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This book argues that a new cadre of African immigrants are finding themselves in the New World—mostly well educated, high-income earning professionals, and belonging to the category termed "African brain drain," they constitute the antinomy of those Africans who were forcibly removed from Africa during slavery. Along with this sense of freedom and voluntary migration comes a paradox—that of living in two worlds and negotiating the pleasures and agonies that come with living in exile. For the new African immigrant, the primary factor motivating migration is the desire for a better life whether fleeing political persecution, economic crisis, refugee crisis, or a combination thereof. The overall consequences include displacement, alienation, and the not so enchanting reality of exile. In its encompassing structure and multivalent perspectives, Trans-Atlantic Migration sets in motion the shifting theoretical and pragmatic verity that the new African diaspora and transatlantic migrations are paths laden with paradoxes that only time, negotiations, compromises, and sense of identities can ultimately resolve.
This book investigates the complex socio-economic and psychological paradoxes faced by the contemporary African diaspora as they navigate life in the New World. Toyin Falola and Niyi Afolabi, both established scholars in African history and diaspora studies, utilize a multidisciplinary approach to analyze the shift from historical forced migration to modern voluntary professional migration. The authors argue that while these immigrants often possess high levels of education and professional status, they remain caught in a state of perpetual negotiation between their ancestral identities and the realities of life in exile.
What You Will Find
Scholars in the field of migration studies recognize this work as a significant contribution to understanding the nuances of the modern African diaspora. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous examination of the sociological tensions inherent in the immigrant experience.
Page Count:
314
Publication Date:
2007-01-01
Publisher:
Taylor & Francis Group
ISBN-10:
0203933834
ISBN-13:
9780203933831
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