From Transit Migrants to Trading Migrants: Development Opportunities for Nigerians in the Transnational Trade Sector of Istanbul

Abstract

This paper critically discusses the relation between human mobility and development. It moves away from conventional migration-development policy discussions that mainly focus on diaspora-like actors, who have established a stable and integrated socio-economic position in the destination countries. Instead, it looks at mobility-development dynamics in the context of less privileged and less integrated migrants; Nigerian migrants who are (or have been) living in transit-like situations in the city of Istanbul (Turkey). Based on in-depth interviews with Nigerian migrants, it analyses migrants' personal developments in the light of their migration trajectories. The analysis particularly shows how upward social mobility is not so much found in onward migration to Europe, but in getting involved in a different form of mobility; informally arranged transnational trade between Turkey and West Africa. It outlines the diverse roles of migrants in this informal trade sector and elaborates on their relations with fly in/fly out traders originating from Africa. With these empirical insights, I conclude that these migrants do not belong to settled diaspora communities, but nevertheless, act as bridges between -here‖ and -there‖ and contribute to the creation of (new) development corridors.

Return Migration and Transnationalism: How Are the Two Connected?

“…The five case studies we have considered here illustrate the multitude of possible patterns even with a simple frame of origins and destinations. Migration trajectories and transnational ties can be more complex, of course, when we consider transnationalism in situations of transit (Schapendonk ), transnational ties between destinations (Sperling ), and transnational webs between the near and far diaspora that is a common pattern of conflict‐driven displacement (Van Hear ).…”

Are Economic Distance and Geographic Remoteness Important in Sustainable Trade? Evidence from the Bilateral Trade between China and Kazakhstan

“…They find that cuts to import tariffs and consumption growth positively impact consumer goods but negatively impact intermediaries. More importantly, Schapendonk [3] analyzes the relationship between human mobility and development and finds that it has moved away from the conventional migration-development policy discussions, which mainly focus on diaspora-like actors who establish stable and integrated socio-economic positions in their destination countries. Thus, geographic remoteness ("physical closeness between two countries") could be an important factor in trade.…”

Onward Migration and Transnationalism: What Are the Interconnections?

“…This literature has remained rather disparate, partly due to the many terms used to label this type of migration. Such terms include transit migration (Collyer, 2007;Schapendonk, 2013Schapendonk, , 2020, fragmented migration (Collyer & de Haas, 2012), secondary movement (Ott, 2011), stepwise migration (Konadu-Agyemang, 1999;Paul, 2017;Francisco-Menchavez, 2020), postmigration movement (Moret, 2018), multinational migration (Paul & Yeoh, 2021), twice migration (Bhachu, 1985;Das Gupta, 2005Della Puppa & King, 2019), triangular migration (DeVoretz et al, 2003), sequential migration (Faggian et al, 2006), third-country migration (Tan & Hugo, 2017) and serial migration (Ossman, 2013;Zufferey, 2019). Along with others (e.g.…”