Migration resilience: A case study of Nigeria – Mexico – Germany

Abstract

This article analyzes migratory resilience as a dynamic process of adaptation and resistance, through the life story of a Nigerian woman on her transnational journey from Nigeria, through Mexico, to her settlement in Germany.  The study employs a qualitative approach with a narrative focus, using in-depth interviews as the primary data collection instrument.  It considers the concepts of "structural violence," "intersectionality," and "otherness" as factors of exclusion, and "transnational perspective" and "resilience" as elements of agency.  The study identifies how the adversities faced in both the countries of origin and transit not only represent obstacles but also function as catalysts for adaptive skills, ultimately enabling her successful settlement in Germany, identifying as complementary impact factors the close network (husband) as the mesosystem level and the external network (clerical community) as the exosystem level of the Heise Model.