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Meaning and Experience of International Migration in Black African South African Families

This article explores the experiences of some Black South African families affected by international migration. Historically, emigration from South Africa has occurred in waves, and has been associated with specific political moments. Such migration has often been perceived as a predominantly “White...

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Autores principales: Mabandla, Nthopele, Marchetti-Mercer, Maria C., Human, Leonie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9526456/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36212506
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10591-022-09651-8
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author Mabandla, Nthopele
Marchetti-Mercer, Maria C.
Human, Leonie
author_facet Mabandla, Nthopele
Marchetti-Mercer, Maria C.
Human, Leonie
author_sort Mabandla, Nthopele
collection PubMed
description This article explores the experiences of some Black South African families affected by international migration. Historically, emigration from South Africa has occurred in waves, and has been associated with specific political moments. Such migration has often been perceived as a predominantly “White phenomenon”, but recent trends reveal a more complex picture. Prior research on Black migration has focused primarily on internal labour migration, exilic migration and the “brain drain” phenomenon of medical professionals. So far, little research has been done on the impact of international outward migration on the Black family system. This article addresses this gap, drawing on a larger qualitative project exploring the impact of South African emigration on elderly family members staying behind. The findings highlight the significance of close relational ties in the Black South African family system. Familial separation through emigration brings feelings of loss and apprehension for the wellbeing of family members living abroad, including potential racism in destination countries. Migrants abroad highlighted the value of family and of maintaining a Black South African identity, despite separation from the country of origin and the extended family. Significantly, migration is often perceived as a temporary state, in contrast to White South African counterparts. Given increased international migration, the results shed light on the interplay between racial identity and emigration, and the impact of international migration by Black South Africans on family that they leave behind.
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spelling pubmed-95264562022-10-03 Meaning and Experience of International Migration in Black African South African Families Mabandla, Nthopele Marchetti-Mercer, Maria C. Human, Leonie Contemp Fam Ther Original Paper This article explores the experiences of some Black South African families affected by international migration. Historically, emigration from South Africa has occurred in waves, and has been associated with specific political moments. Such migration has often been perceived as a predominantly “White phenomenon”, but recent trends reveal a more complex picture. Prior research on Black migration has focused primarily on internal labour migration, exilic migration and the “brain drain” phenomenon of medical professionals. So far, little research has been done on the impact of international outward migration on the Black family system. This article addresses this gap, drawing on a larger qualitative project exploring the impact of South African emigration on elderly family members staying behind. The findings highlight the significance of close relational ties in the Black South African family system. Familial separation through emigration brings feelings of loss and apprehension for the wellbeing of family members living abroad, including potential racism in destination countries. Migrants abroad highlighted the value of family and of maintaining a Black South African identity, despite separation from the country of origin and the extended family. Significantly, migration is often perceived as a temporary state, in contrast to White South African counterparts. Given increased international migration, the results shed light on the interplay between racial identity and emigration, and the impact of international migration by Black South Africans on family that they leave behind. Springer US 2022-10-01 /pmc/articles/PMC9526456/ /pubmed/36212506 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10591-022-09651-8 Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Mabandla, Nthopele
Marchetti-Mercer, Maria C.
Human, Leonie
Meaning and Experience of International Migration in Black African South African Families
title Meaning and Experience of International Migration in Black African South African Families
title_full Meaning and Experience of International Migration in Black African South African Families
title_fullStr Meaning and Experience of International Migration in Black African South African Families
title_full_unstemmed Meaning and Experience of International Migration in Black African South African Families
title_short Meaning and Experience of International Migration in Black African South African Families
title_sort meaning and experience of international migration in black african south african families
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9526456/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36212506
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10591-022-09651-8
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