Paper short abstract:

This paper presents the mobility history of one village in the central Ethiopia lowlands. I show how individual life trajectories and collective migration patterns relate to broader political, economic, and social change over time.

Paper long abstract:

This paper presents the mobility history of one village in the central Ethiopia lowlands. By weaving together the narratives told by local inhabitants about how rural livelihoods have changed over time, I explore the relationship between broader social transformations and changing migration patterns over the past 80 years. The first part is historical: I consider how and why livelihoods transitioned from pastoralism to agrarianism in the second half of the 20th century and the determinants of increased internal and international migration in more recent decades. The second part links this historical thread with contemporary mobility dynamics. I detail the main migration pathways presently before young people in the village and their motivating reasons: marriage, education, work, access to resources and changing aspirations. Grounded in survey data and in-depth interviews with men and women who currently live in or have left this one rural village, the interlinkages between various migration trajectories are explored, their gendered dynamics underlined, and their historical roots highlighted. In telling this mobility narrative, I aim to show how individual life trajectories and collective migration patterns relate to broader political, economic, and social change over time.