Migration in Africa

This book introduces readers to the age of intra-African migration, a period from the mid-19th century onward in which the center of gravity of African migration moved decisively inward. Most books tend to zoom in on Africa's external migration during the earlier intercontinental slave trades and the more recent outmigration to the Global North, but this book argues that migration within the continent has been far more central to the lives of Africans over the course of the last two centuries. The book demonstrates that only by taking a broad historical and continent-wide perspective can we understand the distinctions between the more immediate drivers of migration and deeper patterns of change over time.
During the 19th century Africa's external slave trades gradually declined, whilst Africa's expanding commodity export sectors drew in domestic labor. This led to an era of heightened mobility within the region, marked by rapidly rising and vanishing migratory flows, increasingly diversified landscapes of migration systems, and profound long-term shifts in the wider patterns of migration. This era of inward-focused mobility reduced with a resurgence of outmigration after 1960, when Africans became more deliberate in search of extra-continental destinations, with new diaspora communities emerging specifically in the Global North.
Broad ranging in its temporal, spatial, and thematic coverage, this book provides students and researchers with the perfect introduction to age of intra-African migration.

Michiel de Haas is an assistant professor at the Rural and Environmental History Group at Wageningen University. Ewout Frankema is Professor and Chair of Rural and Environmental History at Wageningen University. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Global History and research fellow of the UK Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).

Preface Introduction 1. The Age of Intra-African Migration: A Synthesis, Michiel de Haas, Ewout Frankema Part One: Slavery and Migration in the 19th Century 2. Migration in the Contexts of Slaving and States in 19th-Century West Africa, Gareth Austin 3. Boom and Bust: The Trans-Saharan Slave Trade in the 19th Century, Mohamed Saleh, Sarah Wahby 4. Slaves, Porters, and Plantation Workers: Shifting Patterns of Migration in 19th- and Early 20th-Century East Africa, Karin Pallaver Part Two: Frontiers, Connections, and Confrontations in the 19th Century 5. Cattle, Climate, and Caravans: The Dynamics of Pastoralism, Trade, and Migration in 19th-Century East Africa, N. Thomas Hakansson 6. Migration and State Formation in Pre-Colonial South Africa: Why the 19th Century Was Different, Lyndal Keeton, Stefan Schirmer 7. The Settlers of South Africa: Economic Forces of the Expanding Frontier, Johan Fourie Part Three: Colonial Policies and Labor Mobility 8. Forced Labor and Migration in British East and West Africa: Shifting Discourses and Practices During the Colonial Era, Opolot Okia 9. Governing Free and Unfree Labor Migration in Portuguese Africa, 19th-20th Century, Filipa Ribeiro da Silva, Kleoniki Alexopoulou 10. Migration and Stabilization: Mining Labor in the Belgian Congo, Northern Rhodesia, and South Africa, Dácil Juif, Part Four: Shifting Patterns of Circulation and Settlement in the 20th Century 11. Cash-Crop Migration Systems in East and West Africa: Rise, Endurance, Decline, Michiel de Haas, Emiliano Travieso 12. From Temporary Urbanites to Permanent City Dwellers? Rural-Urban Labor Migration in Colonial Southern Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo, Kate Frederick, Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk 13. Urban Migration in East and West Africa since 1950: Contrasts and Transformations, Felix Meier zu Selhausen Part Five: Conflict and Mobility in the 20th Century 14. African Military Migration in the First and Second World Wars, David Killingray 15. From Integration to Repatriation. Flight, Displacement, and Expulsion in Post-colonial Africa, Ewout Frankema Part Six: The End of the Age of Intra-African Migration 16. Counting and Categorizing African Migrants, 1980-2020: Global, Continental, and National Perspectives, Patrick Manning Epilogue 17. Migration and Development: Lessons from Africa's Long-Run Experience, Michiel de Haas, Ewout Frankema