Origin and destination social capital in international migration from DR Congo, Ghana and Senegal

Mao-Mei Liu, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

This paper explores how origin and destination social capital influence migration. In quantitative migration scholarship to date, studies of origin social capital (e.g. household structure, strategies) and destination social capital (e.g. migrant networks) are largely segregated. Yet, qualitative migration scholarship has shown that potential migrants are swayed by a complex and geographically-distributed web of kin and friends. Utilizing the recent longitudinal Migration between Africa and Europe project data (2012), this paper aims to unify these diverse research streams. Comparing different origin contexts (DR Congo, Ghana, Senegal), this study will also reveal how the social capital influences are mediated by gender, generation and familial culture.