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- Convenors:
-
Mireille Razafindrakoto
(IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement)
François Roubaud (IRD)
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- Stream:
- Sociology
- Location:
- Chrystal McMillan, Seminar Room 5
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 12 June, -, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Diaspora members experienced a disrupted connection to their home countries but continue in some form to identify with them. This panel aims at investigating how the African diaspora manage to maintain links and to contribute to their countries of origin while integrating into their host societies.
Long Abstract:
International migration is a subject of intense discussion. It is a multifaceted phenomenon and it raises different controversies. One of the debated questions is on the diaspora characteristics and role. Some people regard diaspora members as losses for their home country and even as potential threat for their home country as well as their host country. However, the role played by diaspora in promoting the development of their countries of origin is now recognized and underlined by different national and international institutions.
This panel session aims at investigating to what extent the African diaspora communities manage to maintain links and to contribute to their countries of origin while integrating into their host societies.
Given their position as transnational communities, members of the African diaspora can act as facilitators, bridge builders between the two countries. But some immigrant communities might also be characterized by their disconnection. They could be less organized or more engaged in ex-pat community activities than home country oriented. Does social inclusion, or integration into the host country, lead to a form of rupture with the country of origin? Or counter-intuitively, does integration strengthen diaspora capacities to reconnect with their countries of origin? Proposals which bring strong (quantitative or qualitative) empirical evidences on the specificity of the African diaspora, on their actual influence on their home country's trajectory, or on their total loss of tie with their home country, will be considered in priority.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 12 June, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
In order to evaluate the role that diaspora can play for their countries of origin, we analyze the weight and the socio-demographic characteristics of the migrant communities in the host country. Our study raises the question of their visibility and their capacity to organize themselves.
Paper long abstract:
This study aims at investigating to what extent the African diaspora communities can contribute economically (and politically) to their countries of origin. Based on existing databases at the international and national levels (in particular the United Nations databases, UN-DESA, the census in France, Afrobarometer surveys) on migrant communities from African countries, comparative analyses presented in this paper suggest different pattern of integration into the host societies. Four countries of origin are considered for a detailed analysis: Mali, Cameroun, Côte d'Ivoire and Madagascar. We examine the characteristics and the weights of the immigrant communities from these countries in France: how many are there? Where do migrants live? Who are they? What are their living conditions? How do they fit into their host country? These are the questions we try to answer. Although exclusively focused on migrants in France, the answer to the previous questions shed light on the characteristic features specific to each home country. The migrants' socio-economic profile and their way of integration in the host societies give indirectly to see what they come to look for, and finally inform on the mobilization potential for the development of the countries of origin.
Paper short abstract:
This presentation seeks to examine how this community negotiates its positions as "brokers" in both worlds. What constitute this community in London? Which social category engages politically and economically in both host and homeland. Why do they engage transnationally in London?
Paper long abstract:
The UK has long been home to people of Ghanaian descent as early as the 1900s, through the presence of earlier Gold Coasters sojourning in the UK for the purses of education and commerce of some affluent Gold Coast families. London, however has been the bastion of Ghanaian community and one of the oldest settled African communities in the capital. In the early 1950s the community was heterogenous in its formation and blended into the general panorama of Black British community. In recent times, however, the sociological mapping of the Ghanaian diaspora is more stratified, organized and homogenous in its localization and as such, contributing to the community's integration process in the UK both politically and economically. This established and well-integrated community in London still maintains ties to their homeland, contributing transnationally to the development of Ghana both politically and economically by utilizing their resource capitals i.e. professional and economic capitals as "brokers" to serve both home and host countries respectively. This presentation seeks to examine how this community negotiates its positions as "brokers" in both worlds. What constitute this community in London? Which social category engages politically and economically in both host and homeland. Why do they engage transnationally, if they are well integrated in London? Through a recent Empirical evidence from a fieldwork conducted in London to ascertain which segment of the Ghanaian community engages in Politics in the UK during the Brexit referendum in 2016 and transnationally engages in the Ghanaian presidential election of 2016.
Paper short abstract:
Academic research about the Malagasy diaspora is very scarce. This paper aims at providing quantitative evidence about the characteristics of the collective organisation of the Malagasy diaspora and qualitative evidence of their links with their country of origin.
Paper long abstract:
The Malagasy diaspora is estimated to be the largest sub-Saharan African diaspora in France. But the quantity of research about it is inversely proportional to its size. This paper aims at bridging the gap and bring some quantitative and qualitative evidence about the collective organization of the Malagasy diaspora and its links with Madagascar. This paper is divided into two parts:
Firstly, I bring quantitative evidence about the characterisation of the association of the Malagasy diaspora. Thanks to a dataset provided by "data.gouv" -an official public open data website- I put forward some insights about the association linked to Madagascar. These results are compared with those of other important sub-Saharan African diasporas . The principal results show a relatively weak number of associations linked to Madagascar by Malagasy migrants, an atypical temporal trajectory of the creation of associations which seems correlated with the political cycle in the origin country, and a Malagasy diaspora in which the cultural and religious associations are relatively more important than in other diasporas.
In the second part, I present some results about a pilot survey conducted on leaders of Malagasy associations in Paris. About twenty leaders have been interviewed in order to understand their personal link with Madagascar, the way their association acts in the diaspora and what are they doing for their home country. The main results show that Malagasy associations are more involved in actions aiming at organizing the community than creating strong links with their origin country.
Paper short abstract:
The purpose of the paper will to explore the young people's migrant experiences relationship they have in the UK society and links with Zimbabwe. The paper will considered the role of Zimbabwean young people in the UK, their experience which shape their current situations in transnational activities
Paper long abstract:
Zimbabwe has been of great interest politically in the world, there are only a few researchers who have continued to focus their outstanding work on Zimbabwean Diaspora in the UK notably McGregor (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010); Bloch (2006, 2008); Pasura (2008, 2010, 2011.) These studies have based their research on adults or their families. However, existing research has not fully considered the role of Zimbabwean young people living in the in the UK, their previous experience which shape their current situations as there is emphasis more on the first generation as the main actors in transnational activities. The purpose of the paper will to explore the young people's migrant experiences and gain an understanding of dynamic relationship they have in the UK society and links with Zimbabwe. It will also look at the notion that second-generation Zimbabwe young diaspora in the UK in the are supposed to be the carriers of the future development There are other aspects of transnational activities, language, gender, sexuality, inter-marriages, religion which are overlooked when questioning young people's identities and transitional activities which are overlooked. The notion that the young people should continue from what their parents have done seems to imply that they are active agents and their relationships (Singla, R et.al 2011) can be seen as continuing to process the kinship networks which they might or might not want to be involved in.
Paper short abstract:
As a tool for migrants to connect between them and with their homeland, the internet is also a space for transnational political participation. Aiming to discover the online political participation of the Malagasy overseas during Madagascar's 2018 elections, we found a weak collective implication.
Paper long abstract:
The Internet is undoubtedly a privileged space of connection and gathering of geographically dispersed migrants between them and with their homeland. This exploratory study analyses the political participation practices, here understood as a way of connecting with the homeland, that the Internet offers to the Malagasy overseas in the context of the presidential elections of Madagascar on 2018. Thus, it analyses within this context (i) what levels, forms, and content of political participation did they lead on the internet, (ii) who are the most politically engaged Malagasy overseas on the internet, and (iii) how did they use the internet. Following the approach of E-Diaspora Atlas project (Diminescu, 2012), the techniques used in this research are based firstly on the quantification of the Malagasy migrants' websites citing the Madagascar elections as well as the networks they form, and secondly, a qualitative analysis of their content. According to the network analysis, content analysis, and geolocation, there are significantly few and isolated Malagasy diasporic websites and blogs quoting or interacting with the Malagasy presidential election in contrast to a huge number and visible networks of international media doing so. This result reveals not only the online political information transfer between the Malagasy overseas but also the weight of their political participation towards Madagascar. It also shows the main typologies of Malagasy diasporic websites with their weak ties and networks. Is this a sign of a political disinterest or of a diasporic community in the making?