Factors Underlying Return Migration Decisions among Nigerian Victims of 2019 Xenophobic Violence in South Africa

Studies on xenophobic violence have mainly focused on their causes and effects, but have yet to probe how victimisation experiences of xenophobia trigger migration intentions and actual practices. In a balance of tales, I examine how families contributed to staying put/return decisions by Nigerian migrants in South Africa following the September 2019 xenophobic violence. The study asks: to what extent do family facilitate and/or contribute to the decision to return? And how do return strategies unveil the centrality of family in taking migration decisions? Data emerged through online interviews with Nigerian immigrants in South Africa who stayed put, and six family members in Nigeria were reached through snowball sampling. This was supplemented with secondary interviews conducted with Nigerian returnees in three National newspapers (The Punch, Vanguard, Nigerian Tribune and The Nation newspapers). Findings show the centrality of family in both migration intentions, staying-put, and the actual practices of Nigerian victims of xenophobia in South Africa.

Protest Structures: Responses From Nigerians in the United States to Police Brutality and #BlackLivesMatter Protests

This study examined how Nigerian immigrants communicated about, and got involved in, #BlackLivesMatter protests and/or advocacy due to racialized violence against Blacks in the United States during the summer of 2020. Using a qualitative open-ended questionnaire, a purposive sample of Nigerians ( N = 70) was assembled. Constant comparative analysis revealed that communication about and participation in the BLM movement consisted of affective (feelings associated with protests), cognitive (psychological processes triggered by thinking about protests), and behavioral (actions and engagement in protests) responses. This process is labeled protest structures, a term that captures the socio-psychological processes that shape the communication of and involvement in protests and/or advocacy. We discuss further how social positioning impacts active participation in the fight for racial equality and social change.

Toward A Restoration of Societal Ethos with Reference on Chinua Achebe’s Writings

Traditional oral literature of Africa is counted as one of the most distinctly and varied categories of African literature with Chinua Achebe as pioneer. In his writings, Achebe takes on the roles of social commentator and crusader through the conduit of orature to criticize the devaluation of cultural and societal norms. His later novels can be read imbued with the lamentation of the death of moral and social values in Nigerian society; the unspoken degradation of Nigerian immigrants in Europe and America, and the frequency with which corrupt practices have undermined the nation’s development. This paper examines how Achebe’s writings canvasses for a re-examination of societal ethos, which demands that the contemporary Nigeria settles. Therefore, the necessary actions should be taken in restoring, maintaining and preserving the oral tradition. Preservation is not just limited to keeping the form of oral tradition in the community, but the values that contained in the oral tradition with the past by recovering social, moral and cultural codes for the restoration of human dignity.

Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Service Providers’ Perspectives on Nigerian Immigrants’ Domestic Violence Experiences

We investigated 13 domestic violence (DV) and sexual assault agency directors’ perspectives regarding Nigerian immigrants’ experiences of violence, DV-related service needs, and best strategies for providing those needs. Directors across five U.S. states were surveyed. Descriptive analyses showed the most common DV types were controlling behavior and cultural/traditional. The most important DV support needs were informational, informal, and legal. Formal support from DV agencies, support groups, and law enforcement was rated the most helpful strategies. Participants wanted to learn more about Nigerian immigrants’ DV experiences. Findings highlight implications for the development of Nigerian-specific DV services.

“THIS COUNTRY OF CHINA IS TOUGH”: NIGERIAN IMMIGRANT MUSIC MAKING IN GUANGZHOU, CHINA

This article concerns Nigerian music making in Guangzhou, one of China’s leading manufacturing and trading centres, and where the largest groups of Africans in China, more generally, are concentrated. Nigerians are the largest community of Africans in Guangzhou and, like other Africans traders, practice what has been referred to as “low-end globalisation” (Mathews and Yang 2012). Beyond entertainment, music making among Nigerians, and Africans in China more generally, has a significant role in not only maintaining a sense of belonging but also in communicating key social concerns, aspirations and sentiments that stem from the experience of living and working in Guangzhou. This article describes how these experiences unfold in specific songs composed by two Igbo Nigerian immigrants whose aspirations and efforts to live and work in the city resulted in different outcomes.