Religion Ethnicity And Transnational Migration Between West Africa And Europe

Religion, Ethnicity and Transnational Migration between West Africa and Europe focuses on the West African migrants’ presence in Europe and the way they negotiate religion and ethnicity in a new context. Special attention is given to the diversity of religious background of the migrants and to exploration of interreligious (especially Christian-Muslim) relations. These dimensions of transnational migration have not been widely researched, yet. After introducing the new African religious diaspora, the situation of the Senegalese, Ghanaian and Fulbe migrants – both Christian and Muslim – in France, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland is analysed. The impact the migrants make on their communities of origin in Africa is also taken into account. Contributors are: Afe Adogame, Martha Frederiks, Stanisław Grodź, Tilmann Heil, Monika Salzbrunn, José C.M. van Santen, Miriam Schader, Etienne Smith and Gina Gertrud Smith.

The past three decades have proved extremely challenging for Africa and its peoples, both at home and in the Diaspora. Coincidentally, these were also the decades that globalization reached maturity and that the world became more interconnected and interdependent. The paradox of globalization for Africa has included increase in marginalization, poverty, inequality, migration and instability. This book highlights global asymmetries by interfacing the notion of “one world” or “flat world” with the challenges thrown up by transnational migration, brain drain, citizenship, identity, multiculturalism, religion and ethnicity. It presents researches and discourses on globalization across disciplines and across regions, and fosters ongoing inquiry into important assumptions, beliefs and perspectives about the implications of globalization for Africa and Africans. It covers major areas of concern—movement of refugees, xenophobia, transition from economic migration to citizenship, challenges of integration, and conflict of identity. The authors investigate the experiences of Africans in various economic sectors and geographical locations, and the trends in hegemony, inequality, cultural changes and the dynamics of social movements and struggles. Through illuminating narratives and copious explanations, this book assists readers to make sense of globalization and the position of Africa and Africans in it.

In Religion, Migration and Identity scholars from various disciplines explore issues related to identity and religion, that people - individually and communally -, encounter when affected by migration dynamics; the volume foregrounds methodology as its main concern.

This book takes food parcels as a vehicle for exploring relationships, intimacy, care, consumption, exchange, and other fundamental anthropological concerns, examining them in relation to wider transnational spaces. As the contributors to this volume argue, food and its related practices offer a window through which to examine the reconciliation of people’s localised intimate experiences with globalising forces. Their analyses contribute to an embodied and sensorial approach to social change by examining migrants and their families’ experiences of global connectedness through familiar objects and narratives. By bringing in in-depth ethnographic insights from different social and economic contexts, this book widens the understanding of the lived experiences of mobility and goes beyond the divide between origin and destination countries, therefore contributing to new ways of thinking about migration and transnationalism that take into consideration the materiality of global connections and the way such connections are embodied and experienced at the local level.

This Handbook explores the multifaceted linkages between two of the most important socioeconomic phenomena of our time: globalisation and migration. Both are on the rise, increasing in size and scope worldwide, and this Handbook offers the necessary background knowledge and tools to understand how population flows shape, and are shaped by, economic and cultural globalisation.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all impose obligations and constraints upon the rightful use of wealth and earthly resources. All three of these religions have well-researched views on the acceptability of practices such as usury but the principles and practices of other, non-interest, financial instruments are less well known. This book examines each of these three major world faiths, considering their teachings, social precepts and economic frameworks, which are set out as a guide for the financial dealings and economic behaviour of their adherents.

In Contesting Religious Identities, scholars of religion offer new pathways to rethink the place of religion in modern, secular societies.

Return has long been considered the end of a migration cycle. Today, returnees’ continued transnational ties, practices and resources have become increasingly visible. Transnational Return and Social Change joins what is now a growing fi eld of research and suggests new ways to understand the dynamics of return migration and the social changes that come along. It pays tribute to the meso-level impacts that follow the practices and resources migrant returnees mobilize across borders. With a particular focus on the meso-level the book takes up the challenge of transnational research and enquires into the consequences of return for local communities, organizations, social networks and groups. Presenting a collection of case studies dedicated to migrations across Europe and beyond, this book contributes new insights into the societal impact of migration in pluralized societies.