EDITORIAL

 

Editorial

 

 

Mulugeta F. Dinbabo

Editor-in-Chief, African Human Mobility Review (AHMR), University of the Western Cape. Email: editor@sihma.org.za

 

 

The African Human Mobility Review (AHMR) regularly provides up-to-date, high-quality, and original contributions - research papers, reviews, and syntheses as well as book and conference reviews - dealing with all aspects (socioeconomic, political, legislative, and developmental) of human mobility in Africa. AHMR is served by a very competent Editorial Board along with a network of scholars from all around the world and with an interdisciplinary field of study helping to secure high quality, originality, and utility of the contributions toward evidence-based policymaking.

This issue consists of a book review and five articles that promote the practice of original research and policy discussions and provides a comprehensive forum devoted exclusively to the analysis of contemporaneous trends, migration patterns, and some of the most important migration-related issues in Africa.

Daniel Tevera made an insightful review of a book entitled Migration in Southern Africa edited by Pragna Rugunanan and Nomkhosi Xulu-Gama. The reviewer gave the entire work a critical and academic appraisal. He claims that the book addresses two flaws in migration and mobility studies in Southern Africa and it tries to facilitate migration studies through an Africanist contextual framework. First, it critiques the tendency to perceive African rural-urban migration as benign, intimate, feminine, and local, while cross-border migration is considered risky, masculine, exploratory, and global. Second, it foregrounds the plight of migrant children and the complicated situations that women with children find themselves in as both internal and international migrants, and highlights that these crucial areas remain neglected and under-researched. The reviewer further indicates that the different chapters of the book focus on the scholarship on the sociology and geography of migration and mobility in Southern Africa. The reviewer concludes that this book makes a significant contribution to migration and mobility studies and is well worth reading if one wants to comprehend South-South migration outside of the conventional Western lens.

The first article by Farai Nyika and Debra Shepherd is entitled Impact of Internal Migration on School Enrollment and Completion Rates in South Africa. Using a quantitative method of research, which involved the analysis of South African census data for 1996, 2001, and 2011, the researchers applied the probability regression models that include the First Difference and System Generalized Method of Moments with instrumental variables. Accordingly, the study found that internal migrants have a positive effect on both school enrollment and completion rates of non-migrants. Besides, the results of this study further indicate that internal migrants also provide job market competition, which influences non-migrants to complete secondary schooling. The researchers argue that this study provides evidence from a country with a history of persistent internal migration. According to them, most prior research has focused on the relationship between immigration and education outcomes in the developed world. This study also suggests that the South African government should improve the quality of secondary-school education in both rural and urban areas and increase study loans for students at tertiary institutions.

The second article by Sean Sithole is entitled Migrant Networks, Food Remittances, and Zimbabweans in Cape Town: A Social Media Perspective. Sithole applied quantitative and qualitative methods of research throughout the study and effectively identified the key evolving connections between migrant networking on social media and crossborder food remittances in Southern Africa. This study used a social capital theory to examine the utilization of social media in food remittances. The findings of this research uncovered the role of social media in facilitating a regular flow of food remittances back to urban and rural areas of Zimbabwe. The study provides valuable insights for academics, researchers, and development practitioners interested in the evolving migration, remittances, and food security nexus in the global South.

The third article by Joseph Makanda is entitled South Africa's Counterinsurgency in Cabo Delgado: Examining the Role of Mozambican Migrants to Establish a People-Centric Approach. Methodologically, this paper is based on a qualitative study that relies on secondary data sources to offer a critical survey of the work done in the context of terrorism in Cabo Delgado. Using the counterinsurgency theory, the research provides an in-depth analysis and argues for the inclusion of the voice of Mozambican migrants in South Africa. The result of this study indicates direct and indirect ways of securing the population's support, thereby isolating the insurgents in Mozambique. An awareness of the views of these migrants can shed light on what perpetuates the insurgency in Mozambique. The study recommends new empirical studies that include the seemingly forgotten role of migrants, in a non-military and people-centered approach in seeking to undermine global terror networks.

The fourth article by Tunde Alabi and Bamidele Olajide is entitled Who Wants to Go Where? Regional Variations in Emigration Intention in Nigeria. This study investigated the factors associated with emigration intention and used a logistic regression model to describe data and to explain the relationship between variables. The analysis allowed the researchers to quantify the amount and direction of one or more independent variables on a continuous dependent variable. Accordingly, the study discovered that having political involvement, residing in the south, having a college degree, often using the internet, and tolerating homosexual persons were all factors that enhanced the chances of having an emigration intention. However, being old, employed, and having religious tolerance reduced the odds of emigration intention. Moreover, the study indicates that the regional models revealed notable differences in the influence of age, education, employment, tolerance, and political participation.

The fifth article by Gracsious Maviza and Lorena Núnez Carrasco is entitled Mobility, Gender, and Experiences of Familyhood among Migrant Families in Tsholotsho, Zimbabwe. The research employed a qualitative research design to explore the views, experiences, beliefs, and motivations of individuals on how ongoing contextual transformations due to migration actively shape narratives about families. The qualitative research design helped to understand how families and familial relationships have been constructed through the everyday interactions and roles within the family. The findings of this research show that the meaning of family for left-behind women has remained confined to the normative parameters of kinship, biological, and marital ties. Furthermore, the findings reveal that in the past, while away, migrant men's family-linking practices were very minimal, and limited by distance. These assumptions notwithstanding, migrant men still thrived on maintaining links with their families to retain their dignity and legitimacy.

Best wishes and thank you in advance for your contribution to the Journal of African Human Mobility Review.