African International Migration

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African International Migration
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African Regional Migration

• African peoples had a long history of migration
  and movement.

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African International Migration

• In the 1920s-1960s, mostly young African men went
  overseas for a few years for education in the
  former colonial powers (primarily England
  France).
• As a result of this highly revered education,
  they assumed positions of political leadership
  upon their return to their countries, as we see
  in So Long a Letter.

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African Immigration to the US

• African immigration into the US is part of the
  new immigration since 1965.
• Relatively small African-born population total
  estimated population born in Africa (2000
  Census) 881,000 (compared to a total US
  population of 300 million those born in Latin
  America 16 million).

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Why did Africans begin migrating to the US in the
1980s and 1990s?

• Structural adjustment programs instituted by the
  World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
  (IMF).
• In 1998, on average, across African countries,
  external debt constituted 60.7 of GDP (gross
  domestic product).

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Why did Africans Migrate to the US in the 1980s
and 1990s?

• Changes in US immigration policy in 1990 that
  encouraged African migration through diversity
  visas (at the expense of countries that had had a
  long history of immigration to the US like China
  and Mexico).
• Changes in the US economy greater inequality and
  globalization of the economy encouraged the
  expansion of the informal sector in the US,
  particularly in cities (Stoller, p.17).

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Characteristics of African Immigrants to the US
from the 2000 Census

• 55 male, 45 female
• 52 aged 25-44 median age 37
• 86 have high school diploma or higher 43 have
  bachelors degree Africans are more highly
  educated as a group than any other immigrant
  group and the average American (US comparison is
  83 HS, 24.5 college)
• Brain-drain from Africa of nurses, doctors,
  engineers, teachers, and other skilled workers

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Characteristics of African Immigrants to the US
from the 2000 Census

• Median household income 41,198 (comparable to
  native-born at 42,299).
• Earn more than African-Americans (due to higher
  educational levels on average), but less than
  whites with comparable levels of education,
  suggesting that they face problems in hiring in
  the US (due to racial discrimination? Stereotypes
  about Africans? Educational credentials not
  translating?).

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Characteristics of African Immigrants in the US

• Generally, when skilled Africans come to the US,
  they experience downward mobility (working as
  taxi drivers or in restaurants or as home health
  aides).
• Low rates of naturalization they tend to see
  themselves as sojourners, sending remittances
  home.
• Formation of mutual aid societies or ethnic
  associations

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Chapel of the Restoration, the Bronx, Mission
from Africa, The New York Times, 8 April 2009
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Characteristics of African Immigrants to the US

• Top sending countries
• Nigeria (17)
• Ethiopia (13)
• Ghana
• South Africa

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Characteristics of African Migrants in North
America

• Top cities New York, Toronto, Washington DC,
  Chicago, Atlanta, LA, Houston, Boston.
• Africans tend to move to urban areas first, but
  then as they become established, move to the
  suburbs.

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Are these characteristics also true of the West
African migrants described in Money Has No Smell?

• Male/female ratio?
• Age range?
• Education?
• Income?
• Mutual aid societies?
• Seeing themselves as sojourners?