Social relations in Namibia’s southern Kunene region are shaped by translocal
patterns of migration, exchange and identity. Young people move to urban
areas for schooling and work, older family members return to the countryside
upon retirement to take care of the livestock and the rural homesteads. These
movements are accompanied by remittances and resource transfers, critical for
securing livelihoods in rural as well as in urban contexts. People experience
movement between households from childhood on, and many migrants develop
identities that combine rural and urban lifestyles. Still, the rural homes remain
the symbolic, social and economic center for most migrants. Based on data from
multi-sited fieldwork, this article examines the emergence and current patterns
of migration, exchange and identity formation. The author outlines a translocal
perspective and argues that, in order to deepen our understanding of these dynamics,
it might be productive to borrow insights from recent studies of transnationalism.