Migration, immobility, and development across unequal geographies: an integrative comparative approach

Migration is a fundamental geographical process and livelihood strategy. Scholarly attention has predominantly focused on international migration from the Global South to the Global North, while the reasons for various immobility strategies are less well understood. This dissertation foregrounds immobility and internal migration as interrelated livelihood strategies, shaped by interactions between structural conditions and individual agency across unequal geographies. The thesis aims to examine the drivers of (im)mobility in the Global South, and specifically how livelihood interventions shape migration aspirations and capabilities. The dissertation adopts a comparative analytical perspective, combined with a case study of rural smallholders in Zambia's Western Province. The case study employs a mixed-method cross-sectional design, drawing on primary data collected in 2022: 56 semi-structured and 460 structured household interviews, supplemented by 17 key informant interviews with traditional leaders, policymakers, and practitioners. The thesis combines diverse data analysis approaches, including thematic and network analysis, qualitative comparative analysis, structural equation modelling, and autoethnography. The thesis makes several key theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions to our...