Willing Migrants: Soninke Labor Diasporas, 1848-1960 (Western African Studies) [Paperback]

Francois Manchuelle (Author)

Book Description

Series: Western African Studies | Publication Date: December 31, 1997

Of all France's black African migrants, 85 per cent are Soninke from one area of West Africa. This study of their migration to Europe challenges the view that they were coerced by colonial tax and violence and claims that the evidence shows rather that they were indeed willing migrants. North America: Ohio U Press

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Having silenced traditional migration theory, Manchuelle called instead for a historical typology of migrations which would include all migrations worldwide. For one of the delights of this enjoyable book is his constantly finding analogies outside Africa - with peasant migrations from the Auvergne or Corsica, with transatlantic migrations, with the flow of seasonal traders into the Chinese Empire from Szechwan, or his setting the high wages earned in Senegal in the 1880s against the starvation wages then paid in rural Normandy. How sad that we shall have no more delights from this lively-minded, erudite and cultured historian. - Christopher Fyfe in JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 388 pages
• Publisher: Ohio University Press; 1 edition (December 31, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821412027
• ISBN-13: 978-0821412022
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,560,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #63 in Books > History > Africa > Senegal

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Origins of an African exodus, January 4, 2001

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This review is from: Willing Migrants: Soninke Labor Diasporas, 1848-1960 (Western African Studies) (Paperback)

Manchuelle's history of Soninke migration up to 1960 is based upon extensive research on colonial documents of French West Africa, specifically the places known today as Senegal and Mali. He makes use of everything from crew manifests of river steamers to harvest reports by French administrators to argue his central point: that the Soninke people began migrating in such great numbers not because they were forced by harsh colonial policies and taxes, but because they were attracted to high-wage jobs that allowed them to accumulate wealth on their own terms.

The author describes Soninke communities, farming systems, and authority structures as they were in the 19th century, and analyzes the important role played by those communities in "desert side" trade: Soninke merchants acted as commercial middle-men between desert-dwelling nomads to the north and sedentary farmers to the south. He goes on to explain how young Soninke were drawn by this intermediary role into itinerant trade and seasonal agricultural labor even before the advent of French colonialism in the region. Modern migration, the author says, is more or less an extension of this earlier form.

Manchuelle reinforces his argument effectively by showing that the Soninke's neighbors, while subjected to the same conditions as the Soninke (e.g. drought, forced labor and colonial head taxes), migrated with nowhere near the same frequency. His contention that Soninke migration stems more from cultural factors than from issues of survival seems hard to argue with, given the weight of documentary evidence cited (the endnotes and bibliography are about as long as Manchuelle's text itself).

I would have greatly liked to see a follow-up study on migration since 1960, but alas the author's career was cut short by the crash of TWA 800 in 1996. "Willing Migrants" is clearly written and impressively researched, and is useful to anyone wishing to understand modern migration in Africa.