Faith, governance, and exodus: exploring the impact of religion and politics on youth migration in Africa

Youth migration in Africa is often understood through economic or conflict-based lenses, with religion and governance treated as secondary. This paper challenges the dominance of economic and securitisation narratives in African migration studies by foregrounding faith as a structuring force that intersects with political governance in shaping youth mobility. Drawing on rich ethnographic data from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, it illustrates how religious beliefs interact with political governance and function as an active force in shaping youth migration decisions. Using an Integrated Social Theory approach, combining post-colonial critique, neo-Pentecostal theology, and migration systems theory, the paper demonstrates how youth employ religion not only as a resource for resilience and resistance but as a moral compass and infrastructure for mobility. The study contributes new theoretical and empirical insights to migration studies by positioning lived religion and political disenchantment as co-constitutive forces in African youth migration trajectories.