Negotiating Moral Authority for Body Repatriation: The Case of Senegalese Migration

Abstract

“I will go to Touba dead or alive” is a well-known adage among Senegalese migrants that refers to believers’ commitment to be buried in the holy city of Touba. Drawing on an ethnographic study undertaken in Belgium, Spain, and Senegal, this essay sheds light on the activities, mutual relations, and negotiations between transnational organizations in charge of body repatriation. The thanatic ethics, the moral code of conduct concerning death, is a source of moral authority, political leverage, and even occasionally, of financial profit for these organizations. This essay focuses on the “historical” actors in this field, namely, the Murid Muslim brotherhood and hometown organizations and how they had to cope with the coming of a new player, i.e. private companies offering repatriation insurance. We examine the functioning of these organizations and the ways in which they adapt to the transformations of Senegalese transnationalism. The essay starts with a theoretical account of the production, forms, and evolution of the thanatic ethics that underpins the transnational management of death. Shifting from Europe to Senegal it examines how the Murid authorities make use of the administration of the Touba necropolis to buttress their moral authority. Meanwhile, new insurance products targeting Senegalese migrants are emerging that negotiate with both the Murid brotherhood and the Senegalese State. In conclusion, we argue that the interplay of both traditional and new moral authorities enables a co-construction of a contemporary thanatic authority. This co-construction transforms Senegalese transnationalism while reflecting social change dynamics in the Senegalese society.

Keywords:

• Body repatriation
• Europe
• moral geography
• Senegal
• Senegalese migrants
• thanatic ethics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Murids form the second-largest Muslim brotherhood in Senegal.

2 The Senegalese state is outside the remit of this essay. Although its role will be evoked, a thorough analysis would have deserved a full-length paper. For more information about the Senegalese state implication around body repatriation over time and during the COVID-19 pandemic, see De Heusch, Wenger, and Lafleur (2022).

3 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 680014. The project has been validated by the ERC ethical screening (file No. 030652016) and by the University of Liège’s Ethics Review Board (CEIS). Anonymity (pseudonymization) and informed consent (written or oral consent, according to the type of research environment) have been ensured. Different giving-back sessions have been organized with the research participants.

4 According to the Senegalese government, the main ethno-linguist groups in Senegal are, in descending order: Wolof (43 per cent), Fulani (24 per cent), Sérère (15 per cent), and Diola (4 per cent). For more information: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Housing/IndigenousPeoples/States/Senegal.pdf.

5 According to the last Senegalese population census (2002), the large majority of the overall Senegalese population is religious: 60 per cent is Tijani, 28 per cent Murid, 6 per cent Qadir (three of the main Sufi brotherhoods in Senegal), while the rest of the population is Catholic and/or Animist. For more information: http://anads.ansd.sn/index.php/catalog/9. The Fulani are generally Tijani oriented, the Wolof tend to be more Murid oriented but include also Tijani, while the Sérère and Diola are generally Tijani or Catholic.

6 Interviews were held in French or Wolof and quotes were translated by the authors with the help of a translator.

7 The Senegalese population in Spain is estimated at 76,973 (Instituto Nacional de Estadística [INE] 2020). This figure includes “irregular” migrants registered in the padrón, the local inclusive registration regime. The Senegalese population is also estimated at 104,275 in Italy (Immigrants.Stat [ISTAT] 2021) and 110,500 in France (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques [INSEE] 2018).

8 NPA (in French, ASBL) refers in Belgium to a non-profit association with a legal personality. Legal personality enhances rights such as the right to access public subsidies, but also obligations such as the organization and report of annual general assemblies and the transparency of financial management.

9 In the case of Belgium, a small community of homosexual Senegalese migrants is emerging, while many of them undertake asylum applications. According to the Belgian Federal Office for Asylum (FEDASIL/CGRA), asylum applications undertaken by Senegalese nationals for gender reasons comprise most of the applications in this field. There were 144 in 2015 and one third of them were granted refugee status. For more information, see: “Être homosexuel au Sénégal,” La Libre Belgique, 2016; https://dossiers.lalibre.be/etrehomosexuelausenegal/episode3.php.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by European Research Council [grant number 680014].