Translocal Livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Having established the conceptual basis of the translocal perspective in the preceding chapters, this chapter focuses concretely on the phenomenon of translocal livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa. After a brief description of the specific characteristics of the African urbanization process (Sect. 5.1), we undertake a quantitative assessment of the significance of the translocal livelihoods on the African continent (Sect. 5.2). In Sect. 5.3, we then discuss some basic spatial and temporal patterns of migration and translocalization in Africa. And finally, we outline an ideal-typical “phase model of translocalization“ (Sect. 5.3.3) and sketch out some social patterns within translocal livelihood systems by answering the questions: “Who stays, who leaves, who returns?.