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As the impact of COVID-19 on businesses was impossible to predict, so is the future of migrant entrepreneurs – some of whom, before the outbreak, had to deal with immigrant status associated challenges. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to focus on African migrant entrepreneurs in China, much less studied ethnic migrants who have always lived on the margins of Chinese society, to examine their entrepreneurial resilience under COVID-19 in China.

The study used a qualitative design using a survey and semi-structured follow-up interviews as the primary data collection instrument. The questions in the questionnaire guide were adapted from the Center for Global Development survey instrument designed to gauge the resilience of SMEs under COVID-19.

Although most business operations in China are impacted, African migrant businesses were very hit due to existing social challenges coupled with their informality (i.e. operating at a low level of organization), lack of contingency plans and lack of stimulus support. COVID-19 is thus not only a force majeure that threatens the growth expectation of African owned-business but also presents a threat to their very existence in an already challenging society for Africans.

Although the study has achieved its intended purpose, the sample was relatively small due to the low return rate of questionnaires and the difficulties in reaching out to target respondents due to the restrictive measures on movements during the data collection period.

This paper draws attention to the entrepreneurship-related challenges faced by ethnic migrants in China during a crisis. The social challenges of Africans living in China became a global topical issue during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. However, little is known about their entrepreneurship endeavors and the associated difficulties. This paper helps our understanding of African businesses’ resilience in China during uncertain times, such as the one created by COVID-19.

The purpose of this paper is to examine migrants working as inter‐cultural mediators at the interface of the formal and informal economies in southern Italy so as to question the conventional representation of knowledge workers.

Ethnographic evidence collected between September 2004 and July 2005 is presented of the knowledge work of these precarious non‐European Union migrants in Naples, Italy.

This paper displays the need to consider alternative forms of knowledge work and knowledge worker that are central to the globalizing economy. Migration and difference and their resulting social realities are seen as central features of contemporary economic change. Depicting the creative, flexible, problem‐solving aspects of intercultural mediators who work with undocumented and documented migrants in the Naples area, this paper shows how these African migrant mediators make use of their full repertoire of formally trained knowledge and more centrally their social, tacit, experiential and embodied knowledge intimately linked with their Africanness and self‐awareness of their precarious migrant status to gain the trust of other Africans. In fact, their flexibility in the face of changing circumstances and their manipulation, reading and negotiation of cultural codes depending on circumstances reveals a flexible, enterprising style suited to the challenges of the knowledge economy.

It displays how current conceptualisations of the knowledge economy and knowledge worker in contemporary advanced economies need considerable revision to include other types of migrant normally excluded from discussions.

This is one of the first attempts to display the relationship between knowledge workers, immigrants and the informal economy.

Migrants historically and currently form an integral part of South Africa. Their importance and contribution to the country’s economy and development are undeniable. Yet, life for African migrants in South Africa is becoming increasingly difficult. An analysis of migrants mortality until now has not been conducted. The purpose of this paper is to compare the trends of the cause of death among South African Citizens (RSA) and African migrants from countries that form part of the South African Development Community (SADC), that make up nearly 70% of the migrants in the country.

Using Stats SA data of all registered deaths in South Africa (2002-2015), this paper compares all causes of death (COD) between RSA and SADC migrants. This paper studies the patterns in COD among these population groups for the years 2002 to 2015 in deaths due to infectious diseases and unnatural causes. Logistic regression was used to quantify the odds of dying due to infectious disease and unnatural causes for each population group. This paper included a calculation of the odds of dying due to assault, as a sub-group within unnatural deaths.

A total of 7,611,129 deaths were recorded for the local South African population and 88,114 for SADC migrants for the period under study (2002–2015). The burden of mortality for both infectious diseases and unnatural causes was higher for SADC migrants as compared to RSA. SADC migrants were 1.22 times more likely to die from infectious diseases than RSA (P < 0.001, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.12, 1.23). Similarly, SADC migrants were 2.7 times more likely to die from unnatural causes than South Africans (P < 0.001, 95% CI (2.17, 2.23). The odds of dying from assault was the same as that of unnatural causes. Also, it was found that women were more likely to die from infectious diseases (OR = 1.11, P < 0.001, 95% CI (1.11, 1.11) compared to men, regardless of nationality.

The bias resulting from migrants who return home to die due to illness, described in the literature as the salmon bias, is present in this paper. This paper, therefore, concludes death due to infectious diseases could be higher among migrants.

The heightened mortality among SADC migrants can be related to the impact of social determinants of health such as living and working conditions and barriers to access to health care. Moreover, the higher probability of death due to unnatural causes such as assaults constitute a proxy to estimate the impact of xenophobic violence observed in the country over the past decade. Policy interventions should focus on migrant health-care systems. Also, programmes to mitigate and curb xenophobic sentiments should be carried out to address the growing disparity of preventable unnatural causes of death.

This study offers the first quantification of mortality due to infectious diseases and unnatural causes among RSA and SADC migrants.

‘Black Africans’ in England are disproportionately and highly affected by the heterosexually contracted HIV epidemic. Policy and practice frameworks have advocated ethnic matching in HIV prevention. We explore how self‐identifying ‘black African’ workers in London were co‐producers of ‘black African’ identities to target in preventative HIV interventions. Drawing on a focused literature review and 12 in‐depth interviews with workers, the paper identifies themes associated with co‐production of an African identify by workers. The historical inclusion of the category ‘black African’ in the 1991 census coincided with the emergence of Africans as at higher HIV ‘risk’. In co‐producing an African public, the workers projected their heterosexual and Christian affiliations on to the targeted population, perceiving themselves as ‘insiders’ knowledgeable about rumours that had historically co‐produced African identities. Fear of those in authority galvanised the formation of African‐led agencies, offering entry points for HIV prevention to Africans. By projecting aspects of their complex ‘selves’ on to the ‘other’, encounters in public spaces were deemed ‘opportunities’ for outreach interventions. The ethics of ‘cold calling’, confidentiality and informed consent were taken as ‘given’ in these socially produced ‘private’ spaces located in ‘public’ venues. In following HIV prevention frameworks as advocated by Pulle et al (2004), the workers endorsed yet problematised the notion of ethnic matching.

This chapter analyses interviews with 13 African scholars from a range of countries who are currently working at a South African university. The interviews explore aspects of their migration journeys and the role that language, particularly the English language, has played in their mobility. The majority of the participants originate from English-speaking African countries, and are fluent English speakers. English is currently the international language of the academy, and English fluency can almost be seen as a prerequisite for an international academic career. The driving question behind this research is what have these African highly skilled academic migrants gained and lost from English in terms of their mobility, careers and identities? The participants show complex orientations towards the medium. On the one hand, English is recognised as an enabling medium for international success in academia, and for career and educational opportunities aboard. On the other hand, participants perceive that the emphasis on the English medium has negative effects on their relationships with their home languages and their home countries. The research raises questions about the role of English in higher education in Africa.

Food insecurity (FI) is an important social determinant of health and is linked with higher health care costs. There is a high prevalence of FI among recent migrant households in Canada. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the prevalence of FI in Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean migrants in Ottawa, and to explore determinants of FI in that population.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 190 mothers born in Sub-Saharan Africa or the Caribbean living in Ottawa and having a child between 6 and 12 years old. Health Canada’s Household Food Security Survey Module was used to evaluate participants’ food security in the past 12 months. χ² tests and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to measure determinants of FI (n=182).

A very high rate of FI (45.1 percent) was found among participants. When numerous determinants of FI were included in a multivariate model, household FI was associated with Caribbean origin, low education attainment, lone motherhood, living in Canada for five years or less and reliance on social assistance.

These findings highlight the need for FI to be explicitly addressed in migrant integration strategies in order to improve their financial power to purchase sufficient, nutritious and culturally acceptable foods. Enhancing migrants’ access to affordable child care and well-paid jobs, improving social assistance programs and providing more affordable subsidized housing programs could be beneficial.

Asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants’ access to healthcare vary in South Africa and Cape Town due to unclear legal status. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the source of this variation, the divergence between the 1996 South African Constitution, the immigration laws, and regulations and to describe its harmful consequences.

Based on legal and ethnographic research, this paper documents the disjuncture between South African statutes and regulations and the South African Constitution regarding refugees and migrants’ access to healthcare. Research involved examining South African jurisprudence, the African Charter, and United Nations’ materials regarding rights to health and health care access, and speaking with civil society organizations and healthcare providers. These sources inform the description of the immigrant access to healthcare in Cape Town, South Africa.

Asylum-seekers and refugees are entitled to health and emergency care; however, hospital administrators require documentation (up-to-date permits) before care can be administered. Many immigrants – especially the undocumented – are often unable to obtain care because of a lack of papers or because of “progressive realization,” the notion that the state cannot presently afford to provide treatment in accordance with constitutional rights. These explanations have put healthcare providers in an untenable position of not being able to treat patients, including some who face fatal conditions.

The research is limited by the fact that South African courts have not adjudicated a direct challenge to being refused care at healthcare facility on the basis of legal status. This limits the ability to know how rights afforded to “everyone” within the South African Constitution will be interpreted with respect to immigrants seeking healthcare. The research is also limited by the non-circulation of healthcare admissions policies among leading facilities in the Cape Town region where the case study is based.

Articulation of the disjuncture between the South African Constitution and the immigration laws and regulations allows stakeholders and decision-makers to reframe provincial and municipal policies about healthcare access in terms of constitutional rights and the practical limitations accommodated through progressive realization.

In South Africa, immigration statutes and regulations are inconsistent and deemed unconstitutional with respect to the treatment of undocumented migrants. Hospital administrators are narrowly interpreting the laws to instruct healthcare providers on how to treat patients and whom they can treat. These practices need to stop. Access to healthcare must be structured to comport with the constitutional right afforded to everyone, and with progressive realization pursued through a non – discriminatory policy regarding vulnerable immigrants.

This paper presents a unique case study that combines legal and social science methods to explore a common and acute question of health care access. The case is novel and instructive insofar as South Africa has not established refugee camps in response to rising numbers of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants. South Africans thus confront a “first world” question of equitable access to healthcare within their African context and with limited resources in a climate of increasing xenophobia.

For Lusophones, saudade is a common psychological experience related with the physical separation from loved ones and/or familiar locations. This study aims to examine the relationships between perception of discrimination, adaptation and saudade.

The sample consisted of 655 African migrants from Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique living in Portugal with a mean age of 38 years. The average duration of stay in Portugal was 22 years.

Results indicated that length of residence impacted the difficulties experienced with saudade: respondents with longer lengths of stay in the society of settlement experienced less difficulty with saudade. As predicted, the results indicated that higher perceptions of discrimination and loneliness correlated positively with experienced saudade, while sociocultural adaptation correlated negatively with experienced saudade.

Path analysis was conducted to investigate mediation impacts of sociocultural adjustment and loneliness on the relationship between perception of discriminatory events and difficulty with saudade. This study suggests that sociocultural adaptation and loneliness partially mediated the relation between perception of discrimination and saudade. Notwithstanding the low level of perceived discrimination found in this African background sample, this antecedent plays a relevant role in the saudade experienced. This evidence may be useful in targeting programs to improve sociocultural adjustment and to reduce loneliness which may help to alleviate the difficulty with feeling saudade among African migrants.

Employing a feminist relational lens, the purpose of this paper is to explore the work-life balance experiences of black migrant women entrepreneurs, examining the relationship between macro, meso and micro levels of business activity. The paper examines the obstacles raised and opportunities enabled by the confrontation and negotiation between the private and public space.

Qualitative methods are used and the paper draws on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 29 black women business owners in the legal and black hairdressing sectors in London. The analysis of the paper is informed by a relational approach that recognises the embedded nature of business activity in differing levels of social action.

The analysis reveals that ability of the women in the study to manage their work-life balance was shaped by power relations and social interactions between and within cultural, structural and agentic dimensions of small business ownership.

This paper contributes to the literature on business and entrepreneurial behaviour of women by embedding work-life balance experiences of black migrant women in context of relations between and within macro, meso and micro levels. It conceptualises the behaviour of the women in the study in terms of confrontations, negotiations and dialogue between notions of motherhood, femininity, family and entrepreneurship at the societal, institutional and individual levels. In so doing the paper expands the literature on minority entrepreneurship and underscores the interconnected nature of these three levels to produce unique experiences for individual migrant women.