1 Beyond the Economic Impetus For
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BEYOND THE ECONOMIC IMPETUS FOR MIGRATION: PRE-MIGRATION COGNITIONS, SUBJECTIVITIES, AND OCCIDENTALISMS IN THE AFRICAN POSTCOLONY By FELICIA CHIGOZIE ANONYUO-NWAENYI A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2009 1 © 2009 Felicia Chigozie Anonyuo-Nwaenyi 2 I dedicate this dissertation to Africa that was and will be, and to all who work for her good; to my son, Augustine Chidubem Nwaenyi, my guiding light, Peaceful River without foe, the calm voice in the middle of the storm; to my mother, Susanna Ozuzuaku Anonyuo, teacher of harmony and dignity, everywoman; to the memory of my father and ancestor, Samuel Igboabuchukwu Anonyuo, eternal sage; to my Heavenly Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit whose Love and Grace have shielded and yoked me forever. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I doubt that I can adequately acknowledge everyone that contributed to the realization of my objectives for this research project, and must therefore state upfront that the names and parties mentioned here are not representative of those who deserve credit for their unconditional and selfless support for this project. I crave the indulgence of my unacknowledged benefactors. My eternal gratitude to Dr. Faye V. Harrison who consistently cheered me on and said yes from start to finish, through trying and tranquil moments, through thick and thin. To have an advisor who never rides the high horse and never demands an appointment, who knows how to hold back her encyclopedic knowledge to make mine important, who has stayed up past midnight working with me over the phone to get a document draft just right, who is ready to share her wisdom and lend a helping hand anytime and anywhere, is to be uniquely blessed. In my quest for knowledge, I have seen the world through the Faye V. Harrison optic, and it looks magnificent. I offer my profound gratitude to the members of my committee, Dr. Akintunde Akinyemi, Dr. Abdoulaye Kane, Dr. Fiona McLaughlin, and Dr. Maria Stoilkova, for their guidance, commitment, and encouragement, and for their generosity in delivering critique as well as praise. They call it doing their job; I call it crafting a world. Between the classroom, their offices and the dissertation defense, I have learned a lot. Because of them, I face the world in continuation with renewed intellectual vigor and confidence. The conversations I had with two iconic scholars, Karin Barber, and Saskia Sassen, and their encouragement are priceless. To gain the attention of these sages, even for a brief moment, was uplifting. Words cannot describe my amazement at the display of graciousness and altruistic assistance to me, a total stranger, by faculty, staff, and students at Cheikh Anta Diop university, Dakar, University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, Nnamdi Azikiwe University at Awka, and 4 Ahmadu Bello University at Zaria. I am very grateful for the assistance I received from the staff of Archives National, Dakar, Center for West African Research, Dakar, CODESRIA, Dakar, the artists at Centre Culturel Blaise Senghor, Dakar, the National Archives at Ibadan and Enugu. My expectations were trounced, and my hopes for Africa have been lifted up by my heartwarming experiences at these institutions. I am the beneficiary of friendships that have survived the vicissitudes of life and decades of separation and have stayed warm, true, and caring. I have gained a new family of supporters in Dakar, and continue to be strengthened by my family in Nigeria and in the United States, especially my sister, Emilia Obiageli Oduah and her husband, Promise Kailechi Oduah, for their generous support and care for my comfort. The love of one’s family is a timeless cushion. I thank all of my siblings, especially my brother Ernest Jideofor Anonyuo, for monitoring my vital signs from thousands of miles away. Names are too numerous to fit in here but the incredible support and affirmation I received from family and friends provided me with inexhaustible moral and material resources that made this research project possible. I could never thank them enough. When a dissertation is over and done with, the informants who supplied their thoughts and perspectives with trust and selfless commitment to a total stranger loom larger than life. My informants in Senegal and Nigeria will never know how magnificently complicitous they have been in my intellectual growth and how much they have inspired new confidence in me such that my strides into the world of my future from here on will be strong ones. They are my heroes, faceless, but immortalized in my dissertation. Seared into my memory also is the smiling face of Chris at the circulation desk at the Smathers Library, University of Florida, who will probably never know that I put his name here, but made the library become not just a place to obtain service, but a human place where people are worth more than a mighty lottery jackpot. What 5 would a dissertation be without a library and people who convey to you that no problem is too big for them. I extend my deep gratitude to Chris and his team. Lastly but in no way the least, my profound gratitude to Dr. Anne Donnelly and her staff at SEAGEP (South East Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate), University of Florida, especially Camille Feanny for making my success their business, but mostly for their support with the funding that gave wings to this project, and for their help with ensuring the smooth-running of my fieldwork. The folks at SEAGEP would always say they were doing their work, but they did it with remarkable patience, understanding, and warmth. They are unforgettable. There were times when this project seemed undoable, my body was incredibly weakened and my spirit was broken by stressful distractions. But at those critical moments, when the dark clouds gathered and I felt I could not go on, there was an infusion of strength and healing that seemed reserved for she who dwells in the shelter of the Most High God. The Holy Three in One has looked own with mercy on my lowliness, and from today henceforth, all generations shall call me learned. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................ 10 ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................... 13 2 MIGRATION – TRENDS AND THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES.................................... 26 Part of Being Human................................................................................................................... 26 Statistics and Trends in Human Population Flows ................................................................... 28 International Migration Trends ........................................................................................... 28 African Migration Trends.................................................................................................... 33 General Theoretical and Explanatory Frameworks for Human Migration .............................. 34 Theoretical Perspectives on International Migration ................................................................ 37 Anthropology and Migration ...................................................................................................... 41 3 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES AND EXPLANATIONS FOR AFRICAN MIGRATION .............................................................................................................................. 49 Nigeria – International Migration .............................................................................................. 64 Senegal – International Migration .............................................................................................. 67 4 BEYOND THE ECONOMIC IMPETUS – THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF PRE- MIGRATION DECISIONS ....................................................................................................... 72 5 THE PRODUCTION OF THE AFRICAN MIGRANT’S CONTEXT FROM THE COLONIAL TO THE POSTCOLONIAL................................................................................. 85 British Indirect Rule .................................................................................................................... 89 French Assimilation and Association ........................................................................................ 95 The African Migrant and Neoliberalism .................................................................................. 105 6 THE STUDY: CONCEPTUAL and METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORKS.................. 114 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................................. 115 Africa and the Postcolony ................................................................................................. 115 Occidentalism from Below ............................................................................................... 122 Cognitions .........................................................................................................................