In the shattered economy of Dakar, many young men feel stuck in prolonged bachelorhood. Handed‐down role expectations can often not be met due to dire economic prospects. Drawing on fieldwork in Pikine, an urban area within the Dakar region of Senegal, between 2011 and 2013, this article reflects upon the relation between risk, migration, social class and masculinity. Through migration to unknown destinations and by enduring the many challenges and hardships associated with it, in the hope of eventually reaching a higher social class upon return, young men wish to fix and rewrite their masculine identities. To pursue this aim even the oddest job in Europe becomes acceptable. At home, however, many work opportunities are considered to be beneath their social class. Most male urbanites seek jobs that are rewarded with respect and authority, and often assemble their choices about pursuing certain income‐generating activities considering notions of class.

Toog (sitting), rey temps bi (killing time), and xaar (waiting) are expressions that characterize the current predicament of young males in Pikine, an urban area in the Dakar region of Senegal. These young men, who gather together daily in the koñ (i.e., a hangout at a street corner), emphasize this predicament as only a temporary circumstance of life, which I conceive of as "opportunistic waiting." Overall, the local societal atmosphere makes young men feel under constant pressure to achieve something in life in order to become full-fledged responsible men, an endeavor that is obstructed by a plethora of factors. However, in Pikinois society, "waiting" can also be seen in a positive way as an indicator of social status, as it signals that one is not so poor as to accept every kind of work. This paper, based on ethnographic research conducted over a period of eleven months between 2011 and 2013, assesses "opportunistic waiting" as a meaningful constructed temporality offering sociability among young men who are all in the same situation of not being able to become social adults. [Immobility; Mobility; Waithood; Youth; Dakar] City & Society, Vol. 31, Issue 2, pp. 208-226, ISSN 0893-0465, eISSN 1548-744X.

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