Abstract

The mixed embeddedness model explains immigrants’ economic activities, but lacks historical perspective to account for these activities over time. This paper deploys the historical and mixed embeddedness approaches, what I call the historicized mixed embeddedness approach to offer a more comprehensive explanation of West African immigrants' economic activities (WAIEA) in Ghana. It analyses historical/archival documents on WAIEA in Ghana and the extant immigrant entrepreneurship/business discourse from pre-colonial time to independence in 1957 to understand how immigrants chose Ghana as migration destination and for economic activities. The paper contributes to the discourse on immigrants' economic activities, adds historical breadth, places arguments in a historicized mixed embeddedness frame, and expands the voice of arguments from less developed societies.