Introduction: roaming and rooted – migration, religion, spirituality and the transnational lives of African youth

Abstract

This Special Issue examines the intersections of migration, religion, spirituality and the transnational lives of African youth, offering a decolonial and youth-centred perspective on mobility and belonging. Drawing on comparative, multi-sited ethnography in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK, the contributionscentre on young Africans’ agency as they navigate structural inequality, postcolonial legacies, racialised bordering and digital connectivity. By foregrounding African epistemologies such askufambira (relational journeying) and unsettling Eurocentric binaries – migrant/left-behind and religious/secular – this Special Issue reconceptualises migration as a spiritually embedded, multi-directional process. The ten articles explore how youth leverage religion and digital platforms for identity, resistance and resilience,while interrogating the colonial infrastructures that shape their mobilities. Collectively, this issue advances a transformative agenda for migration studies, one that foregrounds Southern theories, lived experience and African youth’s creative agency to reshape understandings of migration, religion, spirituality and transnational life, offering a critical intervention in contemporary scholarship.