Skip to main content

Global Zimbabweans: Diaspora Engagement and Disengagement

Journal of International Migration and Integration volume 19, pages 1037–1057 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Since 2000, migration from crisis-ridden Zimbabwe has led to almost one million people leaving the country. The majority migrate to neighbouring South Africa and Botswana, and most of the research on the Zimbabwean diaspora to date has focused on South Africa and the UK. However, the Zimbabwean diaspora is now truly global in its distribution. This paper argues that more attention should therefore be paid to Zimbabweans in other jurisdictions in the Global South and North. Zimbabweans began migrating to Canada in increasing numbers after 2000, most as refugees but also as immigrants and students. Based on a survey of the Zimbabwean diaspora in Canada, this paper focuses on their migration history, demographic characteristics and backward linkages with Zimbabwe. Given the interest in diaspora engagement in the global migration and development literature, it is important to understand the nature of these linkages in order to assess the potential for diaspora involvement in Zimbabwean development. The paper argues that under current economic and political conditions in Zimbabwe, this potential remains weak.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

References

  • Adams, R. (2011). Evaluating the economic impact of international remittances on developing countries using household surveys: a literature review. Journal of Development Studies, 47(6), 809–828.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • African Union. (2005). Report of the meeting of experts from member states on the definition of the African diaspora. Addis Ababa: African Union.

  • Agunias, D. (Ed.). (2009). Closing the distance: How governments strengthen ties with their diasporas. Washington, DC: MPI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Agunias, D., & Newland, K. (2012). Developing a road map for engaging diasporas in development: A handbook for policymakers in home and host countries. Geneva: IOM and Washington DC MPI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beenstock, M. (1996). Failure to absorb: remigration by immigrants into Israel. International Migration Review, 30, 950–978.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloch, A. (2005). The development potential of Zimbabweans in the diaspora. IOM Migration Research Series No. 17. Geneva: International Organisation for Migration.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bloch, A. (2008). Zimbabweans in Britain: transnational activities and capabilities. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34(2), 287–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloch, A. (2010). The right to rights? Undocumented migrants from Zimbabwe living in South Africa. Sociology, 44(2), 233–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borjas, G., & Bratsberg, B. (1996). Who leaves? The out-migration of the foreign born. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 78, 165–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bracking, S., & Sachikonye, L. (2010). Migrant remittances and household wellbeing in urban Zimbabwe. International Migration, 48(5), 203–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bréant, H. (2013). What if diasporas didn't think about development?: a critical approach of the international discourse on migration and development. African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, 6(2), 99–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brinkerhoff, J. (2011). David and Goliath: diaspora organizations as partners in the development industry. Public Administration and Development, 31(1), 37–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brinkerhoff, J. (2012). Creating an enabling environment for diasporas’ participation in homeland development. International Migration, 50(1), 75–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, E., & Crush, J. (2014). They don’t want foreigners’: Zimbabwean migration and xenophobia in Botswana. Crossings: Journal of Migration and Culture, 6, 159–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassarino, J.-P. (2004). Theorising return migration: the conceptual approach to return migrants revisited. International Journal on Multicultural Societies, 6, 253–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaumba, J., & Nackerud, L. (2013). Social capital and the integration of Zimbabwean immigrants in the United States. Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, 11(2), 217–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chikanda, A. (2011). The changing patterns of physician migration from Zimbabwe. Journal of International Migration, Health and Social Care, 7(2), 77–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chikanda, A., & Crush, J. (2014). Diasporas of the south. In R. Anich, J. Crush, S. Melde, & J. Oucho (Eds.), A new perspective on human mobility in the south (pp. 65–88). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chikanda, A., Crush, J., & Walton-Roberts, M. (2016). Diasporas, development and governance. In A. Chikanda, J. Crush, & M. Walton-Roberts (Eds.), Diasporas, development and governance (pp. 1–18). New York: Springer International Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Chinouya, M., & O’ Keefe, E. (2008). Pachedu-xenzele in the diaspora: promoting sexual health amongst Zimbabweans in England. International Migration, 46(5), 71–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiumbu, S., & Masemwa, M. (Eds.). (2012). Crisis! What crisis? The multiple dimensions of the Zimbabwean crisis. Pretoria: HSRC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, R. (1997). Global diasporas: An introduction. London: UCL Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Conway, D., & Potter, R. (Eds.). (2009). Return migration of the next generations: 21 st century transnational mobility. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crush, J. (2011). Diasporas of the South: situating the African diaspora in Africa. In S. Plaza & D. Ratha (Eds.), Diaspora for development in Africa (pp. 55–77). Washington, DC: The World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crush, J. (2013). South Africa as dystopia: diaspora views from Canada. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 51(2), 189–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crush, J., & Tawodzera, G. (2013). The perilous trek: Zimbabwean migrant children and teachers in South Africa. In L. Bartlett & A. Ghaffar-Kucher (Eds.), Refugees, immigrants, and education in the global south: Lives in motion (pp. 54–74). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crush, J., & Tawodzera, G. (2014). Exclusion and discrimination: Zimbabwean migrant children and south African schools. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 15, 677–693.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crush, J., & Tevera, D. (Eds.). (2010). Zimbabwe’s exodus: Crisis, migration, survival. Cape Town and Ottawa: SAMP and IDRC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crush, J., Chikanda, A., & Pendleton, W. (2012). The disengagement of the south African medical diaspora in Canada. Journal of Southern African Studies, 38(4), 927–949.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crush, J., Chikanda, A., Pendleton, W., Caesar, M., Ramachandran, S., Eberhardt, C., & Hill, A. (2013). Divided diaspora: southern Africans in Canada. Cape Town: SAMP, and Waterloo: CIGI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crush, J., Chikanda, A., & Tawodzera, G. (2015). The third wave: mixed migration from Zimbabwe to South Africa. Canadian Journal of African Studies, 49(2), 363–382.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crush, J., Chikanda, A., & Tawodzera, G. (2016). The making of a southern diaspora: South-south migration and Zimbabweans in South Africa. In A. Chikanda, J. Crush, & M. Walton-Roberts (Eds.), Diasporas, development and governance (pp. 221–238). New York: Springer International Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Crush, J., Tawodzera, G., Chikanda, A., & Tevera, D. (2017a). The owners of xenophobia: Zimbabwean enterprise and xenophobic violence in South Africa. African Human Mobility Review, 3(1), 878–909.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crush, J., Tawodzera, G., Chikanda, A., Ramachandran, S., & Tevera, D. (2017b). The double crisis: Mass migration from Zimbabwe and xenophobic violence in South Africa. Vienna: International Centre for Migration Policy Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Haas, H. (2009). Mobility and human development. Human Development Research Paper (HDRP) Series Vol. 1. New York: UNDP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dordi, H., & Walton-Roberts, M. (2016). Unpacking the (diasporic) nation: The regionalized and religious identities of the ‘Indian’ diaspora. In A. Chikanda, J. Crush, & M. Walton-Roberts (Eds.), Diasporas, development and governance (pp. 83–100). New York: Springer International Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Dube, G. (2017). Levels of othering: the case of Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 23(4), 391–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forrest, J., Johnston, R., & Poulsen, M. (2013). Middle-class diaspora: recent immigration to Australia from South Africa and Zimbabwe. South African Geographical Journal, 95(1), 50–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galvin, T. (2015). ‘We deport them but they keep coming back’: the normalcy of deportation in the daily life of ‘undocumented’ Zimbabwean migrant workers in Botswana. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(4), 617–634.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, S., Pattillo, C., & Wagh, S. (2009). Effect of remittances on poverty and financial development in sub-Saharan Africa. World Development, 37(1), 104–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khadria, B. (2001). Shifting paradigms of globalization: the twenty-first century transition towards generics in skilled migration from India. International Migration, 39(5), 45–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhlmann, J. (2013). Transnational diaspora politics: Cross-border political activities of Zimbabweans in the United Kingdom. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Machoko, C. (2013). Religion and interconnection with Zimbabwe: a case study of Zimbabwean diasporic Canadians. Journal of Black Studies, 44(5), 472–495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madziva, R., & Zontini, E. (2012). Transnational mothering and forced migration: understanding the experiences of Zimbabwean mothers in the UK. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 19(4), 428–443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Makina, D. (2012a). Migration and characteristics of remittance senders in South Africa. International Migration, 51(s1), e148–e158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Makina, D. (2012b). Determinants of return migration intentions: evidence from Zimbabwean migrants living in South Africa. Development Southern Africa, 29(3), 365–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manase, I. (2013). Zimbabwean migrants in the United Kingdom, the new media and networks of survival during the period 2000–2007. African Identities, 11(1), 33–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maphosa, F. (2007). Remittances and development: the impact of migration to South Africa on rural livelihoods in southern Zimbabwe. Development Southern Africa, 24, 123–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maphosa, F. (2009). Rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe: Impact of remittances from South Africa. Dakar: CODESRIA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mbiba, B. (2012). Zimbabwean diaspora politics in Britain: insights from the cathedral moment 2009. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 50(2), 226–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, J. (2008). Abject spaces, transnational calculations: Zimbabweans in Britain navigating work, class and the law. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 33(4), 466–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, J. (2009). Associational links with home among Zimbabweans in the UK: reflections on long-distance nationalisms. Global Networks, 9, 185–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, J. (2010). Introduction: The making of Zimbabwe’s new diaspora. In J. McGregor & R. Primorac (Eds.), Zimbabwe’s new diaspora: Displacement and the cultural politics of survival (pp. 1–33). New York: Berghahn Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, J. (2011a). Rethinking the boundaries of the nation: histories of cross border mobility and Zimbabwe’s new ‘diaspora’. Critical. African Studies, 4(6), 47–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, J. (2011b). Contestations and consequences of deportability: hunger strikes and the political agency of non-citizens. Citizenship Studies, 15(5), 597–611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, J., & Pasura, D. (2010). Diasporic repositioning and the politics of re-engagement: developmentalising Zimbabwe’s diaspora? The Round Table, 99, 687–703.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, J., & Primorac, R. (Eds.). (2010). Zimbabwe’s new diaspora: Displacement and the cultural politics of survival. New York: Berghahn Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohan, G. (2002). Diaspora and development. In J. Robinson (Ed.), Displacement and development (pp. 77–139). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morreira, S. (2007). Seeking solidarity: Zimbabwean undocumented migrants in Cape Town, 2007. Journal of Southern African Studies, 36(2), 433–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muzondidya, J. (2011). The Zimbabwean diaspora: opportunities and challenges for engagement in Zimbabwe’s political development and economic Transformation. In T. Murithi & A. Mawadza (Eds.), Zimbabwe in transition: A view from within (pp. 112–158). Auckland Park: Fanele.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ndlovu, T. (2010). Where is my home? Rethinking person, family, ethnicity and home under increased transnational migration by Zimbabweans. African Identities, 8(2), 117–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newland, K., & Tanaka, H. (2010). Mobilizing diaspora entrepreneurship for development. Washington, DC: USAID and MPI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pasura, D. (2010). Competing meanings of the diaspora: the case of Zimbabweans in Britain. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 36(9), 1445–1461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasura, D. (2012a). A fractured transnational diaspora: the case of Zimbabweans in Britain. International Migration, 50, 143–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasura, D. (2012b). Religious transnationalism: the case of Zimbabwean Catholics in Britain. Journal of Religion in Africa, 42(1), 26–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasura, D. (2013). Modes of incorporation and transnational Zimbabwean migration to Britain. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36(1), 199–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasura, D. (2014). African transnational diasporas: Fractured communities and plural identities of Zimbabweans in Britain. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Plaza, S., & Ratha, D. (Eds.). (2011). Diaspora for development in Africa. Washington DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pretorius, A., & Blaauw, D. (2015). Getting to know the Amakwerre-kwerre: the socio-economic circumstances of Zimbabwean day labourers in South Africa. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 38(5), 808–823.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramachandran, S. (2016). Benevolent funds: Philanthropic practices of the south African diaspora in Ontario, Canada. In A. Chikanda, J. Crush, & M. Walton-Roberts (Eds.), Diasporas, development and governance (pp. 65–82). New York: Springer International Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Reitz, J. (2001a). Immigrant skill utilization in the Canadian labour market: implications of human capital research. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2(3), 347–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reitz, J. (2001b). Immigrant success in the knowledge economy: institutional change and the immigrant experience in Canada, 1970-1995. Journal of Social Issues, 57(3), 579–613.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutherford, B. (2011). The uneasy ties of working and belonging: the changing situation for undocumented Zimbabwean migrants in northern South Africa. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 34(8), 1303–1319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sibanda, O. (2010). Social ties and the dynamics of integration in the city of Johannesburg among Zimbabwe migrants. Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology, 1, 47–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siziba, G. (2014). Language and identity negotiations: an analysis of the experiences of Zimbabwean migrants in Johannesburg, South Africa. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 26(2), 173–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tevera, D., & Chikanda, A. (2009). Development impact of international remittances: some evidence from origin households in Zimbabwe. Global Development Studies, 5, 273–302.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tevera, D., Crush, J., & Chikanda, A. (2010). Migrant remittances and household survival in Zimbabwe. In J. Crush & D. Tevera (Eds.), Zimbabwe’s exodus: crisis, migration, survival (pp. 307–323). Cape Town: SAMP and IDRC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thebe, V. (2011). From South Africa with love: the malayisha system and Ndebele households’ quest for livelihood reconstruction in South-Western Zimbabwe. Journal of Modern African Studies, 49(4), 647–670.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thebe, V. (2015). The malayisha industry and the transnational movement of remittances to Zimbabwe. In J. Crush, A. Chikanda, & C. Skinner (Eds.), Mean streets: Migration, xenophobia and informality in South Africa (pp. 194–206). Cape Town: SAMP and IDRC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Theodore, N., Pretorius, A., Blaauw, D., & Schenck, C. (2017). Informality and the context of reception in South Africa’s new immigrant destinations. Population, Space and Place, 24(3), e2119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNDP (2010). The potential contribution of the Zimbabwe diaspora to economic recovery. Working Paper No. 11. Harare: United Nations Development Programme.

  • United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2013). Trends in international migrant stock: migrants by destination and origin. United Nations database, POP/DB/MIG/Stock/Rev.2013.

  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (2009). UNHCR statistical yearbook 2008: Trends in displacement, protection and solutions. Geneva: UNHCR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worby, E. (2010). Address unknown: the temporality of displacement and the ethics of disconnection among Zimbabwean migrants in Johannesburg. Journal of Southern African Studies, 36(2), 417–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2016). Migration and remittances factbook 2016. Washington DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography & Atmospheric Science, and African & African-American Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Abel Chikanda

  2. Balsillie School of International Affairs, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada

    Jonathan Crush

Authors
  1. Abel Chikanda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jonathan Crush
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jonathan Crush.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chikanda, A., Crush, J. Global Zimbabweans: Diaspora Engagement and Disengagement. Int. Migration & Integration 19, 1037–1057 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-018-0582-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-018-0582-0

Keywords

  • Diasporas
  • Diaspora engagement
  • Immigrants
  • Remittances
  • Return migration
  • Zimbabwe
  • Canada