|
|
AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
Show panel list
Migrant Associations between the West African Sahelregion and Paris
| Panel |
42. Transnational spaces/cosmopolitan times: African associations in Europe
|
| Paper ID | 443 |
| Author(s) |
Schrade, Anna
|
| Paper |
No paper submitted
|
| Abstract | My paper focuses on the “associations villagoises pour le développement“ that were founded in the 1980s in Paris by westafrican migrant workers from the region of the Senegal river valley between Senegal, Mali and Mauretania.
The initial point of these associations was to realize developmental projects in the hometowns and to improve the living conditions of the families left behind. Today one can note that the importance of these "projets of développement" is based above all on the establishment of new social reports.
Using the Senegal village Sinthiou Dioye as an example, my intention is to examine the relationships and interactions between “here” and “there” and thus describe the “transnational social space” that emerges as a result of the migrants commitment to their association. In conclusion I want to focus on two significant projects that were realized between Sinthiou Dioye and Paris: The construction of a primary school and the installation of a new form of money-transfert (“société de fax”). Although these social innovations have a great impact on the transnational community and the living conditions in Sinthiou Dioye, they are not wellcomed by all community members and are confronted with constraints.
|
|