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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The figure of the adventurer as an African migrant
Author:Bredeloup, SylvieISNI
Year:2013
Periodical:Journal of African Cultural Studies (ISSN 1369-6815)
Volume:25
Issue:2
Pages:170-182
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:migrants
women migrants
international migration
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13696815.2012.751870
Abstract:African migration is not determined just through misery and danger. Personal ambition is an important catalyst compelling the more intrepid to hit the road. The decision to leave can result in a pressing urge to change lifestyle, to invent new ways of life, to explore far-off lands, real or imaginary. The migratory adventure is not only synonymous with a departure abroad - close or distant; it is also similar to a moral experience which is tightly correlated with risk or intensity of life. The author first introduces different promoters of the African migratory adventure - the figure of the pilgrim, the figure of the jaguar, the figure of the 'sapeur', the figure of the diamond trader - arguing that the migratory adventure is commonly presented as a specifically masculine practice.Today, however, more and more African migrant women, seem to claim the status of the adventurer. Several outcomes to the migratory adventure are possible. Upwards, for those who are able to convert their mobility capital and connect themselves to transnational networks. Downwards, for exhausted and socially unaffiliated individuals who can neither continue to move on nor turn back, because they are estranged by their countrymen. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited]
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