Adolescent Migration in Rural Africa As a Challenge to Gender And

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Adolescent Migration in Rural Africa As a Challenge to Gender And 485356ANN The Annals of the American AcademyAdolescent Migration in Rural Africa research-article2013 Labor migration has become common for adolescents in many African populations, where it is a key event in the transition into adulthood for both genders. This article examines the experiences of, expectations of, and perceptions about adolescent migration from dif- ferent perspectives, taking into account their gender and generation. It is based on qualitative data, collected from a rural population in Mali, where labor migration is experienced by most adolescents (70–90 percent). Despite a convergence of migratory practices between Adolescent genders, the subjective experience and the social con- struction around youth migration appear to be in con- trast for girls and boys. Male migration is part of family Migration in economics, and adolescent boys use migration to strengthen their family status. Female migration is a Rural Africa as personal project and includes strong expectations about learning and obtaining life skills. Social judgment of female migration is negative, but new lines of solidarity a Challenge to are emerging between female generations. Gender and Keywords: migration; adolescence; transition to Intergenerational adulthood; gender; family; Africa; Mali Relationships: abor migration during adolescence is wide- Lspread in rural sub-Saharan Africa, espe- Evidence cially in West African populations with low school enrollment. After having affected men from Mali for decades, labor migration has developed Véronique Hertrich heads the methodological unit on developing countries (Pole Suds) at the French National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED/France). Her By main fields of research relate to population, marriage, VÉRONIQUE HERTRICH and family changes in sub-Saharan Africa from a gen- der perspective. She studies the transition to marriage, and conjugality, and parenthood; and the transition to MARIE LESCLINGAND adulthood and youth migration in Africa. She is the scientific coordinator of the longitudinal project, Suivi longitudinal au Mali (SLAM), in rural Mali. Marie Lesclingand is a lecturer at the University of Nice. Her main research focuses on youth mobility in West Africa, especially labor migration by adolescents in Mali (based on the SLAM project). Since 2005, she has been involved in a project on female genital mutila- tion in France (ExH project). DOI: 10.1177/0002716213485356 ANNALS, AAPSS, 648, July 2013 175 176 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY FIGURE 1 Percentage of Individuals Who Have Experienced a Labor Migration before Age X in Cohort 1980–84 (Life Table Data) % 100 90 80 70 Females 60 50 Males 40 30 20 10 0 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 Age among adolescent girls in many populations, to the extent that it is now a part of the transition into adulthood for both genders. These migrations are usually tem- porary, as most adolescent return home before marriage. In rural areas where the practice has been documented, for instance among the Sereer and the Joola from Senegal1 (Delaunay 1994; Lambert 1999, 2007; Linares 2003; Enel, Pison, and Lefebvre 1994; Delaunay and Enel 2009), most of the adolescents, girls and boys, have experienced urban labor migration. This is also the case in Southeast Mali, among the Bwa ethnic group, which we focus on in this article (Lesclingand 2004, 2011; Hertrich and Lesclingand 2012). Among the cohorts born in the early 1980s, about 80 percent have experienced at least one labor migration during their youth, mainly before age 20 (Figure 1). The pattern is similar between females and males, though adolescent girls begin to move at earlier ages than do boys. If labor migration is now a common standard for adolescents of both genders, does it mean that migration has the same meaning and is experienced in the same way by men and women? Is labor migration constitutive of a new “youth culture,” providing to both genders a similar experience outside their village? Are they considered and managed by the families in the same way? NOTE: This article has been translated from French by Catriona Dutreuilh and Krystyna Horko. The results presented in this article are based on data from the SLAM project (Suivi longitudinal au Mali), under the scientific responsibility of Véronique Hertrich (INED, Paris, France), http://slam.site.ined.fr. ADOLESCENT MIGRATION IN RURAL AFRICA 177 To address these issues, we approach migration from the perspective of dif- ferent actors, taking into account their gender and generation. Expectations and perceptions on migration, reported by adolescent girls and boys and by adult women and men, are combined to describe the social construction of youth migration and to question the underlying challenges to gender and inter- generational relationships. Adolescent Migration in the Context of Southeast Mali Context The population that we studied is part of the Bwa of southeast Mali. The population lives off family based agricultural production, mostly food crops. Reproductive behavior has not yet changed and fertility remains high, at about eight children per woman and nine children per man. Migration is common, but mainly within Mali or to neighboring countries. There is no culture of migration to Europe. The Bwa are known for their independent spirit (Capron 1973, 1988), specifi- cally their resistance to French colonialism and to Islam and more generally their long-standing reluctance to join national integration structures (Diarra 2007). However, in the past 20 years changes have taken place. In Mali, the 1990s were marked by the arrival of democracy (1991) and a policy of multisector decentrali- zation (1993) (Bocquier and Diarra 1999; Keïta and Konaté 2003). At the local level, the decade brought involvement in political projects and development programs. In particular, there was greater investment in schooling, with the establishment of community schools that villagers managed and financed. Nearly half of the children currently attend school, while very few did so in the past. The family organization is based on patrilineal lineage (political and exogamic units) and domestic groups (economic units). Domestic groups are often large and complex. The village community plays an important role in socialization and social control, by means of numerous collective activities (such as one day per week set aside for leisure and drinking, family and ritual ceremonies, and sessions of farm labor) and close relations between neighbors. It also ensures a high level of socioeconomic homogeneity in the village and shapes the pattern of social change. New behaviors (e.g., stopping the practice of female genital mutilation or relaxing matrimonial procedures) are difficult to institute, but once intro- duced, they spread rapidly. Youth migration: A mass phenomenon The Bwa are sedentary people and strongly attached to their villages. Yet migration has always existed on a large scale for women, who generally settle in their husband’s village after marriage (virilocality). Migration also exists among children (especially for fostering) or for whole families, for instance when a new village is established. Among the older cohorts, young people 178 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY TABLE 1 Selected Indicators of Adolescent Migration Before Age 20, by Gender and Cohort (Life Table Data) Cohorts <1950 1950–59 1960–69 1970–74 1975–79 1980–84 1985–89 Period of Adolescence (year of 15th birthday) Indicators <1965 1965–74 1975–84 1985–89 1990–94 1995–99 2000–04 All migration before age 20 (% of individuals who have experienced at least one migration) Men 38 61 88 96 90 91 92 Women 54 73 81 92 97 97 99 Labor migration before age 20 (% of individuals who have experienced at least one labor migration) Men 14 47 77 89 72 72 67 Women 0 5 22 59 79 80 90 Experience life outside the ethnic area before age 20 (% of individuals) Men 18 38 71 85 76 77 74 Women 8 27 47 70 90 91 95 Total (n) Men 133 66 103 88 101 145 183 Women 149 84 135 89 129 177 203 SOURCE: Life event history survey, SLAM. NOTE: Individuals who were interviewed as residents during survey rounds (1987–89, 1994–95, 1999– 2000, 2004–05 or 2009–10). Migration is defined as a move for at least three months. All migrations occur- ring up to the end of the year of the 19th birthday are included. already traveled quite frequently (among people born before 1950, about 40 percent to 50 percent experienced migration before age 20) (Table 1). Youth migration substantially increased in the subsequent cohorts, mainly as a result of labor migration. Two phases of migration can be distinguished (see Table 1). The first phase, starting in the mid-1960s (cohort 1950–59) concerned mainly men. The second phase began in the late 1980s (cohort 1970–74) and concerned women. In both cases, the practice expanded rapidly until it affected most of the members of the cohort. While labor migration remained a male-specific behavior for 20 years, it is now common among both genders. During the last decade, girls have even been catching up with boys. While labor migration had been slowing down among male adolescent, it continued to increase for adolescent girls. Seventy percent of males and 90 percent of girls experienced a labor migration before age 20 among the cohorts born in 1985–89. Migration has reshaped the course and the territory of adolescence. While the village was formerly the regular and exclu- sive focus of life, the young cohorts now have a living space that often extends beyond their ethnic area (Table 1). Among the younger cohorts, three out of four adolescent boys and nearly all adolescent girls had lived for a time outside their ethnic area before age 20. ADOLESCENT MIGRATION IN RURAL AFRICA 179 The Data Our data are based on the longitudinal project, Suivi longitudinal au Mali (SLAM), implemented in the late 1980s and updated every five years on a local scale in seven villages (4,300 inhabitants in 2009) (Hertrich 1996).
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