Ghanaian Migrants in Germany and the Social Construction of Diaspora Les migrants ghanéens en Allemagne et la construction sociale de la diaspora

Nieswand, Boris

doi:10.1163/187254608x346051

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The concomitant declining economic opportunities and depressing living standards triggered substantial emigration of Ghanaians. Immigration and labour recruitment policies attracted highly skilled and education migrants to Canada and the USA (Arthur 2008;Manuh 1998;Yeboah 2008), to European countries such as England (Vasta and Kandilige 2010), Germany (Nieswand 2008;Schmelz 2009) and the Netherlands (Mazzucato 2011;van Dijk 2004).…”

Section: Skilled Ghanaian Migration In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating return: the gendered geographies of skilled return migration to Ghana

Wong

2013

Global Networks

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In this article, I extend the literature on return migration by exploring the gendered mechanisms of return for highly skilled Ghanaian migrants. Drawing on interviews with Ghanaian women and men who returned in their prime productive years, I examine their decision‐making, the strategies they implement and the challenges they negotiate in the process. While the decision to return was straightforward, the actual processes circumscribing it contained tensions and compromises that involved renegotiations of gender identities, roles and norms, which themselves intersected with class differences. The empirical analyses emphasize how skilled migrants capitalize on their class status, social networks and transnational activities as means not only to return but also, for some, to mitigate the impacts of separation for themselves and their families as they seek to accomplish specific goals.

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Section: Skilled Ghanaian Migration In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating return: the gendered geographies of skilled return migration to Ghana

Wong

2013

Global Networks

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“…Hamburg is home to roughly one fifth of Germany's Ghanaian community, which dates back to the educational migrants of the 1950s and 1960s and is the second-largest in continental Europe (Mörath 2015;Nieswand 2008). Approximately 13,200 people of Ghanaian background, including those who migrated from Ghana or have at least one parent who did, were registered in Hamburg in 2017 (Statistikamt Nord 2018).…”

Section: Research Setting and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing relationships to the country of origin through transnational mobility: migrant youth’s visits to Ghana

Ogden

Mazzucato

2021

Mobilities

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This paper explores how physical mobility shapes migrant youth's changing relationships to their or their parents' country of origin. Increasing numbers of youth in the Global North have a migration background and are transnationally engaged in virtual, imaginative and material mobilities. Yet our knowledge of their physical mobility is lacking, having largely been based on retrospective accounts from the country of residence, resulting in depictions of static relationships to a monolithic country of origin. This study takes a processual approach, focusing on mobility trajectories and exploring the sensorial, embodied and emotional aspects of physical mobility as it unfolds. Drawing on 14 months of mobile ethnographic fieldwork with 20 Ghanaian-background young people (aged 15-25) living in Hamburg, Germany, we focus on visits to Ghana to explore how physical mobility changes relationships to the country of origin over time (across several visits) and space (between different places within one visit). We use Urry's typology of proximity to analyse the specific and changing constellations of people, places and moments that constitute visits and thus shape these relationships. We also reflect on the methodological implications of using three mobile methods: mobility trajectory mapping, following mobility in real-time, and before-and-after interviewing.

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“…It is estimated that one to four million Ghanaians are living abroad, or correspondingly 5% to 20% of the total Ghanaian population (Quartey, 2009, p. 57). Germany has become a significant destination, with a large Ghanaian community in Hamburg (Nieswand, 2008).…”

Section: Transnational Migration Family and Success In Ghanamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These practices strongly aim for the redistribution of resources within reciprocal relationships, which are embedded in a system of intergenerational reciprocity and provide an important institution of social security (Kabki, Mazzucato, & Appiah, 2004;Nieswand, 2011;Tsai & Dzorgbo, 2012;wong, 2006). Therein, migrants contribute financially to familial households through remittances and gifts, financing of houses, and education, as well as involving family members in businesses and sponsoring their migration (Kabki, Mazzucato, & Appiah, 2004;Nieswand, 2008Nieswand, , 2011Tiemoko, 2004). Those material aspects are closely interrelated with moral aspects of transnational caring relationships (Nieswand, 2011, p. 105).…”

Section: Transnational Migration Family and Success In Ghanamentioning

confidence: 99%

“We will welcome you, don’t be afraid!” Family expectations and joint decision-making on returning “early” in irregular migration

Stechow

2016

Transnational Social Review

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Existing literature suggests that lacking economic success prevents migrants from returning to the country of origin because they feel ashamed and fear rejection by families. This article addresses the return of irregular migrants who have not been able to meet social expectations in successful migration. Insights were gained from qualitative interviews with returned migrants during anthropological fieldwork in Ghana in 2012. Drawing on the narrative of female migrant Grace, this article shows that some migrants opt for return -despite being "early. " Exploring her perspective, it asks how return can become a preferred option despite having failed expectations and how familial obligations and negotiations shape the decision and capability to return without turning it into a social disaster. Thus, the role of familial relationships in enabling a return "preparedness" is addressed. It will be argued that changed constellations within transnational familial arrangements, moral dimensions of care, and cultural notions of familial relationships shape the return process. Furthermore, the article raises the issue of social assistance for migrants affected by deportability, which can facilitate their agency for mobility.

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Ghanaian Migrants in Germany and the Social Construction of Diaspora Les migrants ghanéens en Allemagne et la construction sociale de la diaspora

Cited by 22 publications

References 34 publications

Navigating return: the gendered geographies of skilled return migration to Ghana

Navigating return: the gendered geographies of skilled return migration to Ghana

Changing relationships to the country of origin through transnational mobility: migrant youth’s visits to Ghana

“We will welcome you, don’t be afraid!” Family expectations and joint decision-making on returning “early” in irregular migration

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