"A Town Is Just a Town": Poverty and Social Relations of Migration in Namibia

Tvedten, Inge

doi:10.2307/4107305

Cited by 5 publications

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“…Concern over family members reconciling after having been enemies suggests social interdependence in Namibian families. Kinship relationships are strong connecting factors in Ovambo culture (Brown, 2011; Tvedten, 2004), and the need to mend family divisions may be necessary to sustain Namibian independence as well as to maintain traditional Ovambo life. In this context, kinship relationships are clearly part of these participants' conceptualizations of their poststruggle world and are central in “overcoming a heritage of oppression” (Comas-Díaz et al, 1998, p. 790).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Human Being Is Free: The Phenomenological Experience of Liberation in Namibia

Bartholomew

2012

International Perspectives in Psychology

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Many oppressed groups throughout Africa have successfully engaged in struggles for liberation to oust colonial rule. To study the psychological experiences of liberation in a specific context, the U.S. researcher traveled to Namibia and, using a phenomenological approach, explored the meanings people ascribed to their independence from South Africa. Six individual interviews were conducted with Ovambo Namibians. Seven themes emerged from 280 invariant structures and their 280 corresponding meaning units: Continuous and Inescapable Oppression, the Tipping Point, Family Ecology and the Choice, Participation in the Struggle, Reconciliation, Dreams of Freedom Realized, and Left Wanting: Disenchantment and Lost Democracy. Findings revealed that liberation was an arduous and traumatic experience and that resilience was required to endure the liberation struggle. Although the experience of liberation among Namibians may share features such as posttraumatic stress and the role of resilience with other struggles, the particular context and history led to unique elements, including rifts that developed within families during the struggle and dissatisfaction with unfulfilled promises.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Human Being Is Free: The Phenomenological Experience of Liberation in Namibia

Bartholomew

2012

International Perspectives in Psychology

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“…These patterns are typical of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Adepọju 2006; Geschiere and Gugler 1998) and recent case studies give evidence of their growing importance: Although net in-migration to towns has slowed down, circular patterns of migration and exchange are on the increase (Potts 2009). In Namibia, the translocal organization is clearly reflected in the specific age distribution: while the old and the very young stay in the rural areas, the middle-aged population segment is overrepresented in urban areas (Tvedten 2004: 404). In this respect the Fransfontein area is no exception to the general trend throughout Namibia.…”

Section: Discussion: Translocal Perspectives On Migration and Stratifmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ethnographers have only recently begun to focus on these processes, providing insights into their dynamics. Some authors have addressed processes of impoverishment directly: for example, Kuper (1995) on unemployment after the closing of a local tin mine; Iken (1999) on female-headed households; and Tvedten (2004) on urbanization and marginalization. Dobler (2009: 116) shows how the recent transformation of Oshikango from a small village at the Angolan border into a ‘vibrant boom town’ provides an emerging bureaucratic elite with new business opportunities.…”

Section: The Namibian Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migration, Translocal Networks and Socio-Economic Stratification in Namibia

Greiner¹

2011

Africa

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Rural–urban migration and networks are fundamental for many livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa. Remittances in cash and kind provide additional income, enhance food security and offer access to viable resources in both rural and urban areas. Migration allows the involved households to benefit from price differences between rural and urban areas. In this contribution, I demonstrate that rural–urban networks not only contribute to poverty alleviation and security, but also further socio-economic stratification. This aspect has been ignored or neglected by most scholars and development planners. Using ethnographic data from Namibia, I have adopted a translocal perspective on migration and stratification, focusing on the resulting impact in rural areas where modern urban forms of stratification, induced by education and income from wage labour, are on the increase.

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“…33 However, urban housing often functions as an important point of connection with networks extending into rural areas. 34 The link between return and ownership of property in rural areas is not self-evident. 35 The inclination to construct a house in the rural area declines over time, especially if the individual does not start construction in the early years of his or her stay in the urban area.…”

Section: Urban Permanency In Later Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

Translocal Optimisation: Assembling Rural and Urban Spaces for Later Life in Urban Namibia and Uganda

Nord

Byerley

2020

Journal of Southern African Studies

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It is often assumed that sub-Saharan African urban migrants return in later life to the villages from which they originated. This article challenges this model of circular migration by exploring the strategies of older adults who live permanently in urban areas. The empirical material comes from ethnographic case studies in two industrial towns formed by the apartheid and colonial housing policies of the 1950s and 1960s: Kuisebmond in Walvis Bay, Namibia, a former apartheid 'location'; and Walukuba in Jinja, Uganda, a former 'African' rental estate. Older adults' housing situation and its significance for their strategies and choices in later life provide the focus. The results show that even if many strategies appeared that are often associated with a return to the rural place of origin, for many the move back to the village was not a viable option. Participants in the study nurtured contacts with their places of origin, for example by making regular visits, sending remittances, contributing to housing in the village and receiving relatives in town. It is argued that these strategies, together with urban advantagesin particular a good housing situationmust be understood as translocal optimisation, in which potentialities emerge from an assemblage of various actors in different, connected locales. The optimal situation in which to agein rural or urban areasis a product of co-emergent actors and not necessarily an individual choice on the part of the older adult. The study concludes that urban living in later life seems to be an alternative choice for a group of older adults and must be acknowledged.

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"A Town Is Just a Town": Poverty and Social Relations of Migration in Namibia

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

A Human Being Is Free: The Phenomenological Experience of Liberation in Namibia

A Human Being Is Free: The Phenomenological Experience of Liberation in Namibia

Migration, Translocal Networks and Socio-Economic Stratification in Namibia

Translocal Optimisation: Assembling Rural and Urban Spaces for Later Life in Urban Namibia and Uganda

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