Moved by Modernity: How Development Shapes Migration in Rural Ethiopia

Across headlines and scholarly research alike, migration from countries like Ethiopia is often framed as a crisis: poverty, climate change, and conflict pushing people from their homes. These dominant ＂push factor＂ narratives suggest that migration is a problem--and that development is the solution.

Moved by Modernity turns this assumption on its head, revealing how social and economic development can drive migration rather than reduce it. In this groundbreaking study, Kerilyn Schewel draws on extensive fieldwork in Wayisso, a rural Ethiopian village, to examine how generations of families adapted their aspirations, livelihoods, and migration strategies amid their country’s tumultuous pursuit of modernization. Their stories offer rich insights into what development actually looks like in rural societies--and why it so often fuels both internal and international migration.

Interweaving life histories, survey data, and ethnographic vignettes, Moved by Modernity explores how key forces of social change--political reform, education, market expansion, and foreign investment--reshape both aspirations and capabilities to migrate. Schewel shows that those who leave Wayisso are not fleeing poverty; they are often more educated, better connected, and actively seeking modern lives. Meanwhile, the poorest households remain behind, unable to migrate--trapped by the very forces assumed to push them out.

Moved by Modernity offers a new framework for understanding why people migrate--and why they stay. It is a compelling critique of conventional development thinking and an essential resource for researchers, policymakers, and anyone seeking to understand the deeper forces shaping global mobility today.

Kerilyn Schewel is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research explores the causes and consequences of human migration and immobility, with particular attention to issues of gender, youth, education, rural development, and climate change. She combines qualitative and quantitative methods to provide deeper insights into why people move, why they stay, and how societies can respond to the challenges and opportunities of migration.