THE MIGRATION PROCESS AND DIFFERENTIAL ECONOMIC BEHAVIOUR IN SOUTH MARAGOLI, WESTERN KENYA

Abstract

This study explores the effects of labor migration upon individual response to new economic opportunities in a developing agrarian community. The Maragoli can be characterized as a fast growing population with extremely limited land resources, who have long been dependent upon income from wage labor in urban centers to meet financial needs at home While engaging in a pattern of circular migration, Maragoli workers commonly maintain strong village ties mainly for the sake, of security, in a situation of unemployment in town and under employment at home Although new opportunities have become available for cash earning within the local economy, the response to these opportunities have differed markedly among South-Maragolis overall population As its primary objective, this dissertation attempts to explain why certain types of migrants who have the financial means tend not to invest extensively in commercial agriculture or trade enterprises at home despite the great insecurities of urban wage employment. Anthropological research techniques were used in an intensive two-year study of one South Maragoli village (142 farm heads), and for the exploration of transaction between urban and migrants and their kinsmen and village friends in particular networks of interpersonal relations which influenced individual strategies were traces through the material dimension of gift giving and income redistribution.