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Title
Europe as the promised land: Imaginations of the West and lived experiences of (im)mobility of Gambian male returnees |
Full text
https://dspace.library.uu.nl:8080/handle/1874/392667 |
Date
2019 |
Author(s)
Gelens, E.H.A. |
Contributor(s)
Wildt, R, de |
Abstract
The Gambia, known as the smallest country in West Africa, is one of the poorest countries in Africa (Mitchell & Faal, 2007). For years already, the Gambia s government s inability to create economic stability results in increasing emigration tendencies among all parts of the population (Kebbeh 2013, 1). Thousands of unemployed and disenfranchised Gambians, mostly men, therefore, risk their lives every year by taking irregular migration journeys to Europe (Gaibazzi 2010, 9). This thesis answers the following research question: What is the role of imaginations of the West and experienced (im)mobility of Gambian male returnees in their decision and attempt to migrate to Europe? Answers are based on empirical research, conducted during three months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Gambia. This empirical research is placed within the anthropological debate on globalization and (im)mobility. According to several scholars (e.g. Eriksen 2014; Inda & Rosaldo 2008; Tsing 2000), the twenty-first century is a century of worldwide globalization. Herein, mobility and interconnection are said to characterize the globe by intertwining several spaces (Inda & Rosaldo 2008, 5). Other academics (e.g. Bauman 1998; Carling 2001) argue globalization can be seen as a dividing force. This because several population groups wish to migrate but are not able to do so (Carling 2001). In the case of the Gambia, many young Gambians daydream and fantasize about traveling to Europe or North America in order to escape the Gambian existence (Nyanzi et al. 2005, 558). They however face multiple barriers to travel to countries outside of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) (Gaibazzi 2010, 76), and therefore embark on several irregular migration journeys towards Europe (Gaibazzi 2010, 9). This thesis thus shows how Gambian male returnees experience (im)mobility and how they wish and attempt to be part of this so-called globalized world by trying to overcome several mobility restrictions. |
Subject(s)
Globalization; imaginations; mobility; immobility; irregular migration; Gambia. |
Language
en |
Type of publication
Master thesis |
Format
image/pdf |
Rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/ClosedAccess |
Repository
Utrecht - University of Utrecht
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Added to C-A: 2020-03-02;09:15:10 |
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