Food transfers and translocal livelihoods in rural Africa – Longitudinal perspectives from six countries

Abstract

Growing urban as well as rural uncertainties in sub-Saharan Africa have increased the importance of the household and kinship relations as providers of welfare and social security. Households therefore may be increasingly stretched across space. This points to the need to analyse the interplay between socio-economic differentiation and translocality. The article uses a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative longitudinal data for around 2500 smallholders in six African countries, with qualitative data from villages in three of these countries. Data on food transfers from rural areas suggests that translocality is increasing, but that the distributional aspects differ depending on income. Qualitative data is used to illustrate the non-economic aspects of such transfers, and the argument is made that transfers are based on social and emotional considerations, and as such are an expression of an intensified translocality that is increasingly part of life in both rural and urban Africa. This growing translocality suggests that the theoretical understanding of the household and familial relations may need to be updated.