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Turbulent Trajectories: African Migrants on Their Way to the European Union

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  • Joris Schapendonk

    (International Development Studies, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Sub-Saharan African migration towards the European Union (EU) belongs to one of the most stigmatized forms of migration of the 21 st century. It is strongly characterized by EU’s restrictive migration policies. As a consequence, migrants who are aspiring to reach the EU often undertake fragmented and dangerous journeys to the North. This contribution attempts to gain more empirical insights into these migratory journeys. It is based on a ‘trajectory ethnography’ that combines in-depth interviews with sub-Saharan Africans, who are waiting in Morocco and Turkey to enter the EU, with a longitudinal strategy to follow some of these respondents over longer periods of time. With this longitudinal element I was in particular able to grasp expected steps and unexpected turns in individual migration trajectories. By discussing three main components (the motivation, facilitation and velocity) of journeys, this contribution puts into perspective the unidirectional and often frictionless metaphors of migration—as if migrants move like ‘flows’ and ‘waves’.

Suggested Citation

  • Joris Schapendonk, 2012. "Turbulent Trajectories: African Migrants on Their Way to the European Union," Societies, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-15, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:2:y:2012:i:2:p:27-41:d:17230
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hein de Haas, 2008. "The Myth of Invasion: the inconvenient realities of African migration to Europe," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(7), pages 1305-1322.
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    1. Mishra, Divya & Digidiki, Vasileia & Winch, Peter J., 2020. "The endings of journeys: A qualitative study of how Greece’s child protection system shapes unaccompanied migrant children’s futures," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    2. Michael, Owiso, 2017. "Migration Decision Making: Review of Economic and Asylum-Seeker," MPRA Paper 104992, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2017.
    3. Binhan Elif, Yilmaz, 2015. "Migration Decision Making: Review and Evidences," MPRA Paper 104941, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2015.
    4. Tekalign Ayalew Mengiste, 2018. "Refugee Protections from Below: Smuggling in the Eritrea-Ethiopia Context," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 676(1), pages 57-76, March.
    5. Van Heugten, Loes & Bicker Caarten, Ashleigh & Merkle, Ortrun, 2021. "Giving Up Your Body to Enter Fortress Europe: Understanding the gendered experiences of sextortion of Nigerians migrating to the Netherlands," MERIT Working Papers 2021-050, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    6. David, Blight, 2019. "Review of Economic Migration: Decision Making Perspectives," MPRA Paper 106309, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.
    7. Matthieu Bolay, 2021. "Disentangling Mining and Migratory Routes in West Africa: Decisions to Move in Migranticised Settings," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 235-246.
    8. Christidis, Les, 2017. "Review of Economic and Asylum-Seeker: Migration Decision Making Perspectives," MPRA Paper 105241, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2017.
    9. Adekunle Adedeji & Neuza Silva & Monika Bullinger, 2021. "Cognitive and Structural Social Capital as Predictors of Quality of Life for Sub-Saharan African Migrants in Germany," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 1003-1017, June.
    10. Philipp Roman Jung, 2021. "Hope, Disillusion and Coincidence in Migratory Decisions by Senegalese Migrants in Brazil," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 268-277.
    11. Kuhnt, Jana, 2019. "Literature review: drivers of migration. Why do people leave their homes? Is there an easy answer? A structured overview of migratory determinants," IDOS Discussion Papers 9/2019, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    12. Louis Vuilleumier, 2021. "Lost in Transition to Adulthood? Illegalized Male Migrants Navigating Temporal Dispossession," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-14, July.
    13. Joris Schapendonk, 2013. "From Transit Migrants to Trading Migrants: Development Opportunities for Nigerians in the Transnational Trade Sector of Istanbul," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(7), pages 1-18, June.
    14. Papa Sow & Stephen A. Adaawen & Jürgen Scheffran, 2014. "Migration, Social Demands and Environmental Change amongst the Frafra of Northern Ghana and the Biali in Northern Benin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-24, January.
    15. Manuela Stranges & François-Charles Wolff, 2018. "From hell to heaven? Evidence of migration trajectories from an Italian refugee centre," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(36), pages 963-990.

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