Migratory Imaginaries in the Context of Senegalese Migration to Europe – Mechanisms of (Re)Production and Implications for Migration Processes

Dissertationsprojekt

In this dissertation, I explore the role of migratory imaginaries as the socio-cultural ground of the formation of migration aspirations and their implications for the various stages of the migration process. Based on over 80 semi-narrative interviews and additional participant observation with Senegalese migrants, returnees, migrants’ family members and friends, and experts in Senegal, Germany and Italy, as well as a netnography of Senegalese migrants’ profiles on social media and representative survey data from two regions in Senegal, this dissertation follows a mixed-methods and multi-sited approach.

Through the example of Senegalese migration to Europe, I develop the concept of migratory imaginaries and propose three mechanisms which explain the persistence of positive migratory imaginaries over time: (1) the selective representation of migration, (2) the selective perception of migration related information and (3) the selective communication about migration. I show how migratory imaginaries are influenced by the visibility of migratory success, both offline in the country of origin, e.g. through migrants’ remittances and investments back home, and online, through migrants’ auto-representations on social media. The invisibility of ‘failure’, e.g. the absence of the construction of houses back home or of photos of the good life in Europe, do not enter the migratory imaginary because migration is only represented selectively. This leads to a selective perception of migration related information. Additionally, migrants tend to communicate positively about their lives abroad. Social media enhances these mechanisms through the possibility for migrants to share curated photos and videos about their lives abroad with people in Senegal.

The transnational approach of this dissertation allows for a better understanding of the migratory imaginary’s implications for the mobility behavior of people in the countries of origin but also on migrants’ lives abroad. In four empirical chapters I investigate the role of the migratory imaginary and its underlying mechanisms regarding the formation of migration aspirations, migrants’ willingness to engage in high-risk migration, migrants’ negotiations between their families’ and friends’ financial expectations and their own experiences of frustration and regret upon their arrival in Europe, the decision-making processes regarding return and onward migration and the stigmatization of migrant returnees.

My dissertation contributes to the understanding of the socio-cultural mechanism and the role of cognitive frames in migration processes. With this, I add to the debates on the rational-choice approach regarding migration decision-making, on the origins of migration aspirations, on the role of social networks for migration as well as the debate on the perpetuation of migration processes.