Growing Up and Going Abroad: How Ghanaian Children Imagine Transnational Migration

Migration scholars should pay attention to migration as seen through children’s eyes for at least two reasons. For one, children’s perspectives help us understand whether children are being socialized into their community’s culture of migration, a culture which shapes migration patterns and flows. Secondly, given that some children migrate and some children are left behind by migrant parents or relatives, children’s imaginings of whether they as children ought to migrate affects where the responsibility and costs for their care will be located, between family members, countries, and states. This paper examines how children aged 10-18 in a town in southern Ghana imagine life abroad, conceptualize the timing of migration in their lifecourse, and articulate their goals in migrating as a case study for exploring these larger issues.Peer reviewe