Mouride Wolof Senegalese Transnational Networks

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• Article: Transmigrants" but not "Nomads": Mouride Transnationalism in Italy. Murid Transnationalism in Italy. by Bruno Riccio. Cahiers d’études africaines, 2006/1 (No 181)

"To take into account what seems a new way to live the experiences of migration some scholars shaped new concepts such as that of "transnationalism". This term is used to describe the processes through which migrants create social fields, which cut across geographical and political boundaries. Wolof mouride migrants in Italy are a good example of such a transnational migration. After an introduction to the debate over the transnational approach to migrations, in the first part I discuss the activities that allow mouride migrants to organize their mobility and their temporary settlement thanks to the transnationalisation of their social and religious networks. Yet, there exists a general tendency within the transnationalism literature to assume that such a migratory organization necessarily implies multiple identifications to various contexts and a "nomadic" way of life. On the contrary, as I show in the final section, mouride migrants do not seem to change their existential point of reference. Many of the migrants preserve and contribute towards shaping a strong sense of identity. They are oriented towards a return and invest materially and emotionally in Sénégal."