Africa < > Europe: A Double Engagement

Abstract

This introduction to the special issue entitled ‘Africa<>Europe: Transnational Linkages, Multi-Sited Lives’ outlines the history of the African migrant presence in Europe, gives an account of the contexts which shape contemporary migration, and surveys the approaches to international migration from Africa which have influenced researchers since the 1960s. Linking the contributions to the special issue is the theme of migrants’ transnational ‘double engagement’ with both Africa and Europe. The paper examines this theme across three domains of the lived experience of African migrants and refugees in Europe: ‘Livelihoods’, ‘Families’, and ‘Identities’. We conclude with an assessment of what can be learned (theoretically and methodologically) from the study of African transmigration, and suggest future lines of research.

Keywords:

• Transnational Migration
• Africa
• Europe
• Livelihoods
• Families
• Identities

Notes

1. The AEGIS conference was held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 29 June–2 July 2005 (http://www.nomadit.co.uk/∼aegis/ has full details). Besides the papers in this issue, the panel on ‘Africa < > Europe: Transnational Linkages’ included contributions from Naluwembe Binaisa (Ugandan migrants and refugees), Lyubov Ivanova (African diaspora in Russia), Barbara Jettinger (Senegalese women in Paris), Hannah Lewis (asylum-seekers in the UK), Ibra Sene (West African immigrants in France), and Ellie Vasta and Leander Kandilige (Ghanaian workers in Britain). Richard Black, John Campbell, Khalid Koser and Ben Soares chaired sessions and acted as discussants. The convenors thank the University of Sussex Centre for Migration Research, and the Ghana TransNet Program at the University of Amsterdam for providing financial assistance with the organisation of the panel. Valentina Mazzucato would like to thank Magali Chelpi for excellent research assistance.

2. www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/1995/pr9502.htm/

3. www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3100/

4. Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique d'Outre-Mer

5. Uniquely in Europe, the 2001 UK census asked people to identify themselves by their ethnicity, e.g. as ‘black African’. Adjusting for those who declared themselves ‘mixed African’, Rees and Butt (2004) have estimated the ‘African’ population in the UK for 2001 as 514,000, compared with 214,000 in 1991 (Daley 1998), and 140,000 in 1981. On this basis, the African population, heavily concentrated in certain boroughs in North and South inner London, increased almost fourfold between 1981 and 2001, and in 2001 approached the ‘black Caribbean’ population (677,000). Comparable statistics for other European countries are not available. Figures for those discussed by our contributors include:

•	Denmark. The Danish Immigration Service (2005): 43,000 African immigrants and descendants, including those from North Africa: Somalia 17,000, Ghana 1,000–2,000.
•	Italy. Official statistics for 2004 (http://demo.istat.it/): 195,000 residents from sub-Saharan Africa in foreign population of 2.4m: Senegal (54,000), Ghana (33,000), Nigeria (32,000), Eritrea and Somalia 5,000–6,000 each.
•	The Netherlands. Stock of first- and second-generation, non-Western population (2005): 1.7m, of which Somalia (21,733), Ghana (19,108), Cape Verde (19,966), Nigeria (7,615), Senegal (1,330), Eritrea (794) (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, http://statline.cbs.nl/).
•	Portugal. In 2005 there were 265,000 foreigners with legal residence permits, about 46 per cent from Africa.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ralph Grillo

Ralph Grillo is Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Sussex

Valentina Mazzucato

Valentina Mazzucato is Senior Researcher in the Departmentt of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies at the University of Amsterdam