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- Convenors:
-
Cristiano Lanzano
(The Nordic Africa Institute (Uppsala, Sweden))
Yacouba Cissao (INSSCNRST-Burkina Faso)
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- Discussant:
-
Jesper Bjarnesen
(The Nordic Africa Institute)
- Format:
- Panel
- Streams:
- Urban Studies (x) Inequality (y)
- Location:
- Philosophikum, S55
- Sessions:
- Friday 2 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
This panel explores the mobilities of regional labour migrants through and between smaller urban centres in different African contexts, emphasising the mediation of migration and mobility and the social connections that facilitate the movement of labour across national and subnational borders.
Long Abstract:
While much has been written about the social lives and connections of city dwellers in African capitals and metropoles, secondary cities remain relatively understudied in social sciences (Amman & Sanogo 2017, Hilgers 2012). Secondary cities are simultaneously nodes of labour recruitment, where workers and employers congregate; nodes of mobility, as transportation infrastructures offer connections to rural and urban worlds further astray; and transit nodes, as migrants travel through or linger on their way. This panel explores the mobilities of regional labour migrants through and between urban centres in different African contexts. The panel thereby explores the circular and transnational dimensions of labour migration, which are often forgotten as national capital cities tend to be seen as the inevitable destinations for (rural) labour migrants. Against this trend, we identify secondary cities as central nodes for various forms of mobility, including labour recruitment.
Contributions should seek to: investigate the actors, networks, cultural institutions, or commercial arrangements that facilitate the recruitment and circulation of labour within formal and informal economic sectors; understand how urban dwellers plan and practice regional mobility, with particular attention to the aspirations, discourses, and networks that facilitate them; or provide a qualitative analysis of the stratified mobilities that predominate in specific contexts, with a focus on gendered and generational dimensions, or their implications in terms of inequalities and social differentiation.
Through this focus on mediation, the panel draws attention to the centrality of the social connections and mechanisms that facilitate the movement of labour across national and subnational borders.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 2 June, 2023, -Aïdas Sanogo (Centre Universitaire de Manga)
Paper short abstract:
Rooted in the fields of political and urban anthropology while embracing an inter-disciplinary approach, this paper looks into the intertwined links between migrants trajectories and land tenure in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire.
Paper long abstract:
Land tenure is understood here as the constant balance and imbalance existing within the power relations binding all the social actors involved in land access and property processes. The objectives of the research project is two folded:
- Analyze the subtleties inherent to land tenure in cities that are oftentimes off the research map due to their “secondary” characteristics, as opposed to capital cities.
- Shed light on the impact of regional migration trajectories patterns on land tenure in a secondary city, in comparison to what happens in a bigger city (Abidjan)
Using a diversity of land conflicts as an entry point, the paper shows how heterogeneous groups of social actors interact with each other, make claims and continuously shape land tenure to their benefit over time.
Nathan Kariuki (University of Bordeaux Montaigne-France)
Paper short abstract:
The paper explores mobilities of street vendors through and between the secondary town of Thika in Kenya, its hinterlands which are mainly the rural areas and the capital city, Nairobi. It emphasizes how vendors build social connections to earn their livelihoods as they interact with various actors
Paper long abstract:
The mobility of a large number of hawkers into the streets of Thika (Secondary town) became significant since 2015. The exchange and circulation of goods in Thika are extending the large Nairobi metropolitan urban spaces up to rural areas and therefore structure a trade route . This trade route links urban and rural hinterlands; between formal and informal sectors; agricultural and manufactured products enhancing Metropolisation process. Besides enhancing linkages, Street vending in the informal sector continues to create more jobs according to the 2020 Kenya Economic Survey report.
Despite their important roles, local authorities continue to target hawkers as illegal traders. They face harassment and sometimes police are hired to relocate them away from their urban locations . These operations result in crackdowns, and confiscating of vendors' commodities. Sometimes vendors prefer not to pick them back but instead buy new stock to restart their business. Sometimes, street vendors normally have to bribe the authorities to continue their business. According to Africa's uncensored media (2018), corrupt officers collected bribes of around $ 1 million a month in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
Therefore, this article explores the rivalries of power for access to streets, private appropriation of public spaces, and streets as economic and political resources. It also focuses on how Street vending construct a trade route linking Nairobi city, Thika Town, its rural hinterland and internationally through flows of their goods. During their mobility and livelihood diversification, street vendors interact with various actors and face regulatory frameworks that affect their activities.
Almamy Sylla (Université des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines de Bamako (ULSHB)
Paper short abstract:
La communication explore les rôles des mototaxis dans l’émergence des identités professionnelles juvéniles et dans la transformation des pratiques urbaines et transfrontalières
Paper long abstract:
Les mototaxis sont devenues le moyen de transport et de mobilité le plus utilisé à Bamako et Zégoua. Leur apparition comme moyen de transport est récente à Bamako, tandis qu’elles existent à Zégoua depuis la fin des années 1970. Leur prédominance à Zégoua s’explique par la position géographique de la ville et les restrictions à la circulation des personnes et de leurs biens dans la zone transfrontalière (Mali, Côte d’Ivoire et Burkina Faso) au sein de laquelle l’autonomie de circulation joue une fonction performative dans la vie sociale des populations. Ainsi, les mototaxis assurent plus à Zégoua une fonction de maintien des réseaux de parenté et de solidarité qui transcendent la matérialité des frontières. Par contre à Bamako, leur apparition dans le paysage du transport urbain est consécutive à l’avènement dans les années 2000 des motos de marque sud asiatique. Aussi bien à Bamako qu’à Zégoua, les mototaxis sont devenues un véritable moyen d’insertion sociale et économique des jeunes pour leur professionnalisation. En s’appuyant sur les théories de ‘soft’ infrastructures (Star 1999) et de celle de l’Acteur-réseau (Latour, 1996) et sur un travail ethnographique à Zégoua et Bamako auprès de jeunes conducteurs de mototaxis, d’élus communaux, d’agents de la police des frontières et de compagnies de transport, notre communication analyse comment les mototaxis connectent et transforment les identités, les cycles de vie des jeunes et les environnements urbains et transfrontaliers.
Stanley Boroh (Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Nigeria) Iwekumo Boroh (Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Nigeria)
Paper short abstract:
The paper relying on the push pull theory interrogated how oil induced degradation has led to regional migration due to loss of livelihoods. The study explores the drivers of the migration and adaptation strategies adpoted in their new location.
Paper long abstract:
The article interrogated the nexus between environmental degradation and migratory patterns in Nigerias Niger Delta region. The region being the host to many oil facilities and also serving as the major source of revenue for the country is prone to oil induced environmental degradation. Tha paper draws attention to the role of oil activities on the traditional economy of the people and the eventual impact it has on their migration. The paper was anchored on the Push Pull theory of migration and it relied on data from primary sources using key informant interviews and Focus Group Discussions. Findings from the study revealed that since the traditional economy of the people has been destroyed due to oil activities, the locals had to look for other means to survive, while some could stay back due to lack of funds or cultural affinity to the environment others migrated to neighbouring countries like Cameroon. Also, the study found out that people can only migrate due to some pull factors such as social network and access to finance amongst others. Migrants often times also are forced to adopt a new profession since the new environment is difffernt from their own local environment where its mainly fishing and farming.
Yacouba Cissao (INSSCNRST-Burkina Faso)
Paper short abstract:
Dans la ville de Bobo-Dioulasso, deuxième capitale du Burkina Faso, l'économie est à dominante agricole. Le secteur de l'approvisionnement en légumes de cette ville et de certains pays voisins du Burkina attire ainsi de nombreux jeunes migrants issus d'autres parties du pays tout comme du Mali.
Paper long abstract:
Dans la ville de Bobo-Dioulasso, des jeunes issus de différents horizons forment une main d’œuvre mobile sur laquelle s’appuie la chaîne de production et de commercialisation des légumes. Ces légumes circulent à partir de la ville de Bobo-Dioulasso et de son hinterland en direction d’autres localités du pays mais également des pays voisins comme la Côte d’Ivoire, le Niger, le Ghana. Les jeunes gens, pour ceux qui n’ont pas migré vers les sites d’orpaillage à l’intérieur ou en dehors du Burkina, opèrent généralement comme chauffeurs et « apprentis » de Bama-taxis et de tricycles dans le transport des produits agricoles et des personnes. D’autres jeunes migrants issus d’autres parties du pays et du Mali voisin se déploient autour des marchés de produits agricoles de la ville pour offrir leurs services dans le chargement des camions. A ces différentes catégories de jeunes migrants viennent s'ajouter également ceux issus des localités du Burkina affectées par les attaques terroristes à la recherche de refuge dans les grands centres urbains du pays.
Cette contribution tente de décrire les formes de mobilité de la main d’œuvre jeune dans la circulation des produits agricoles à partir d’une enquête socio-anthropologique dans la ville de Bobo-Dioulasso, deuxième capitale du Burkina Faso, et ses villages environnants.