This article interrogates contemporary African migration through an Afrocentric political-economy lens, challenging dominant migration theories that detach mobility from history, power, and global economic structures. It argues that African migration is best understood not as a failure of development or an outcome of individual choice, but as a rational and historically grounded response to selective globalization. While trade and capital circulate with increasing freedom, African labor remains systematically constrained, producing a structural paradox at the heart of the global order. The paper critically revisits push-pull and neoclassical migration frameworks, demonstrating their limitations in explaining African mobility under conditions of uneven development and asymmetric globalization. Drawing on Afrocentric theory, it recenters African historical experience, social rationality, and political agency, linking migration directly to free trade regimes, neoliberal restructuring, and global inequalities. The analysis further extends beyond the conventional Africa–Global North focus by examining intra-African migration, the African Continental Free Trade Area, and visa regimes, revealing how continental integration advances unevenly when labor mobility is politically securitized and selectively implemented. Using illustrative political-economy examples and policy analysis, the article shows how elite interests, national protectionism, and uneven development shape migration governance both globally and within Africa. It concludes that trade liberalization without labor mobility risks reproducing dependency rather than fostering transformation. By reframing mobility as developmental infrastructure rather than a security threat, the article advances an Afrocentric approach that aligns migration, trade, and development policy with Africa’s own historical trajectories and philosophical traditions. The study contributes to migration scholarship by offering a people-centered, relational, and politically grounded framework for understanding African mobility in a globalized world.
Oluwakemi Damola Adejumo-Ayibiowu (Thu,) studied this question.