From Baol to Buenos Aires. An Updating of the Genealogy of Senegalese Modou-Modou Migration

Abstract

In this article we propose a contextualized and updated genealogy of Senegalese migratory processes, in which South America appears as a recent destination in long-standing historical processes. In addition to rural-urban internal mobility, within the African continent, and the ones directed to Europe and other extra-continental destinations, in the 21st century destinations from the Southern Cone, such as Argentina and Brazil, were incorporated. On this pathways we identify some key elements that give direction and distinctive features to these migrations, such as French colonization and Islam in West Africa, from whose combination the Modou-Modou migrants emerged. We conclude that they are part of a culture of mobility and connection that goes from a micro-local space to a more global space and vice versa, articulating African, European, Asian and South American urban groups, which constitute their transnational migratory field.