Human mobility and Namibian family transformation: an analysis of socio-economic development and family-migrant connections in contemporary Namibia
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Date
2018
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Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
The dissertation attempts to present migration from a holistic perspective where the decision to move is the result of an assessment of competing strategies open to potential migrants. This is a bid by globally marginalised populations for economic security; a deliberate decision taken by the family to improve their livelihood. Migrants are here seen as social actors, or agents, who confront structural socioeconomic contexts, which offer both constraints and opportunities. The migrants’ reflexive rational assessment of such limiting and enabling structures determines the decision-making process, and the subsequent behavioural outcomes. Namibia is
currently experiencing a high level of unemployment and underemployment across large portions of its population, and hence levels of poverty and inequality remain high, 26 years after independence from South Africa. Migrants now seek lifestyles,
work, income, welfare benefits, and the chance to aid family networks back home through the strategic axial advantage of the remittance system. This thesis critically utilised the structuration and agency theory as a contextual and conceptual means to make sense of Namibian migration, while at the same time focusing on the way in
which both financial and social remittances can modify the socio-economic status of the migrants’ families, providing empirical evidence from Namibia on the role that migration can have on local development. The epistemological design used emphasizes a multidisciplinary approach, which combines economic and
sociological paradigms, to investigate the impact of internal migration on transforming the socio-economic structure of the Namibian family. These considerations were instrumental in the choice of Charmaz’s (2006, 2014), constructivist grounded theory version for the study. Using the grounded theory approach allowed the participants to express their own experiences related to the decision to migrate and to present their perspective on the consequences of such a
decision, while at the same time giving the participants and the researcher, the possibility of reflexively investigating on it. Internal migration appears to be a mix of specific coping strategies put in place by the family to face the socio-economic adversities, combined with the migrants’ personal motivations. The research found that individual aspiration to materially progress in life goes beyond mere economic
gratification. The moral sentiment of the migrant, out of a sense of responsibility for the family, and concern for the community (or country), is linked with the gratification and respect received by their family members, community and friends. Shifting the emphasis to the migrants’ personal motivations, as suggested in the thesis, provides an unconventional explanation of the drivers of migration compared
to the one presented by mainstream migration theories and doctrine. This research’s approach was found to provide a phenomenologically more meaningful and comprehensive understanding of the complexities (personal, familial, and community) of the migration challenges facing Namibians.
Description
A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology
Keywords
Human mobility, Family transformation