Dorte Thorsen
Biographic Data
| ID | 93113 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dorte Thorsen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Dorte |
| FAMILY NAME | Thorsen |
| SIGNATURE | THORSEN D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Sussex |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6279-7818 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 165 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Negotiating Gender Roles and Power Relations Through the Management of International Migrant Remittances in a Patriarchal Community in Ghana
This paper draws on a feminist poststructural perspective to examine gendered dimensions of sending and managing international migrant remittances in a patriarchal community in Ghana. It relies on primary data collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and observation in Nkoranza, a Ghanaian community with a long history of international migration and receipt of remittances, to analyze the fluidity of gendered and intergenera…
Is Europe really the dream? Contingent paths among sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco
This article explores migrant existences in the border zones around Europe. Drawing on ethnographic research in Morocco undertaken in 2012, 2013 and 2015 and in continued engagements with migrants using social media, the article analyses three extended migrant stories, detailing their experiences of uncertainty, waiting and hoping. By elucidating the objectives informing migrants’ pathways and the material and moral considerations underpinning th…
Reconfiguring migration
Mobility patterns in Africa are changing. They never were fixed, but they have been embedded for centuries in the policy regimes regulating local, regional and global economies. However, currently, the intersection of global politics of securitization and African everyday politics governed by inequality, disenchantment, survival and aspiration has accelerated changes. This themed section is concerned with the social effects of these changes as Af…
Hope and Uncertainty in Contemporary African Migration
This volume examines the relationship between hope, mobility, and immobility in African migration. Through case studies set within and beyond the continent, it demonstrates that hope offers a unique prism for analyzing the social imaginaries and aspirations which underpin migration in situations of uncertainty, deepening inequality, and delimited access to global circuits of legal mobility. \n \nThe volume takes departure in a mobility paradox th…
Temporalités, savoir-faire et modes d'action des enfants travailleurs migrants au sein de la parenté élargie en Afrique de l'Ouest
This article focuses on migrant children in West Africa in contexts where independent migrations during childhood constitute the norm rather than the exception. The article examines how the relative age and gender of a child influence his/her trajectory. It is based on the biographies of two young domestic workers - a girl in Cote-d'Ivoire and a boy in Burkina Faso. In describing their trajectories during the first eight to ten years of their mig…
Weaving in and out of employment and self-employment
This paper explores how young men of rural origin weave a resource base for social mobility in the urban informal economy by combining strings of employment, strands of entrepreneurship and continued migration. The paper is based on ethnographic material on migrants aged between 14-25 years in Ouagadougou and Abidjan between 2005 and 2008, and draws on three extended case studies to show how young migrants' social position in the network of kin s…
Child Migration in Africa
Child Migration in Africa explores the mobility of children without their parents within West Africa. Drawing on the experiences of children from rural Burkina Faso and Ghana, the book provides rich material on the circumstances of children's voluntary migration and their experiences of it. Their accounts challenge the normative ideals of what a 'good' childhood is, which often underlie public debates about children's migration, education and wor…
The rise of China and India in Africa
In recent years, China and India have become the most important economic partners of Africa and their footprints are growing by leaps and bounds, transforming Africa's international relations in a dramatic way. Although the overall impact of China and India's engagement in Africa has been positive in the short-term, partly as a result of higher returns from commodity exports fuelled by excessive demands from both countries, little research exists…
The Place of Migration in Girls' Imagination
This article focuses on rural girls' aspirations of becoming migrants in a setting where girls are subjected to social constraints curtailing their movements in the midst of an otherwise mobile society, where mothers and grandmothers frequently recall their experiences in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, and boys set off on their first migration in their mid- or late teens. However, the high level of mobility affects both intergenerational relations and …
From Shackles to Links in the Chain
This article focuses on adolescent boys' independent migration to Ouagadougou and Abidjan and aims to unpack decision-making and strategies in child relocation. Through participant observation and interviews with around 120 young male migrants from the Bisa region in south-eastern Burkina Faso, the article explores how their capacity to tap into networks of kin and peers shapes their migration and work trajectories. The article argues that adoles…
L'échec de la famille traditionnelle ou l'étirement des relations familiales
Entre fuite des cerveaux et immigration clandestine, les discours récents sur les migrations en Afrique de l’Ouest se concentrent sur le parcours vers l’Europe et l’Amérique du Nord. Souvent négligées, les migrations intra-africaines concernent pourtant une population plus importante, souvent jeune et peu qualifiée. La rencontre des migrants venus d’une zone rurale du Burkina Faso, à Ouagadougou et à Abidjan, capitale économique de la Côte d’Ivoi…
Pillars of the nation. Child citizens and Ugandan national development by Cheney, Kristen E
Sleeping rough in Port au Prince. An ethnography of street children and violence in Haiti by Kovats-Bernat, Christopher J
We Help our Husbands!' Negotiating the Household Budget in Rural Burkina Faso
This article addresses the intra-household division of responsibilities among the Bisa and Mossi in south-eastern Burkina Faso. Based on a detailed village study of the land use which revealed that women cultivated 31 per cent of all the land in 1997, gendered practices in household budgeting are investigated. Although the proportion of women's own-account agriculture suggests that they contribute substantially to household consumption, the major…
Marginal producers or breadwinners
This paper focuses on women's role as food producers in subsistence agricultural systems in southeastern Burkina Faso. It challenges the narrative that describes women as marginal producers of major food crops like millet. Based on a detailed study at the village level of land use, the intra-household distribution of key resources such as labour and land is investigated. It links female production strategies with women's responsibilities within t…
Child Migration in Africa
Child Migration in Africa explores the mobility of children without their parents within West Africa. Drawing on the experiences of children from rural Burkina Faso and Ghana, the book provides rich material on the circumstances of children's voluntary migration and their experiences of it. Their accounts challenge the normative ideals of what a 'good' childhood is, which often underlie public debates about children's migration, education and wor…
The rise of China and India in Africa
In recent years, China and India have become the most important economic partners of Africa and their footprints are growing by leaps and bounds, transforming Africa's international relations in a dramatic way. Although the overall impact of China and India's engagement in Africa has been positive in the short-term, partly as a result of higher returns from commodity exports fuelled by excessive demands from both countries, little research exists…
Weaving in and out of employment and self-employment
This paper explores how young men of rural origin weave a resource base for social mobility in the urban informal economy by combining strings of employment, strands of entrepreneurship and continued migration. The paper is based on ethnographic material on migrants aged between 14-25 years in Ouagadougou and Abidjan between 2005 and 2008, and draws on three extended case studies to show how young migrants' social position in the network of kin s…
Is Europe really the dream? Contingent paths among sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco
This article explores migrant existences in the border zones around Europe. Drawing on ethnographic research in Morocco undertaken in 2012, 2013 and 2015 and in continued engagements with migrants using social media, the article analyses three extended migrant stories, detailing their experiences of uncertainty, waiting and hoping. By elucidating the objectives informing migrants’ pathways and the material and moral considerations underpinning th…
We Help our Husbands!' Negotiating the Household Budget in Rural Burkina Faso
This article addresses the intra-household division of responsibilities among the Bisa and Mossi in south-eastern Burkina Faso. Based on a detailed village study of the land use which revealed that women cultivated 31 per cent of all the land in 1997, gendered practices in household budgeting are investigated. Although the proportion of women's own-account agriculture suggests that they contribute substantially to household consumption, the major…
Marginal producers or breadwinners
This paper focuses on women's role as food producers in subsistence agricultural systems in southeastern Burkina Faso. It challenges the narrative that describes women as marginal producers of major food crops like millet. Based on a detailed study at the village level of land use, the intra-household distribution of key resources such as labour and land is investigated. It links female production strategies with women's responsibilities within t…
The Place of Migration in Girls' Imagination
This article focuses on rural girls' aspirations of becoming migrants in a setting where girls are subjected to social constraints curtailing their movements in the midst of an otherwise mobile society, where mothers and grandmothers frequently recall their experiences in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, and boys set off on their first migration in their mid- or late teens. However, the high level of mobility affects both intergenerational relations and …
Negotiating Gender Roles and Power Relations Through the Management of International Migrant Remittances in a Patriarchal Community in Ghana
This paper draws on a feminist poststructural perspective to examine gendered dimensions of sending and managing international migrant remittances in a patriarchal community in Ghana. It relies on primary data collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and observation in Nkoranza, a Ghanaian community with a long history of international migration and receipt of remittances, to analyze the fluidity of gendered and intergenera…
From Shackles to Links in the Chain
This article focuses on adolescent boys' independent migration to Ouagadougou and Abidjan and aims to unpack decision-making and strategies in child relocation. Through participant observation and interviews with around 120 young male migrants from the Bisa region in south-eastern Burkina Faso, the article explores how their capacity to tap into networks of kin and peers shapes their migration and work trajectories. The article argues that adoles…
Temporalités, savoir-faire et modes d'action des enfants travailleurs migrants au sein de la parenté élargie en Afrique de l'Ouest
This article focuses on migrant children in West Africa in contexts where independent migrations during childhood constitute the norm rather than the exception. The article examines how the relative age and gender of a child influence his/her trajectory. It is based on the biographies of two young domestic workers - a girl in Cote-d'Ivoire and a boy in Burkina Faso. In describing their trajectories during the first eight to ten years of their mig…
L'échec de la famille traditionnelle ou l'étirement des relations familiales
Entre fuite des cerveaux et immigration clandestine, les discours récents sur les migrations en Afrique de l’Ouest se concentrent sur le parcours vers l’Europe et l’Amérique du Nord. Souvent négligées, les migrations intra-africaines concernent pourtant une population plus importante, souvent jeune et peu qualifiée. La rencontre des migrants venus d’une zone rurale du Burkina Faso, à Ouagadougou et à Abidjan, capitale économique de la Côte d’Ivoi…
Marginal producers or breadwinners
This paper focuses on women's role as food producers in subsistence agricultural systems in southeastern Burkina Faso. It challenges the narrative that describes women as marginal producers of major food crops like millet. Based on a detailed study at the village level of land use, the intra-household distribution of key resources such as labour and land is investigated. It links female production strategies with women's responsibilities within t…
We Help our Husbands!' Negotiating the Household Budget in Rural Burkina Faso
This article addresses the intra-household division of responsibilities among the Bisa and Mossi in south-eastern Burkina Faso. Based on a detailed village study of the land use which revealed that women cultivated 31 per cent of all the land in 1997, gendered practices in household budgeting are investigated. Although the proportion of women's own-account agriculture suggests that they contribute substantially to household consumption, the major…
Sleeping rough in Port au Prince. An ethnography of street children and violence in Haiti by Kovats-Bernat, Christopher J
From Shackles to Links in the Chain
This article focuses on adolescent boys' independent migration to Ouagadougou and Abidjan and aims to unpack decision-making and strategies in child relocation. Through participant observation and interviews with around 120 young male migrants from the Bisa region in south-eastern Burkina Faso, the article explores how their capacity to tap into networks of kin and peers shapes their migration and work trajectories. The article argues that adoles…
L'échec de la famille traditionnelle ou l'étirement des relations familiales
Entre fuite des cerveaux et immigration clandestine, les discours récents sur les migrations en Afrique de l’Ouest se concentrent sur le parcours vers l’Europe et l’Amérique du Nord. Souvent négligées, les migrations intra-africaines concernent pourtant une population plus importante, souvent jeune et peu qualifiée. La rencontre des migrants venus d’une zone rurale du Burkina Faso, à Ouagadougou et à Abidjan, capitale économique de la Côte d’Ivoi…
Pillars of the nation. Child citizens and Ugandan national development by Cheney, Kristen E
The rise of China and India in Africa
In recent years, China and India have become the most important economic partners of Africa and their footprints are growing by leaps and bounds, transforming Africa's international relations in a dramatic way. Although the overall impact of China and India's engagement in Africa has been positive in the short-term, partly as a result of higher returns from commodity exports fuelled by excessive demands from both countries, little research exists…
The Place of Migration in Girls' Imagination
This article focuses on rural girls' aspirations of becoming migrants in a setting where girls are subjected to social constraints curtailing their movements in the midst of an otherwise mobile society, where mothers and grandmothers frequently recall their experiences in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, and boys set off on their first migration in their mid- or late teens. However, the high level of mobility affects both intergenerational relations and …
Child Migration in Africa
Child Migration in Africa explores the mobility of children without their parents within West Africa. Drawing on the experiences of children from rural Burkina Faso and Ghana, the book provides rich material on the circumstances of children's voluntary migration and their experiences of it. Their accounts challenge the normative ideals of what a 'good' childhood is, which often underlie public debates about children's migration, education and wor…
Weaving in and out of employment and self-employment
This paper explores how young men of rural origin weave a resource base for social mobility in the urban informal economy by combining strings of employment, strands of entrepreneurship and continued migration. The paper is based on ethnographic material on migrants aged between 14-25 years in Ouagadougou and Abidjan between 2005 and 2008, and draws on three extended case studies to show how young migrants' social position in the network of kin s…
Temporalités, savoir-faire et modes d'action des enfants travailleurs migrants au sein de la parenté élargie en Afrique de l'Ouest
This article focuses on migrant children in West Africa in contexts where independent migrations during childhood constitute the norm rather than the exception. The article examines how the relative age and gender of a child influence his/her trajectory. It is based on the biographies of two young domestic workers - a girl in Cote-d'Ivoire and a boy in Burkina Faso. In describing their trajectories during the first eight to ten years of their mig…
Hope and Uncertainty in Contemporary African Migration
This volume examines the relationship between hope, mobility, and immobility in African migration. Through case studies set within and beyond the continent, it demonstrates that hope offers a unique prism for analyzing the social imaginaries and aspirations which underpin migration in situations of uncertainty, deepening inequality, and delimited access to global circuits of legal mobility. \n \nThe volume takes departure in a mobility paradox th…
Is Europe really the dream? Contingent paths among sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco
This article explores migrant existences in the border zones around Europe. Drawing on ethnographic research in Morocco undertaken in 2012, 2013 and 2015 and in continued engagements with migrants using social media, the article analyses three extended migrant stories, detailing their experiences of uncertainty, waiting and hoping. By elucidating the objectives informing migrants’ pathways and the material and moral considerations underpinning th…
Reconfiguring migration
Mobility patterns in Africa are changing. They never were fixed, but they have been embedded for centuries in the policy regimes regulating local, regional and global economies. However, currently, the intersection of global politics of securitization and African everyday politics governed by inequality, disenchantment, survival and aspiration has accelerated changes. This themed section is concerned with the social effects of these changes as Af…
Negotiating Gender Roles and Power Relations Through the Management of International Migrant Remittances in a Patriarchal Community in Ghana
This paper draws on a feminist poststructural perspective to examine gendered dimensions of sending and managing international migrant remittances in a patriarchal community in Ghana. It relies on primary data collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and observation in Nkoranza, a Ghanaian community with a long history of international migration and receipt of remittances, to analyze the fluidity of gendered and intergenera…
Sociology (12 works) · Political science (9 works) · Economics (7 works) · Gender Studies (7 works) · Migration and Labor Dynamics (7 works) · Geography (6 works) · Gender Studies (5 works) · Social science (5 works) · Agriculture and Rural Development Research (4 works) · Economic growth (4 works)