Sahara transit: times, spaces, people

Abstract

Transit migration is not a completely new phenomenon. In fact the real novelty is that it is perceived or presented as new by international experts. By re‐emphasising the transitory nature of migration the term reintroduces an aspect of uncertainty in migration patterns, associating social marginalisation with precarious impermanence and illegality with criminality and transit, in order to provide an argument to eliminate it. In fact it is only a minority of nationals of sub‐Saharan African countries who, having crossed the Sahara, actually want to continue to Europe. The majority are happy to work more permanently in the Maghreb while cross border circulation continues on a seasonal basis. To confuse the figure of the trans‐Saharan migrant with those of the victim stuck on a boat off the coast of Lampedusa or trapped in the forests of Bel Younes at Ceuta or Mariwari, near Mellila is to twist reality. There is one certainty, nevertheless, amongst all these approximations: the precarious status of transit migrants has grown as states have cooperated in border control operations and as solidarity between migrants and other migrants or non‐migrants, which provides a safety net during migratory movements, has gradually faded. Across the Sahara, migrants in transit leave traces, particular changes in places which research must explain before they are totally erased, before both states and migrants themselves contribute for different reasons to their disappearance. The Sahara is not only a space that is crossed, it's also a place that is worked on, urbanised by the passage and residence of generations of migrants. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Social Networks in Transit: Experiences of Nigerian Migrants in Istanbul

“…The term transit migration-often applied in migration-related research-raises a number of concerns. Briefly, it is argued that the term speaks from a position of an institutional and normative framework responsible for prohibiting the south-north circulation that renders migration a potential crime (see for example Bredeloupe, 2010;Streiff-Fénart & Poutignat, 2008). Also, the migrants' intention and the amount of time spent in a transit country prominently used as indications for the identification of a "transit migrant" fall short of an adequate understanding of the phenomenon.…”

Migrants' Im/Mobilities on Their Way to the EU: Lost in Transit?

“…This assumption overlooks that destinations of migrants are diversifying (Castles & Miller 2003; Zoomers et al . 2009), implying that many migrants are happy with the possibilities they found in countries that are neighbouring the EU (De Haas 2008; Schapendonk 2011; Bredeloup 2012). However, there is another reason why migration researchers have an interest in transit migration.…”

Europe is no longer the only ‘El Dorado’ for sub-Saharan Africans: the case of contemporary Senegalese migration to Turkey

“…A country initially considered as temporary may turn out to become a country of settlement, and the other way around. Therefore, and supported by other empirical evidence (Alioua, 2005;Barros et al, 2002;Bredeloup, 2012;Collyer, 2007;Collyer & de Haas, 2012;de Haas, 2007;Düvell, 2008a;Papadopoulou, 2005), I argue that the transit hypothesis on the presence of sub-Saharan Africans in Turkey fails to do justice to the diversity of reality and to capture the migratory experiences of a substantial number of sub-Saharan Africans.…”