The African Diaspora in the United States and Europe

Compared to migration from other continents, the voluntary migration of people of African ancestry to America is a recent phenomenon. However, migration from Africa has accelerated dramatically in the last two decades and the group termed by the popular media 'America's newest immigrants' now has a very strong African component. Despite this, existing literature tends to focus first on European migration and more recently on migration from Asia and Latin America. The experiences of new African immigrants living in America have yet to be systematically documented.This book focuses on the Ghanaian community in the US and Canada as a case study of the new African migration. Ghana ranks in the top five of African countries sending immigrants to the North America and the rapid increase in the number of Ghanaians lawfully admitted as permanent residents since 1980 offers an opportunity to investigate their immigrant journeys, the ways they seek membership in the larger society and how they express their individual and collective social identities. A key theme is the relationship between these new African migrants and the native-born black diaspora in the US.The book is based on original empirical data from the US and Canada as well as comparative material from the UK and the Netherlands. The author also investigates return migration to Ghana.The study balances theoretical insight with policy implications, using the case-study as a lens not just on African migration but also on significant conceptual themes in migration studies including transnationalism, identity, social networks, remittances, economic integration and citizenship.