Mouride Transnational Livelihoods at the Margins of a European Society: The Case of Residence Prealpino, Brescia, Italy

Abstract

In this paper, the Residence Prealpino, a building declared uninhabitable but which houses some 300 Senegalese migrants in an otherwise well-to-do neighbourhood in the town of Brescia, Italy, is taken as a case of how migrants’ lives are influenced both by the local context in which they make a living and by the transnational linkages they maintain with their homelands. Studies of integration normally focus on how migrants adapt to the situation in the country of arrival and often do not see that arriving in a new country does not mean leaving the old behind. Although transnational studies take this into account they have tended to neglect the influence of local circumstances and display a rather optimistic picture of transnational migrants’ lives. This positive interpretation of transnationalism is especially evident in the case of the Mourides, the Muslim brotherhood to which the majority of the Senegalese in Brescia belong. They are often heralded as African winners, conquering the world. While this may be true in some respects, it is only part of the picture. The case of Residence Prealpino shows how making a livelihood at the margins of a European society is often difficult but also indicates how Mouride local and transnational links help people cope with this situation. It thus contributes to a more nuanced view of the Mouride brotherhood and what it is to be a Mouride migrant in the current era.

Keywords:

• Transnationalism
• Livelihoods
• Migration
• Religion
• Senegalese

Acknowledgements

Research has been made possible by WOTRO (the Netherlands Scientific Organization for Scientific Tropical Research), for which I express my gratitude.

Notes

1. The data for this article were mainly collected during fieldwork in Brescia, Italy, from March to July 2005, supplemented by fieldwork in Dakar and Touba, Senegal, in November and December 2005. In Brescia, interviews were conducted with Senegalese living in and outside the Residence, with local administrators and other resource persons. In addition, I exchanged findings with LaRIS (Laboratorio di Ricerca e Intervento Sociale) from the Catholic University, which was conducting sociological–anthropological research into the population of the Residence. In Dakar and Touba, families of migrants living in Brescia, religious leaders and other resource persons were visited. Interviews conducted were most often informal and participation in daily life and in celebrations was important. After this research was conducted, a plan for closing the shops and evacuating and restructuring the Residence was put into effect, with the intention of emptying it by 31 December 2007.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mayke Kaag

Mayke Kaag is Research Fellow at the African Studies Centre, Leiden