List of Maps and Figures
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations and Acronyms

Introduction: Economies of Care and Return Migration in Zimbabwe

Chapter 1. Chronology of Care, Control and Crisis in Bulawayo
Chapter 2. Crossing Limpopo River: Migration as a Historically Constituted Form of Care
Chapter 3. Child Migration and the Care of ‘Posted Back Children’
Chapter 4. Repatriating the Dead and Dying
Chapter 5. Power of Papers: Claiming Travel Documents and Birth Registrations
Chapter 6. Serving the ‘Child’s Best Interests’: Custody, Maintenance and Repatriation of Children
Chapter 7. Working from Their Heart? Community Care, Vulnerability and Affective State

Conclusion

Appendix: Legislative Documents

Glossary
References
Index

Economies of Care

Return Migration from South Africa to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Saana Hansen

280 pages, 6 ills., bibliog., index

ISBN 978-1-83695-508-5 Hb Published (June 2026)

Details

Crises and displacement have shaped practices and relations of care among Zimbabwean migrants and their families upon their return from South African urban areas. Through ethnographic research primarily in Bulawayo,Economies of Care addresses the intersection of kinship, state functions and migration in sustaining livelihoods amidst Zimbabwe's economic and political instability. It offers an in-depth analysis of how bureaucratic and intimate care structures intertwine, making it an essential resource for scholars of migration, anthropology and African studies.

Saana Hansen is Postdoctoral Researcher in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Helsinki. She is affiliated with the Kone Foundation-funded project Postcolonial Apology and Legacies of Problematic Pasts (2021-2026) and the Research Council of Finland-funded project The Politics of Repair (2025-2029).

Subject: Political and Economic Anthropology Sociology Refugee and Migration Studies

Area:

BISAC: SOC002010 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Anthropology/Cultural & Social; SOC007000 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Emigration & Immigration; SOC026010 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Sociology/Marriage & Family

available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) with support from the Kone Foundation and the University of Helsinki

berghahn New York · Oxford

Contents

Economies of Care

Return Migration from South Africa to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Saana Hansen

Subject: Political and Economic Anthropology Sociology Refugee and Migration Studies

Area:

This title is published as Open Access

Full Text PDF | Full Text ePUB Made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license with support from the Kone Foundation and the University of Helsinki

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Contents

Economies of Care

Return Migration from South Africa to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Saana Hansen

Subject: Political and Economic Anthropology Sociology Refugee and Migration Studies

Area:

This title is published as Open Access

Full Text PDF | Full Text ePUB Made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license with support from the Kone Foundation and the University of Helsinki