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Migrants or Settlers? the Ibo in London

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

Extract

There are almost three thousand Ibo in London, with men outnumbering women in the ratio of three to two. They tend to be between twenty-five and forty years old and to have been in Britain for between five and ten years. The majority came to obtain qualifications which would bring status on their return to Nigeria, but the Nigeria–Biafra war interrupted the process and as a result they are still here. If the defining characteristic of the immigrant is the tendency to remain in the new country, regardless of the intention to return, the Ibo are not immigrants but a migrant community in which departure is the norm although individual migrants make considerable investments in the new environment and some may never realise their ambition to return. In terms of the degree of their economic incorporation, cultural distinctiveness, ideological commitment to a ‘traditional’ way of life and belief in their own superiority in relation to outsiders, the Ibo have much in common with East African Asians; the difference lies in their declared intention to leave Britain and the success of many in achieving this ambition.

Résumé

INSTALLATION TEMPORAIRE OU DÉFINITIVE? LES IBO À LONDRES

Les Ibo représentent à Londres une minorité ethnique. Leur participation sur le plan professionnel au sein de la société anglaise et les investissements fonciers qu'ils realisent, semblent indiquer qu'ils tendent à s'y établir d'une manière permanente. On remarque toutefois un attachement très net aux normes de la société Ibo: ceci se manifeste à travers la forme et le règlement des litiges qui opposent locataires et propriétaires. En dépit d'un certain relâchement des normes culturelles, ce sont les liens de parenté et la provenance plutôt que les critères socio-économiques qui constituent les principes d'action et d'identification. Les intérêts financiers de l'individu seraient peut-être mieux desservis s'ils déviaient des normes du groupe, mais la sécurité de l'individu demeure en fin de compte liée à son appartenance au groupe. Le respect destraditions reflète pour les Ibo le caractère temporairede leur séjour en Grande-Bretagne. Toutefois la perspective d'un retour au Nigéria est plus immédiate pour certains d'entre eux que pour d'autres.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 48 , Issue 4 , October 1978 , pp. 368 - 379
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1978

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References

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