Intracontinental Brain Drain and African Migrant Social Science Scholars in South Africa

Abstract

In the past decade the migration of social scientists from many African countries to South Africa dramatically increased. This brain drain not only threatens scholarship and development processes in these countries but also may perpetuate the economic disparities between these countries and South Africa. The causes of this migration are complex and multifaceted, but political and economic reasons usually predominate—the so-called push and pull factors. Push factors such as political instability and low job satisfaction in home countries and pull factors such as better remuneration and working conditions in South Africa appear to be the major causes for this migration. Using in-depth interviews, this study analyzed the intracontinental brain drain of African social science scholars to South Africa by focusing on the predisposing factors leading to the migration and the social and professional experiences of the scholars in South Africa. Twenty migrant African social scientists working in Durban, including migrant social science scholars from West Africa, East Africa, and southern Africa, were interviewed. The interviewees were selected through purposeful and snowball methods. Durban was chosen because it has a large community of migrant African social scientists working in academic institutions such as the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the Human Sciences Research Council, StatsSA and various nongovernmental organizations).