Renegotiating Obligations through Migration

Senegalese Transnationalism and the Quest for theRightDistance

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3619554
AutoresMaría Hernández-Carretero (0000-0003-0182-5429)
Año2015
Volumen41
Número12
Páginas2021-2040
Fecha de publicación2015-10-15
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaNew Community (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1369183x.2015.1045462
OpenAlexW1843489337
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas31

This article explores the interplay between spatial and social distance and financial obligations and goals in the context of migration. On the basis of an ethnographic study of Senegalese migration to Spain, it discusses the idea that distance may be partly sought to gain leverage in renegotiating responses to redistributive demands and responsibilities that come at odds with goals of accumulation and investment. Financial prosperity may be thought easier to attain by temporarily distancing oneself but is also sought to gain a better capacity to assist others. Besides, both accumulation and redistribution contribute to migrants’ overall objective of becoming socioeconomically successful and gaining a respectable presence at home. Many migrants do not wish to break with or ostracise dependents and other relations, and expectations of redistribution often grow as a result of migration. Thus, rather than resolve the dilemma between accumulation and redistribution, migration transforms it. Seeking a balance, some migrants devise strategies to establish the right distance, in socially and morally acceptable terms, to retain control over financial priorities without undermining social ties. Too much distance could result in ostracism; too little might stifle or delay ambitions for savings and investments, which are considered a precondition for return

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Dilemma · Economic growth · Economics · Labour economics · Leverage (statistics · Political science · Politics · Prosperity · Redistribution (election · Social distance · Sociology · Transnationalism · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy