Abstract
Abstract. This article discusses consolidation of the Zimbabwean diaspora and its transnational activities. It presents formation of this particular diaspora as an unanticipated development that is contingent upon circumstances as they evolve in both sending and receiving countries. It draws from longitudinal research with Zimbabwean migrants in Germany and South Africa to illustrate this argument. It also borrows from Tsuda’s transnational outcome framework to provide a nuanced understanding of Zimbabwean migrants’ varied relationships with both Zimbabwe and the receiving countries. The article argues that migrants’ decision to settle for the long-term in the receiving country is not always made at the same time as the decision to migrate itself or in the initial stages of life in the receiving country. There are many cases among Zimbabwean migrants showing that migration was initially perceived as quest for reprieve from the country’s economic and political challenges while they “waited” for the situation to improve. However, the crisis in Zimbabwe has dragged on for more than two decades with no tangible solution in sight thus transforming waiting into settling. Economic and political factors in Zimbabwe as well as factors in the receiving countries influenced the formation and consolidation of the Zimbabwean diaspora and its transnational activities. Diaspora formation and consolidation in this case is an outcome of migrants’ adaptation of their initial plans to new realities obtaining in both the sending and receiving countries.
Highlights
It is not uncommon for migrants to leave their countries of origin with the vision that their migration will be of temporary and short duration
Continuing growth of the Zimbabwean diaspora translates into a complex interplay of factors which, combined with the methodological approach to the researches upon which this article is based, means that the findings discussed in this article cannot be generalized to all Zimbabwean migrants in the two receiving countries and elsewhere
Charlene, a migrant woman who moved to South Africa when her son was still a toddler, explained that he spoke Zulu, a South African language, better than he spoke Shona which is spoken in Zimbabwe
Summary
It is not uncommon for migrants to leave their countries of origin with the vision that their migration will be of temporary and short duration. This article discusses migration from Zimbabwe in the last two decades and the formation and consolidation of the Zimbabwean diasporas in Germany and South Africa. It addresses migrants’ initial views of their mobility and how these views morph over time contingent upon factors in both Zimbabwe and the receiving countries. An interesting aspect of the researches is that data were obtained through the formal research process and through informal conversations that touched on themes relevant to the research These conversations were useful in their spontaneity because research participants provided more detailed information on their migration goals and future plans. Continuing growth of the Zimbabwean diaspora translates into a complex interplay of factors which, combined with the methodological approach to the researches upon which this article is based, means that the findings discussed in this article cannot be generalized to all Zimbabwean migrants in the two receiving countries and elsewhere
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