Cameroonian Migrant Women in Cape Town, South Africa and Cross-Border Family Life

Abstract

The topic of cross-border family life in the Cameroon context has been largely ignored by scholars; using the oral history method, I am focusing on Cameroonian women migrants' creation of meaning around family relationships. Most scholarly work around this topic has often reflected the idea that the migration of women leads to family disintegration and children left behind suffer a care deficit. Based on the research I carried out in Cape Town, South Africa, I argue that the migration of Cameroonian women to Cape Town, South Africa does not lead to family disintegration and Children left back at home do not suffer care deficit. Instead these women negotiate their belonging in order to be able to care and provide for their children and families back home. They do so by strategically obtaining legal documents in South Africa, which enables them to invite their children and family members to join them, thereby performing motherhood in another light while maintaining the hegemonic perception of being the main caregivers to their children.