Remittance Behaviour of Forced Migrants in Post-Apartheid South Africa

This paper looks at the determinants of South-South remittances. An original dataset of African migrants living in Johannesburg is used. As South Africa attracts both economic and forced migrants, we focus on the impact of the reason of emigration (violence versus economic concerns) on migrants’ remittance behaviour. On the extensive margin, the results show that leaving a home country for reasons of violence decreases the probability of remitting to the home country. On the intensive margin, transferred amounts do not differ according to whether the migrant was forced to migrate or not. When the migrant has decided to remit, it is more his/her current conditions in the host country and traditional factors (income, education, sex, etc.) that determine the amounts transferred. Our results are robust when restricting the definition of forced migration.     

Temporary migration in Shanghai and Beijing

In a number of developing countries, temporary migration plays a key role in the labor market. In China, where permanent migration is carefully controlled, movement without an official change in household registration (temporary migration) is relatively unrestricted. It has increased dramatically since the economic reforms introduced in 1979. Using data from surveys in Shanghai and Beijing, this article focuses on the sociodemographic characteristics of temporary migrants in relation to their reasons for moving and the duration of their stay at destination. Many temporary migrants come to these cities in search of work; however, many others move for noneconomic reasons associated with family reunion and retirement. Moreover, the distinctive socioeconomic features of Shanghai and Beijing also influence the characteristics of temporary migrants and their reasons for coming to the cities. Alice Goldstein is senior researcher at the Population Studies and Training Center of Brown University, Providence, R.I. 02912. Her research deals with the interrelations among population mobility, urbanization, and economic development. Among her most recent publications isPermanent and Temporary Migration Differentials in China, East-West Population Institute Paper No. 117 (Honolulu: 1990) (co-author with Sidney Goldstein). Shenyang Guo recently received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and has held an appointment as a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University. His research interests encompass fertility changes and economic development in China.     

Neither Here Nor There

Abstract

Since 1917 all Puerto Ricans, whether island- or mainland-born, are United States citizens. Physical proximity and relatively affordable transportation encourages Puerto Rican migration to the mainland United States. Puerto Rican migration takes three forms: the “one- way migrants,” who move permanently to the mainland; the “return migrants” who migrate to the mainland but after many years return to the island and reestablish residence; and the “circular migrants” who migrate back and forth between the island and the mainland spending substantial periods of residence in both places. The following analysis emphasizes the conditions that instigate the departure of Puerto Rican migrants from both the island and the mainland, and discusses the implications of Puerto Rican circular migration for social work and the provision of social welfare programs and services.     

Exploring “North” and “South” in post-Soviet Bishkek: discourses and perceptions of rural-urban migration

In this paper we explore, through the narratives and perspectives of “old residents” in post-Soviet Bishkek, the dominant discourse which has emerged towards rural migrants arriving to the city from other areas of Kyrgyzstan from the late Soviet period onwards. We investigate the existence of a primarily “antagonistic” discourse in relation to the migrants and analyze this in detail to understand how it illuminates wider concerns amongst residents about what is occurring in their city, and about wider processes of social change in Kyrgyzstan. The paper provides a revealing insight into the processes of urban change in post-Soviet Central Asia, and demonstrates the ways in which confrontation with the everyday harsh realities of post-Soviet transformation can lead to the negative “othering” of one group of urban residents by another. We also demonstrate how the “old residents'” perceptions of migrants reveal important insights into emerging notions and constructions of identity in the post-Soviet period, related in this case to understandings of “North” and “South'1 The terms “North” and “South” are used here to denote the “North” and “South” of Kyrgyzstan. Talas, Naryn, Issyk-Kul' and Chuy regions (where the regional and national capital Bishkek is located) are usually taken as “North”, whereas Osh, Batken and Dzhalal-Abad regions are taken as “South.” View all notes and related concepts of what is “urban” and what is “Kyrgyz”.     

Eastward bound: A case study of post-soviet labour migration from a rural Ukrainian town

This case study uses ethnographic interviews and survey data to explore temporary work migration from Komsomolsk, a rural town in central Ukraine. At the time of the Soviet collapse, experts expected temporary work migrants to orient toward labour markets in Western Europe but our data show that in 2002 the majority of temporary migrants made trips to Russia and parts of the former Soviet Union from Komsomolsk. Women were less likely than men to engage in temporary work migration, yet those women who did migrate for work were more likely to migrate west. Men, particularly older, ethnically Russian men, sought work in the east. Ethnographic data indicate language skills and knowledge of the Russian labour market influenced migrants' choice of destination. Social contacts, such as recruiters from Russian construction firms, helped to bring Ukrainian workers east. Survey data show that younger ethnic Russians and ethnic Ukrainians from all age groups were more likely to seek work within the country or in Western job markets than in Russia.     

The Evolving Role of the Africa Scholar in African Studies

This paper explores – through a geo-political perspective – the changes and continuities in South African foreign policy over the period 1990–2010, focusing on the themes of military relations, migration, democratization, and pan-Africanism. The demise of apartheid led to significant changes in South Africa's relations with southern Africa and the rest of Africa, including: transition of South Africa from pariah state to a key leader of the continent; an end to South Africa's destabilization of its immediate neighbours; transition toward more humane treatment of migrants; and transition toward a commitment to democracy promotion in Africa. Yet, continuities among the apartheid and post-apartheid eras persist, including: the persistence of nationalism and realism as guiding principles; ongoing economic and political constraints imposed by neighbouring countries; the persistence of socio-cultural divisions amongst South African and migrant workers; and overall ambivalence about pan-African identity and policies.     

Circular Migration: A View from Destination Households in Two Urban Informal Settlements in South Africa

This article analyses dual household membership and the return intentions of migrants, using data collected from migrants living in two informal settlements in South Africa. While dual household membership is very common among the migrants we surveyed, less than half of these migrants wanted to return to their other household in the future. We explore the correlates of dual household membership and intended return migration and we consider the implications of our findings for measures of circular individual migration using existing cross-sectional datasets.     

When are Minorities Worse Off? A Systematic Investigation of Size and Status

Are smaller ethnic groups less advantaged than large groups? This question has not been systematically studied. Using two new datasets, we find that when group size and status are analyzed at national levels smaller groups are generally worse off than larger groups. By contrast, when group size and status are analyzed at subnational (regional or district) levels, smaller groups are better off than larger groups. “National” minorities are disadvantaged while “local” minorities are advantaged.We theorize that two factors are at work in generating this surprisingly consistent relationship. First, a synergy exists at national levels among three features of ethnic groups: size, power, and status. The second factor is based on social dynamics. Specifically, insofar as internal migration is characterized by positive selection, then migrants and their descendants should form the basis of small, privileged groups within the region that they migrate to. Insofar as distance enhances positive selection, this explains why smaller migrations are associated with more privileged groups and larger migrations with somewhat less privileged groups.     

Islands and a Carceral Environment: Maltese Policy in Terms of Irregular Migration

Although security has become a common framework for analyzing dispositifs that aim to control irregular migration, island spaces themselves are seldom considered as security dispositifs. The case of Malta, where detention is mandatory upon arrival, epitomizes what could be conceptualized as a “sentinel island” within the European Union. This article demonstrates how the interaction between political discourse, administrative practices, and migrants’ experiences contributes to turning the island into a form of total-institution setting. The empirical data is based on qualitative fieldwork that combines ethnographic observation, migrants’ individual narratives and semi-structured interviews conducted with European and national policy makers.     

From Emigrant to Immigrant Society

Abstract

As the host of complex factors that give rise to forced and voluntary migration change over time, the history of migration in any one country also changes. This paper is concerned with the processes of transition and change in migration patterns in the Republic of Ireland over the past fifteen years, as Ireland has moved from being a country of net emigration to one of net immigration. More specifically this paper considers the manner in which, as immigration acquires a negative label through reactive state policies enabled legislative provisions both migrant and local population groups focus on resource-based tensions. As a result, a complex set of barriers emerges to inhibit the formation (by migrants) of extensive social networks within Irish society and ultimately to restrict general social interaction and integration. This paper considers the manner in which, migrant interaction with the host society becomes more limited and of less relevance to the individual when social interaction takes place in the context of a heightened sense of difference and of barriers between local and migrant groups. As a consequence, the barriers and boundaries between the immigrant and the local population are further reinforced.     

Empowering Leadership and Municipal Service Delivery: A Case Study of a Metropolitan Municipality in South Africa

Since municipal service delivery is a challenge facing many municipalities in South Africa, this paper reports on a study conducted among a convenience sample of managers and employees from the Revenue and Customer Relations Management department of a major metropolitan municipality in South Africa, to address the aforementioned problem. The findings reveal that empowering leadership is strongly correlated with employee work effort, performance and improved service delivery. On the practitioners’ side, the important mediating role of employee work effort and employee performance in the “empowering leadership–improved service delivery” relationship in South Africa’s public sector is also highlighted.     

‘The challenges of living here and there’: conflicting narratives of intermarriage between Cameroonian migrants and South Africans in Johannesburg

The influx of Africans into South Africa poses several challenges to the new democratic government. Today, the new government preoccupies itself not only with finding sustainable solutions for pathologies such as poverty, crime, and social violence but also with formulating succinct laws to regularise and curb the increasing population of Africans in major cities like Johannesburg. These laws have complicated the acquisition of legal documents for foreign Africans to reside in the country permanently. This article examines the dynamics of intermarriage between Cameroonian migrants and locals in Johannesburg, as a strategy for permanent residency in South Africa. It seeks to understand these relationships through the viewpoints of the various actors and how they give meaning to Cameroonian experiences of displacement. It concentrates on the actors' discrepant interpretations and their implications for autochthony, belonging, and transnational identities, as well as for issues of social inclusion and exclusion in the new South Africa.     

Endemic violence in south africa: An od solution applied to two educational settings

This article discusses the endemic nature of violence in South Africa. The authors hypothesize that the culture in South Africa is autocratic in nature. They compare the socialization that occurs between democratic and autocratic families and the relationship this has to later problem-solving and conflict resolution behavior. People raised in an authoritarian culture need to develop skills that will enable them to learn an alternative to violence in conflict and problem-solving situations. The authors describe two educational interventions that followed this model. Available results are presented.

Both historically and today, violence in South Africa is endemic. Examples of South Africans committing violent acts because they feel justified fill today's media. Despite hopes and visions for a new South Africa and examples of goodwill and peaceful common ground between the different political positions, these violent acts emanate from all points of the political compass. Historically, we find examples such as the black tribal wars -- the African/Zulu wars, the Zulu/British wars, and the Anglo/Boer Wars.^(1),(2)

Although some positive processes of change occur in the country, a violent approach to problem-solving still remains. It is evident, both through research and perception, that all major population clusters (including whites, Africans, and other populations in South Africa) are predominantly authoritarian by virtue of their origin, their education, and their creed. This authoritarian culture may contribute toward the resistance against democratic processes and possibly heighten the opportunity for violence. The birth of liberation amplifies this dynamic situation. For all parties involved, liberation heightens the “fear for loss”⁽³⁾ and creates a non-productive power struggle. In this paper, we first explore why we believe that violence is endemic in this country, showing how an authoritarian culture may contribute to this problem. Second, we will describe two OD interventions presented in separate educational settings that were designed to reduce violence.     

The Nexus of Political Violence and Economic Deprivation: Pakistani Migrants Disrupt the Refugee/Migrant Dichotomy

There have been discussions about how the labels “forced migrants,” related to political violence, and “voluntary migrants,” associated with economic factors, cannot be understood in categorical ways. However, there has been less focus on the specificities of the asylum-migrant nexus from the perspective of migrants. This essay discusses how such factors intersect as understood by Pakistani migrants residing in Germany. Through enacting a critical view of Pakistan, the migrants demonstrate how aspects of corruption, economic deprivation, and political violence come to intersect so that is becomes impossible to classify asylum seekers in binary/dichotomous ways.     

Dutch disease and the Azerbaijan economy

The novelty of this study is that it empirically tests four hypotheses of the Dutch Disease in the Azerbaijan economy while systematically controls for other possible explanations of the observed processes over the period 2000–2007. The study concludes that an “absolute de-industrialization” has not taken place in Azerbaijan, rather the country suffers from a “relative de-industrialization” in the non-oil tradable sector. Additionally, the paper shows that the non-tradable sector has substantially expanded during the 2000–2007 period. Analysis also presents that the government expenditures have created a “spending effect”, which is more crucial than the “resource movement effect”. Furthermore, it was found that rapid increases in the wages and the non-tradable prices have led to appreciation of the real exchange rate in Azerbaijan. Finally, the study reveals that foreign direct investments inflow to the oil sector is harmful for non-oil exports and therefore, it contributes to deepening of resource, or oil, dependence. Findings in this paper support the view that to obtain a diversified economy with a long-term balanced growth development of the non-oil tradable sector should be of the major focus for the policymakers.     

Ethiopian female domestic labour migration to the Middle East: patterns,trends, and drivers

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the trends, patterns, and determinants of Ethiopian domestic labour migration to Arab countries. The primary motive behind migration is to move out of poverty and to improve family living standards through remittances. Migration to Arab countries has intensified due to social networks, expansion of illegal agencies, and the relative fall of migration costs. This movement is also the result of a shift in demand away from Asian domestic workers who tend to seek higher wages, to cheap labour source countries such as Ethiopia. This underlines not only the complexity of human mobility across national borders but also indicates the importance of conceptualising this movement in a broader global perspective, going beyond the traditional push-pull factors embedded in origin and destination countries. Female domestic migrants have received marginal attention from policy-makers and their vulnerability to various forms of abuse and exploitation has continued over the years.     

What if diasporas didn't think about development?: a critical approach of the international discourse on migration and development

Abstract

This paper explores the links between migration and development emphasized by international organizations. This discourse, which encourages migrants to work at their level, toward the development of their country has become consensual. But if one looks closely, these natural links seem fragile, both in international migration policies and social experiments of migration. By studying the case of the Togolese migration, this article shows that the institutionalization of this new paradigm is weak and that the recent implementation of migration policies in Togo just seems to be an answer to the requirements of international partners. More than a real programmatic issue, the role of the diaspora in development becomes an obligatory resource in negotiations with sponsors. Then, if the discourse on development began to emerge among migrants themselves, it is not necessarily synonymous with the growth of a strong culture of transnational or diasporic commitment. Few associative structures are actually created and migration trajectories and histories are first and foremost thought of in an individual or familial frame, far from social imperatives of community development. Finally, if we analyze the more general logic of these migrations in Togo, while they seem to foster identity transformations they may primarily function as a driving force behind reproduction of social inequalities in the country of origin.     

Anatomy of a Riot: The Social Imaginary,Single Women,and Religious Violence in Niger

This article asks us to rethink the models that have conventionally represented the coming of Islam to Africa: that of a pre-established entity, given from the outside, coherent, monadic, unity, like an already formed identity. Using Lacanian challenges to conventional notions of identity, this article contests the above version of Islam, viewing it as an incarnation of the imago: always there, always obeying the logic of a model of transmission into Africa as a reception from abroad. The conventional representation of its irruption into Africa has always involved the misrecognition of an identity as a pre-existent, already-whole form, wait ing to be born, presumably in complete unity. What this model ignores is that the language and form of what it came to recognize and name as Islam were already there, and that the Islam that formed its newlyconscious sense of self was grounded in the same act of misrecognition as characterizes the mirror stage, that is, the stage at which the subject comes to state: “This is who I am.” In order to rethink the identitarian model, this article evokes the figure of the dead father, the “McGuffin” on which turns the drama of Hampaté Ba’s Wangrin and Sembène Ousmane’s Faat Kine. In both works, the act of exhuming the father’s body takes on a degree of fantastical importance because it situates the struggle between two competing mirror stage tendencies: narcissism and aggression, tendencies around which all forms of subject-identity formation take place.     

Immigration in Brazil

Abstract

The 100-year period between 1872 and 1972 saw significant migration movements to Brazil, particularly of people from Portugal, Italy, Spain, and Germany. The early migrants from Europe were drawn to the vast expanses of land, where they established colonies. The 20th century attracted two large waves of Japanese immigrants, the first being agricultural workers and the second, after World War II, workers in urban industries. While some migration to Brazil of groups from other South American countries continues, migration in the latter part of the 20th century and into the 21st century has declined substantially. The country is faced, rather, with the emigration of large numbers of Brazilians to the United States, Japan, and Europe. Implications of the migration flows are discussed.