Shifts in the Trend and Nature of Migration in the Ethiopia-South Africa Migration Corridor

Estifanos, Yordanos S.; Freeman, Laura E.Beane

doi:10.13169/zanjglobsoutstud.5.1.0006

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Zanj: The Journal of Critical Global South Studies

Volume 5, Issue 1/2

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Shifts in the Trend and Nature of Migration in the Ethiopia-South Africa Migration Corridor

Author(s): Yordanos S. Estifanos ¹ ^, , Laura Freeman ¹

Publication date (Electronic): 14 June 2022

Journal: Zanj: The Journal of Critical Global South Studies

Keywords: Global South, migration, South Africa, Ethiopia, Covid-19, pandemic, development theory, economic development, immigrant, inequalities

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Abstract

Over the past 25 years a significant (but unknown) number of migrants from Ethiopia have been migrating to South Africa through the “southern route.” This male-dominated migration is becoming more and more irregular and includes multiple transit countries, largely controlled by human smugglers. The size of the Ethiopian immigrant population in South Africa has increased. The profile of individuals on the move has also changed in terms of migrants’ age, ethnicity, place of origin, gender and socioeconomic status. Youth from rural areas have joined the migration trail, and, increasingly, women are migrating for marriage in South Africa. Today, migrants from southern Ethiopia (Hadiya and Kambata) dominate Ethiopian migration to South Africa. The age and socioeconomic status of the migrants have also changed where teenagers, college graduates and civil servants are entering the migration stream in recent years. Equally changing is the nature and operation of the smuggling and settlement processes. Like the broader field of migration studies in which source and destination countries receive the overwhelming focus, the multiple transit countries Ethiopians on the move to South Africa travel through, and the migration journeys themselves, have not received adequate research attention. The effects these journeys have on the settlement processes are also largely ignored. This article, therefore, explores these emerging patterns with a view to understanding the inequalities faced by Ethiopian migrants on their journey to South Africa and the factors behind it. With the intensification of border closures due to multiple factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, we examine the shift in the nature and trend of smuggling and how it is reflected in inequalities experienced by Ethiopian migrants in South Africa.

Content

Author and article information

Journal

Title: Zanj: The Journal of Critical Global South Studies

ISSN: 2515-2149

Publication date (Electronic): 14 June 2022

Volume: 5

Issue: 1/2

Pages: 59-75

Affiliations

[1 ] University of Cape Town

Author information

Laura Freeman https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8440-2450

Article

DOI: 10.13169/zanjglobsoutstud.5.1.0006

SO-VID: 60d9da95-3f8f-44a4-a5fa-9267485b1527

License:

Published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International ( CC BY 4.0). Users are allowed to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially), as long as the authors and the publisher are explicitly identified and properly acknowledged as the original source.

History

Data availability: Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

ScienceOpen disciplines: Economic development,Political science,General social science,Development studies,Cultural studies,Urban, Rural & Regional economics

Keywords: Global South,migration,South Africa,Ethiopia,Covid-19,pandemic,development theory,economic development,immigrant,inequalities

References

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Ayalew Mengiste Tekalign. Refugee Protections from Below: Smuggling in the Eritrea-Ethiopia Context. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 676(1):57–76. 2018. SAGE Publications. [Cross Ref]
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Lucht Hans. Darkness before Daybreak. 2011. University of California Press. [Cross Ref]
Nawyn Stephanie J.. New Directions for Research on Migration in the Global South. International Journal of Sociology. Vol. 46(3):163–168. 2016. Informa UK Limited. [Cross Ref]
Pécoud Antoine. IntroductionDisciplining the Transnational Mobility of People. p. 1–14. 2013. Palgrave Macmillan UK. [Cross Ref]
Piper Nicola, Ball Rochelle. Globalisation of Asian migrant labour: The Philippine-Japan connection. Journal of Contemporary Asia. Vol. 31(4):533–554. 2001. Informa UK Limited. [Cross Ref]
The Demographic Transition and Development in Africa. 2011. Springer Netherlands. [Cross Ref]
Waite Louise, Lewis Hannah. Precarious Irregular Migrants and Their Sharing Economies: A Spectrum of Transactional Laboring Experiences. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. Vol. 107(4):964–978. 2017. Informa UK Limited. [Cross Ref]

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Maurizio Albahari Maurizio Albahari. Crimes of Peace. 2015. University of Pennsylvania Press. [Cross Ref]

[2] Ayalew Mengiste Tekalign. Refugee Protections from Below: Smuggling in the Eritrea-Ethiopia Context. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 676(1):57–76. 2018. SAGE Publications. [Cross Ref]

[3] BAKER-CRISTALES BETH. Magical Pursuits: Legitimacy and Representation in a Transnational Political Field. American Anthropologist. Vol. 110(3):349–359. 2008. Wiley. [Cross Ref]

[4] Boyd Monica. Family and Personal Networks in International Migration: Recent Developments and New Agendas. International Migration Review. Vol. 23(3):638–670. 1989. SAGE Publications. [Cross Ref]

[5] Castles Stephen. Why migration policies fail. Ethnic and Racial Studies. Vol. 27(2):205–227. 2004. Informa UK Limited. [Cross Ref]

[6] CRANFORD CYNTHIA J.. Networks of Exploitation: Immigrant Labor and the Restructuring of the Los Angeles Janitorial Industry. Social Problems. Vol. 52(3):379–397. 2005. Oxford University Press (OUP). [Cross Ref]

[7] Curran S. R., Garip F., Chung C. Y., Tangchonlatip K.. Gendered Migrant Social Capital: Evidence from Thailand. Social Forces. Vol. 84(1):225–255. 2005. Oxford University Press (OUP). [Cross Ref]

[8] Faist Thomas. The Volume and Dynamics of International Migration and Transnational Social Spaces. 2000. Oxford University Press. [Cross Ref]

[9] Flahaux Marie-Laurence, De Haas Hein. African migration: trends, patterns, drivers. Comparative Migration Studies. Vol. 4(1)2016. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. [Cross Ref]

[10] EurAfrican Borders and Migration Management. 2017. Palgrave Macmillan US. [Cross Ref]

[11] Hoerder Dirk. Cultures in Contact. 2002. Duke University Press. [Cross Ref]

[12] Khosravi Shahram. 'Illegal' Traveller. 2010. Palgrave Macmillan UK. [Cross Ref]

[13] Lucht Hans. Darkness before Daybreak. 2011. University of California Press. [Cross Ref]

[14] Nawyn Stephanie J.. New Directions for Research on Migration in the Global South. International Journal of Sociology. Vol. 46(3):163–168. 2016. Informa UK Limited. [Cross Ref]

[15] Pécoud Antoine. IntroductionDisciplining the Transnational Mobility of People. p. 1–14. 2013. Palgrave Macmillan UK. [Cross Ref]

[16] Piper Nicola, Ball Rochelle. Globalisation of Asian migrant labour: The Philippine-Japan connection. Journal of Contemporary Asia. Vol. 31(4):533–554. 2001. Informa UK Limited. [Cross Ref]

[17] The Demographic Transition and Development in Africa. 2011. Springer Netherlands. [Cross Ref]

[18] Waite Louise, Lewis Hannah. Precarious Irregular Migrants and Their Sharing Economies: A Spectrum of Transactional Laboring Experiences. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. Vol. 107(4):964–978. 2017. Informa UK Limited. [Cross Ref]