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MIGRATION, TRANSLOCAL NETWORKS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STRATIFICATION IN NAMIBIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 October 2011

Clemens Greiner
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Abstract

Rural–urban migration and networks are fundamental for many livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa. Remittances in cash and kind provide additional income, enhance food security and offer access to viable resources in both rural and urban areas. Migration allows the involved households to benefit from price differences between rural and urban areas. In this contribution, I demonstrate that rural–urban networks not only contribute to poverty alleviation and security, but also further socio-economic stratification. This aspect has been ignored or neglected by most scholars and development planners. Using ethnographic data from Namibia, I have adopted a translocal perspective on migration and stratification, focusing on the resulting impact in rural areas where modern urban forms of stratification, induced by education and income from wage labour, are on the increase.

Resumé

La migration et les réseaux ruro-urbains sont essentiels à la subsistance de nombreuses personnes en Afrique sub-saharienne. Les envois en argent ou en nature constituent un complément de revenu, améliorent la sécurité alimentaire et permettent d'accéder à des ressources viables tant dans les zones rurales que dans les zone urbaines. La migration permet aux ménages concernés de bénéficier des écarts de prix entre zones rurales et urbaines. Cet article démontre que les réseaux ruro-urbains non seulement contribuent à réduire la pauvreté et à améliorer la sécurité, mais également renforcent la stratification socio-économique. C'est là un aspect que la plupart des savants et spécialistes de l'aménagement du territoire ont ignoré ou négligé. À l'aide de données ethnographiques de Namibie, l'auteur a adopté une perspective translocale de la migration et de la stratification, en se concentrant sur l'impact qui en résulte dans les zones rurales où des formes urbaines modernes de stratification, induites par l’éducation et les revenus du travail salarié, sont en augmentation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 81 , Issue 4 , November 2011 , pp. 606 - 627
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2011

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