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Paper short abstract

Drawing on ethnographic work in a town in Ghana, this article contests traditional understandings of the concept of kinship embedded in the New Economics of Labour Migration literature and argues that kinship in some contexts should be broadened to include those without blood ties.

Paper long abstract

Drawing on ethnographic work in a town in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana with a 30 year history of migration to Libya, this article contests traditional understandings of the concept of kinship embedded in the New Economics of Labour Migration literature. While feminist scholars of migration have critiqued this literature for assuming a unitary model of kinsfolk in a household, few scholars have questioned the fact that the household model embedded in this literature assumes a Western conception of households as kinsfolk united by blood ties. This article which highlights the extent to which friends contribute to decision making regarding migration contests this understanding of a household and suggests that in some contexts, household models as used in migration studies need to be broadened to include those without blood ties.