Forced labour and migration in Senegal

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Book chapter

Title:	Forced labour and migration in Senegal
Authors:	Fall, Babacar Mbodj, Mohamed
Book title:	Forced Labour and Migration: Patterns of Movement within Africa
Year:	1989
Pages:	255-268
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Senegal France
Subjects:	colonialism migration forced labour
Abstract:	Although enforced recruitment in colonial Senegal never attained the level found in other territories of West Africa, a proportion of the labour force was nonetheless mobilized under coercion. This article describes the existence of forced labour in the form of corvée exactions in Senegal, and highlights its demographic impact. Between 1900 and 1936 the colonial administration was principally engaged in directing the indigenous work force towards building and maintaining a transport system. The reluctance of the population to take up such work was to be overcome not by offering attractive wages but by constraint. Besides, a number of private enterprises also relied on the government for the provision of labour, which was recruited through the same mechanism. On the whole, the consequences of forced labour for migration seem to have been limited. Notes, ref.