Affiliation:
Professor of Research & Clinical Psychology
North-West University, Faculty of Humanities, South Africa
Short bio:
Formerly HoD & Subject Chair (Psychology), Professor Idemudia is a tenured Full-Professor of Research (Social Science Cluster)
in the Faculty of Humanities, North-West University, South Africa. He is currently the Chairperson of three Ethics Committees at
the North-West University, BaSSREC, HSSREC & EMELTEN-REC. He is an established-rated Scientist and a 2015 recipient of
the Georg-Forster Life-Time Achievement Award in Research from the Alexander Humboldt Foundation, Germany. A
Humboldtian (Germany); Leventis Fellow (UK); Salzburg Fellow (Austria); a Phodiso-UCLA Fellow and Advisor (USA) and
currently the General Secretary & Registrar of Membership-World Council for Psychotherapy (WCP)-African Chapter and Board
member and Fellow, WCP, Austria. He is an Associate Editor with Heliyon and the Journal of Child & Adolescent Mental Health
(South Africa). A Fellow of the Nigerian Psychological Association (NPA), Nigerian Association of Clinical Psychologists (NACP,
Alexander von Humboldt (AvH), Germany and Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (South Africa). Broadly, my research
interests and contribution to science are anchored on applied clinical psychology research, which mainly includes (1) applied research
in mental health, well-being, Trauma, PTSS, PTSD, CPTSD and psychological interventions with vulnerable and challenged groups
such as migrants/refugees/internally displaced persons (IDPs), incarcerated inmates, and marginalised and stigmatised populations
such as PLHIV, persons with disabilities across the lifespan. (2) the development of African-oriented psychology methods to
understand illness attributions based on African culture, and (3) gender studies anchored on 1 and 2 above. Prof Idemudia has
about 350 publications in peer-reviewed journals and books with a wide readership. He is the author of (with Klaus Boehnke-2010)
“I’m an alien in Deutschland: A Quantitative Mental Health Case Study of African Immigrants in Germany and “Psychosocial
Experiences of African Migrants in Six European Countries: A Mixed Method Study” (2020). https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-48347-0 Prof Idemudia is currently the recipient of the 2023 FriedrichSchiller University Jena, Germany Research Excellence Award
Title:
Globalisation, African Migration and Europe: The dynamics
Abstract:
Globalisation – an acronym for liberalization of international trade and the revolution in communication is arguably one of the most important factors generating increased levels of international migration because trade liberalization, according to statistics has placed developing economies under economic pressures, often generating increased unemployment, reduced social spending and a decline in living standards due to the impact of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) the hallmarks of many economies of the continent because of deregulated foreign investment, liberalised imports and removal of currency controls and in consequences have undermined the internal and national productive capacities, social security and democratic integrity of these countries. These pressures no doubt generate political insecurity by creating grievances over limited or inequitably distributed resources or frustration at the declining capacity of states to provide socio-economic security, thereby leading to mass migration. Globalization, they say, has not only increased ‘push factors’ inducing emigration but has expanded possibilities for the flow of information, communication and movement between states and also increased the demand for both high and low-skilled workers. In fact, the media have described cross-border inter-national migration as ‘regionalization and globalization’ of migration, and as a result, many in Africa believe that life in Europe and other Western countries is blissful, thinking they are lands flowing with milk and honey and full of beds of roses. As a result, they travel in droves using unsafe means such as trolleys, dinghies and cargo ships and in some cases, many trek through the valleys and shadows of death of the hot Sahara Desert. In the process, many of them die resulting in world headlines. Those who succeed on arrival find that the land that was supposed to flow with ‘life’ actually flows with hardships, police harassment, racism, imprisonment, daily apprehension of deportation and other hosts of hostile life situations. To keep ‘body and soul’ together, some of them engage in drug peddling and distribution, prostitution, and domestic thefts and, therefore, end up in prisons, while some engage in petty and menial jobs. This paper will focus on the psychology of the African migrants in 6 European countries- challenges before, during and after migration and the responses of Africans in novel cultural environments, the core assumption being that cultural contact is inherently stressful.