AGENCY - A REFLECTION OF THE ROLE OF CAMEROONIAN MIGRANTS IN THEIR INTEGRATION PROCESS IN CAPE TOWN

When one talks of the integration process of migrants, the focus is usually on the host country and the role it plays in integrating migrants within its existing structures. Very little or no consideration is placed on how events in the country of origin influence the integration decision. This school of thought is unidirectional and sees integration as a process shaped solely by events in the country of destination focusing on the role the host community plays in the integration process of migrants. This approach is premised on the assumption that the host community members are seen as a docile group of people whose responsibility it is to integrate foreign nationals while little or no agency is required from the immigrant in what role they play in integrating themselves within their host communities and what informs such agency. This paper shifts from the focus on members of the host community to the role migrants themselves play in their integration process.  The paper examines what informs the agency of migrants in their integration drive and argues that the interplay between links to the home country and the receptivity of the local culture will depend on whether migrants choose one or more of several strategies: acculturation, transculturation, or a transnational existence, as modes of integration.

                                                                   Bio 

Cletus Muluh Momasoh comes from a multi-disciplinary background in Political Science, Development Studies, and Sociology. His research interests focus on African migration, global inequality, social movement, and social theory. In addition to lecturing as a part-time lecturer in the Department of Sociology at UCT, he is a part-time researcher with the Scalabrini Institute of Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA), from which he seeks to build bridges between migrants and their host communities through several intervention programs implemented by the organization.