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Abstract
The paper compares two different West African communities living and working in Italy. The mostly male Senegalese migrants generally belong to the Mouride Sufi brotherhood, whose vertical and horizontal ties are reproduced in transnational networks, and these often help migrants organise their business activities as well as their temporary settlement within the receiving contexts. Ghanaians in Italy are Christians with a growing number of Pentecostals. They have a balanced gender ratio and, unlike the Senegalese who are strongly identified with the project of return, Ghanaians families tend to settle in Italy. Yet transnational connections and activities (remittances, home associations, investment in housing or entrepreneurial activities) are frequent among Ghanaians too. Despite differences, there are therefore also similarities. The paper focuses on the complex politics of interplay with the receiving contexts and explores the potentials and obstacles for the enhancement of transnational linkages.
Acknowledgements
This paper draws on fieldwork in Italy (Emilia Romagna and Lombardy) 2003–04, and on participation in two research projects concerned with the potential for co-development and transnational investment of Ghanaian and Senegalese migrants. The first involved a study of Ghanaian migrants in Emilia Romagna and was connected to broader research undertaken by CeSPI (Centro Studi Politica Internazionale) and coordinated by Andrea Stocchiero under the aegis of the MIDA programme of IOM Italy and the Italian Cooperation. The second concerned Senegalese migrants and their potential involvement in alleviating urban poverty in the country of origin and was connected to a broader project coordinated by Momar Coumba Diop on behalf of UN–HABITAT. I thank these institutions for their financial help and the other researchers I had the pleasure of working with for their scientific comments and suggestions. Finally, I would like to thank Ralph Grillo for his help in making sense of my still fragmented material that I presented at the AEGIS Conference in London (July 2005).