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The Son of the Hawk Does Not Remain Abroad: The Urban–Rural Connection in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Josef Gugler
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Abstract:

Most rural–urban migrants maintain significant ties with their communities of origin in Africa south of the Sahara. Contrary to “modernist” assumptions that these ties would fade away, they often continue to be strong. This urban–rural connection has important consequences for rural–urban migration, for urban–rural return migration, for the rural economy, and for the political process. To understand the processes underpinning the urban–rural connection we need to distinguish different migration strategies and to deconstruct the notion of “rural.” Depending on their migration strategies, urban residents connect with a range of actors at the rural end: more or less closely related kin, kinship groups, non-kin groups, villages, larger political entities. These connections play out differently for men and women.

Résumé:

Résumé:

La plupart des personnes émigrant des zones rurales vers les zones urbaines maintiennent des liens importants avec leur communauté d'origine au sud du Sahara Africain. Contrairement aux conjectures « modernistes » selon lesquelles ils se déferaient progressivement, ces liens restent souvent solides. Cette connexion entre le rural et l'urbain a des conséquences importantes en ce qui concerne la migration des les zones rurales vers les zones urbaines, la migration inverse des les zones urbaines vers les zones rurales, l'économie rurale, et les processus politiques. Pour comprendre les processus sous-jacents à cette connexion entre l'urbain et le rural, il est nécessaire de faire la différence entre les diverses stratégies de migration, et de déconstruire le terme « rural ». En fonction de leurs stratégies de migration, les résidents des zones urbaines s'associent avec un éventail de protagonistes du monde rural: parents plus ou moins proches, groupes parentaux, groupes non-parentaux, villages, et plus grandes entités au niveau politique. Ces connexions se manifestent de manière différente pour les hommes et pour les femmes.

Type
Articles
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , April 2002 , pp. 21 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2002

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