African Migrations

). The reconstitution of rural families and the subsequent birth of second and third generations in the city promoted permanent migration

Besides the cosmogonies of displacement and resettlement very common among certain ethnic groups, and the mobility associated with the livelihoods of pastoralist, trading, and fishing communities, colonial rule triggered the movement of most African people (Amin 1974; Curtin 1995; Ferguson 1999; Piot 1999)

Others must either adjust or face exclusion: the foreigner already stands apart from the citizen, but the newcomer, “asylum seeker,” or so-called “illegal immigrant” stands outside the very possibility of hospitality, marking a boundary in a sense beyond the social, a liminal world in which the very humanity of the intruder is questioned

In this context of great social and cultural anxiety, different forms of belonging become complicated for members of the African diaspora, as race, gender, and historical legacy render blackness a visible marker of outsider status and as it becomes increasingly difficult to navigate the waters of belonging

In contrast to police regulations regarding domestic rape or sexual assault cases, there are no specific guidelines on how to approach the questioning of female asylum seekers when it comes to the psychological scars of war

The feminization of migration flows may also prompt the renegotiation of gender roles—and the tensions implicit within such processes—as host contexts present different assumptions on equality between men and women

Women tend to engage more with the state through social services to ensure the well-being of their children.

Diasporas, both old and new, share that political positioning of being “in between” that Paul Stoller

This phenomenon of maintaining connectedness with origins while negotiating social, economic, and political insertion may be approached in various ways within the framework of diasporic identity

African Pentecostal churches in the United States—like many Muslim mosques—have a particularly transnational character since their highest religious authorities are oftentimes based in Africa or Europe, and in constant communication with their followers dispersed across multiple borders.