Doing and contesting borderwork in Senegal: local implementers of migration information campaigns

Cecilia Schenetti*, Valentina Mazzucato

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

European states and international organizations employ migration information campaigns to discourage African youth from trying to get to Europe without the necessary papers. Campaigns count on a variety of actors, including local staff members of Non-Governmental Organizations in origin countries. Yet, little is known about how local campaign implementers perceive and perform their tasks. This article investigates why and how Senegalese citizens help to implement campaigns in Senegal when such campaigns try to curb the very mobility they aspire to themselves. Drawing on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Senegal, where we observed how migration campaigns were organized and run, the article shows how local implementers produce borders in their daily activities while at the same time making use of the ambiguity campaigns create. We find that local campaign staffs are brokers who simultaneously reinforce and undermine ‘soft’ borders in their work of translating policy into practice. We analyze how campaigns are performed through the speech acts of local staff, which define and consolidate control over the mobility of Senegalese youth. At the same time, local implementers, in their practical and discursive labor, find fissures to contest dominant discourses and push an alternative message.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2803-2821
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Volume50
Issue number12
Early online date18 Mar 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Keywords

  • borderwork
  • local brokers
  • Migration information campaigns
  • Senegal
  • speech acts

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Doing and contesting borderwork in Senegal: local implementers of migration information campaigns'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this