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Formal ties between China and several African states have intensified in recent years. Alongside growing economic and trade cooperation, the international mobility of people between China and African states is increasing. Recent studies have shown that African migrants face institutional barriers to integration in Chinese society, however, and the personal and social consequences of these barriers remain under-researched, especially the dynamics of intimate family life. Drawing upon concepts of precarity and 'low-end globalisation', this study examines how African-Chinese families navigate everyday life, including work, family and children's education. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork comprising observations and in-depth interviews with African-Chinese families and one community leader (n = 19). These reveal how families confront the pervasiveness of legal, economic and social precarization in multiple overlapping domains. These social forces have intergenerational repercussions, with adverse impacts on family life, interpersonal relationships and sense of belonging to the local community. Yet precarity offers conditions for practices of empowerment. We conclude with implications for migration studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study empirically measures the perceptions towards maternal and paternal migration of male and female children who stay behind in Ghana. It analyses survey data collected in 2010 among secondary school children aged 11-18 in four urban areas with high out-migration rates: the greater Accra region, Kumasi, Sunyani and Cape Coast ( N = 1965). The results show significant gendered differences in how children perceive parental migration. Specifically, female children have more positive views towards maternal and paternal migration when parents are abroad and in a stable marital relationship, when the assessed parent is abroad but the other parent is the caregiver in Ghana, when there is a frequent change in the care arrangement, and when female children receive remittances. These findings were not replicated for male children. The analysis highlights the sensitivity of the results to the gender of the child and to the characteristics of children's transnational lives that are being analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is one of the first large-scale analyses on child psychological well-being in the context of parental migration when children remain in an African country. As such, it contributes to the literature by investigating some of the insights gained from in-depth transnational family studies, and it also provides evidence from Africa where normative contexts around family life differ from Latin America, Southeast Asia, and East Asia where most studies have been conducted to date. A survey was conducted in 2010/2011 with 2,760 secondary school children and youths in high out-migration areas of Ghana. Using multiple regression analysis, we find that being in a transnational family is associated with lower levels of psychological well-being, yet only in families where parents are divorced or separated. Furthermore, when parents are in a relationship, specific characteristics of transnational family arrangements are associated with lower levels of child psychological well-being, while others are not. In particular, whether a parent migrates internally or internationally, who the caregiver is, and having a good relationship with the migrant parent are not associated with poorer well-being outcomes. Instead, if a father migrates, if the child changes caregivers more than once, and if the child has a bad relationship with his or her migrant father are associated with lower levels of well-being. This study adds nuance to a field of research that has emphasised negative outcomes and helps identify policy areas to improve the well-being of children in transnational families. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no empirical research on the school performance of children who live separated from their parents in sub-Saharan Africa—a major migrant sending region in the world. This study uses survey data from junior and secondary school children and youths in Ghana (N = 2760), Angola (N = 2243) and Nigeria (N = 2168) to examine how different transnational family formations such as internal or international parental absence accompanied by migration or divorce, who is the migrant parent and who is the caregiver, the stability of the caregiving arrangement and remittances relate with the school performance of children who stay behind. School performance is measured through an index of grades in language, mathematics and science. The results show that international parental migration (Ghana), the internal parental migration accompanied by divorce/separation (Nigeria) and migration of both parents (Ghana and Nigeria) are likely predictors for decreased school performance. No effects are observed when parents are abroad and divorced/separated, when only one parent migrates, when children are in a stable care arrangement or when children receive remittances or not. The analyses show that the overall relationship between parental absence and education varies by the transnational dimension being analysed and by context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Risk pooling literature argues the need for geographic proximity to ensure the functioning of informal insurance arrangements. This paper investigates whether these arrangements exist between migrants and their network members back home and, if so, how they work in the absence of geographic proximity. Analysis of a simultaneous matched sample of migrants in the Netherlands and network members in Ghana reveals the existence of reverse remittances. These remittances show that there is risk pooling between migrants and network members. The paper elaborates on the institutional arrangements that make such a system possible. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This introduction to the special issue entitled ‘Africa<>Europe: Transnational Linkages, Multi-Sited Lives’ outlines the history of the African migrant presence in Europe, gives an account of the contexts which shape contemporary migration, and surveys the approaches to international migration from Africa which have influenced researchers since the 1960s. Linking the contributions to the special issue is the theme of migrants’ transnational ‘double engagement’ with both Africa and Europe. The paper examines this theme across three domains of the lived experience of African migrants and refugees in Europe: ‘Livelihoods’, ‘Families’, and ‘Identities’. We conclude with an assessment of what can be learned (theoretically and methodologically) from the study of African transmigration, and suggest future lines of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now widely recognized that local farmers possess an important body of knowledge concerning soils and their use for agriculture. This article argues that in order for that knowledge to be useful for sustainable development interventions, it is necessary to go beyond the collection of indigenous soil taxonomies and also explore the theories farmers have on soil formation and degradation processes. Based on field research in eastern Burkina Faso, the article demonstrates that farmers'' theories of soil go beyond practical rules of thumb and include complex concepts about soil processes and fertility. In this sense they are similar to scientific theories of soil. It is argued that understanding the similarities and differences in soil related concepts, such as that of soil fertility, could do much more to improve communication between farmers, researchers and development workers than only comparing taxonomies. Furthermore, capturing the grammar (theories) rather than the sentences (taxonomies) provides a much clearer insight to how farmers will deal with changing circumstances and new crops than the static way in which local taxonomies are often treated. Finally, local soil theories are a better point of departure in terms of creating the necessary comprehension of farmer practices required for effective collaboration towards sustainable development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]