An African brain drain
Igbo decisions to immigrate to the US
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11904496 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rachel R Reynolds (0000-0003-2758-6884, Drexel University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | 92 |
| Publication date | 2002-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of African Political Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-6244 • E-ISSN: 1740-1720 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03056240208704613 |
| OpenAlex | W1965318215 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 21 |
| References cited | 13 |
This article outlines the conditions under which a particular group of professional Nigerians has made the decision to immigrate to the United States and how, once abroad, they have established a continuum for immigration from the home area. The paper has been generated from f ieldwork and interviews among Igbo people in the Chicago area, conducted between 1997 and 2000. The article explains the educational, cultural and economic conditions under which Igbo immigration to the US in the late 1970s and early 1980s were undertaken — the time during which members of the immigrant network came to the US. My work here constitutes an effort to define the way that a particular group of immigrants to Chicago came to develop and how they now utilise an immigrant social network. My preliminary question here: how did the Nigerians in my social network make the decision to immigrate to the States? Although there are several factors that affect this decision, for my study, I focus most closely on two interrelated factors: education and cultural specific institutions like household economic decision making patterns. Those factors were chosen because among Igbo middle‐class people of this generation, the need for educational opportunities and a tradition of emigration appears to be the necessary conditions to make an Igbo person decide to immigrate, while economic factors like reduced economic opportunities in Nigeria or lower pay were merely sufficient conditions. The qualitative data presented here is intended to give new shape to research questions that will further develop our understanding of how the socio‐economics of schooling and educational opportunities in Africa and the US come together to reinforce the brain‐drain process in which promising young professionals leave Africa for industrialised regions
Cultural issues · Economic growth · Economics · Emigration · Ethnic group · Focus group · Igbo · Immigration · Nigerians · Political science · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy
Exit and voice
Ethnicity and Belonging among Young Igbo in the United States
Ojemba Enwe Iro
Igbo historiography
Causes, Challenges and Prospects of Brain Drain
Professional Nigerian Women, Household Economy, and Immigration Decisions
On a Taxonomy for the Literature of Migration
The Human Capital Characteristics and Household Living Standards of Returning International Migrants in Eastern and Southern Africa
What Drives Human Migration in Sahelian Countries? A Meta‐analysis
I gbo historiography
International Migration, Kinship Networks and Social Capital in Southwestern Nigeria
Transnational Resource Flow and the Paradoxes of Belonging
What Explains the Increasing Trend in African Emigration to the U.S
Highly Skilled Migration from Africa to the US
A tripartite theoretical appraisal of political drivers of international migration and brain drain in Nigeria and their public policy implications
Kinship construction variability among Nigerian international migrants
Long-distance nationalism, diaspora mobilisation, and the struggle for Biafran self-determination in Nigeria
Overseas nurses' motivations for working in the UK
Igbo professional migratory orders, hometown associations and ethnicity in the USA
The two cultures of health worker migration
International Migrants' Remittances and Kinship Networks in Nigeria
| Unique citing works | 21 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2005 - 2026 (22) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 21 |