The Allure of Scapegoating Return Migrants during a Pandemic

ABSTRACT

The stigmatization of Senegalese return migrants as COVID-19 vectors by fellow Senegalese during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic troubles the self/other distinction that underpins the scholarly focus on epidemics and xenophobia and encourages the broader task of exploring epidemics and phobia. The casting of return migrants as COVID-19 vectors was influenced by longstanding ambivalence toward these migrants that had encouraged some Senegalese to seek to “confine” them to Europe long before the pandemic. Old preoccupations help us understand how Senegalese interpreted and deployed COVID-19 control and prevention measures like “confinement,” lockdowns, and border closures.

KEYWORDS:

• Pandemics
• COVID-19
• phobia
• migration
• Senegal
• Southern Europe

Acknowledgments

I thank Serigne Cheikh Ka for his invaluable work as a research assistant on this project. I presented this paper at a seminar of the African Studies Program at Indiana University on February 17, 2021. I am deeply grateful to seminar participants for their insightful comments on the paper. I wish to also acknowledge the help of the editors and anonymous peer reviewers of Medical Anthropology whose thoughts and suggestions have helped me improve this article.

Notes

1. I have used pseudonyms for all interviewees in this article for reasons of anonymity and confidentiality.

2. The daily communiques of the Ministry of Health and Social Action that provide data on the evolution of the pandemic in Senegal can be found at http://www.sante.gouv.sn.

Additional information

Funding

I received no funding for this work.

Notes on contributors

Ato Kwamena Onoma

Ato Kwamena Onoma is a senior program officer at the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). His previous work focused on land rights, institutions, and forced migration. His current work uses epidemics and interment practices to explore inter-communal relations in Africa. He can be reached at [email protected].