and fixity.
This research seeks to explore inter-generational contrast in transnational practices amongst Ugandan migrants and their descendants. It will focus on questions of identity, gender dynamics and remittance practices, and how transnationalism reconfigures these questions against the dimension of family, society and perceived social and economic change in Uganda.
The presentation focuses on the establishment of a Somali transnational umbrella association with the aim of improving living conditions in the Southern part of Somalia – in the name of the diaspora. The paper discusses the gendered and generational dynamics of such diasporic political engagement, especially in relation to issues of marginalisation in the host country, status and recognition.
How are people seeking asylum and those with refugee status maintaining and creating social networks, family links, religious, political, and cultural identity? This paper will consider nascent ‘community’ activities among people from various African countries in a dispersal city, and the impact of ‘refugeeness’ and UK policy on transnational processes.
This study investigates the movement of people from Somalia to the UK and the movement of money and goods from the UK to Somalia: 1) What are links between migration and material and financial transfers - what factors shape such transfers? 2) What is the impact of these processes on the lives of the senders? 3) How are these processes shaped by related infrastructures and policies?