Popular in Arts and Humanities

Arts and Humanities

Freedom’s Dominion

Vanderbilt University Jefferson Cowie

Arts and Humanities

Titus Quinctius Flamininus’ “Italian triumph”

McGill University Michael Fronda

Arts and Humanities

Lincoln and the Jews

Brandeis University Jonathan Sarna

Arts and Humanities

Amputations and Convalescence

University of Western Australia Emily Brink

Art

Drawing on the past: Palladio, his precursors and knowledge of ancient architecture

University of Birmingham David Hemsoll

Art

Language, Sound, and Image in Wallace Berman’s Aleph, 1956–1966

University of San Diego Chelsea Behle Fralick

A West African Sufi Master on the Global Stage

View more insights in Arts and Humanities - History - Middle Eastern and African History

View more figures from University of Pennsylvania

View the page of Cheikh A. Babou

Read the Study

Next in Arts and Humanities

The Spear, the Scroll, and the Pebble

Richard Billows | Columbia University

Election Integrity in a One-Party Dictatorship

David Brandenberger | University of Richmond

Cheikh A. Babou investigates the efforts of the late Sufi sheikh, Abdoulaye Dièye, to expand the Muridiyya Muslim tariqa in France and North America.

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 6, 2024

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month. Login to view 8000+ figures on the platform.

Generating Workspace...

Export as PDF

This video video discusses the historical context of migration in West Africa during the 1960s and 1970s, particularly focusing on the impacts of national independence and devastating droughts that led to rural exodus. As former British and French colonies achieved independence, agreements facilitated easier migration to Europe, especially France, for West Africans. The author, who has a background in researching migration and identity, reflects on how cultural factors, rather than solely economic concerns, motivate migration.

The narrative emphasizes the role of Amadou Baba, a significant figure in Senegal's Sufi tradition, whose teachings inspire many disciples to aspire for success beyond their immediate circumstances. Migration is framed as a journey not just of necessity but as one of ambition and cultural capital, where migrants often come from relatively stable backgrounds, leveraging their networks and experiences to navigate opportunities abroad.

The author argues that scholarly literature has focused primarily on out-migration from Africa, neglecting the significance of intra-African migration. They illustrate how this interconnected migration is crucial for understanding broader migration patterns, noting that successful migrants often engage in step-migration across multiple countries before reaching their final destination.

In conclusion, the text highlights the importance of understanding the complexities of migration, considering cultural influences and the value of local histories in shaping the experiences of migrants. The author intends for their research to contribute to a nuanced understanding of migration dynamics, emphasizing a method that listens to the voices and experiences of the migrants themselves.

Language:

Export as PDF

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:90000

1
00:00:00.215 --> 00:00:03.635
The context is really the 1960s and 1970s.

2
00:00:04.135 --> 00:00:08.315
Um, and of course, the 1960s, the years of the independence

3
00:00:08.945 --> 00:00:13.075
they say in West Africa, where many, former British

4
00:00:13.215 --> 00:00:16.355
and French colonies actually achieve national independence.

5
00:00:17.455 --> 00:00:20.955
Um, and many of these countries sign a agreement,

6
00:00:21.195 --> 00:00:25.075
particularly with France, for mutual settlement of citizens

7
00:00:25.735 --> 00:00:27.955
of the former colony and citizen of France.

8
00:00:28.935 --> 00:00:32.955
So that going to Europe, for example, going to France,

9
00:00:33.895 --> 00:00:35.555
was easier than it is today.

10
00:00:35.555 --> 00:00:37.355
There were no visa impose and so forths.

11
00:00:37.935 --> 00:00:39.715
And the other major factor is really

12
00:00:39.715 --> 00:00:42.395
what happened in West Africa in the 1970s

13
00:00:42.495 --> 00:00:45.715
and the early 1980s, a devastating drought

14
00:00:46.505 --> 00:00:50.515
that really make it very difficult for farmers particularly,

15
00:00:51.255 --> 00:00:52.395
to survive.

16
00:00:53.015 --> 00:00:55.955
And what we see happening was gradually,

17
00:00:56.295 --> 00:00:58.515
people moving from the countryside

18
00:00:59.015 --> 00:01:00.795
to the cities on the Atlantic coast,

19
00:01:01.095 --> 00:01:04.235
and then from those cities finding their way to Europe,

20
00:01:04.325 --> 00:01:06.275
which actually many government,

21
00:01:06.275 --> 00:01:08.755
particularly Senegalese government called Rural Exodus,

22
00:01:09.085 --> 00:01:10.955
where you have all these farmers actually coming

23
00:01:10.955 --> 00:01:14.355
to the city, to find way

24
00:01:14.455 --> 00:01:16.395
of surviving the men families.

25
00:01:16.855 --> 00:01:20.195
My research, I've always been interested in, in this type

26
00:01:20.195 --> 00:01:24.195
of research, my first book,

27
00:01:24.715 --> 00:01:29.115
fighting the Great Jihad was a, intellectual biography,

28
00:01:29.395 --> 00:01:31.435
Hamad Baba, with the founder of the Maid Order.

29
00:01:32.775 --> 00:01:36.275
And I've always been interested in tic,

30
00:01:36.935 --> 00:01:39.635
and tradition and culture and mobility.

31
00:01:40.855 --> 00:01:45.395
And, after I finished writing my first book, I returned

32
00:01:45.455 --> 00:01:48.195
to my love to mobility and space building

33
00:01:48.375 --> 00:01:49.755
and culture and identity.

34
00:01:50.935 --> 00:01:55.035
And, I felt that I, I really need to pick up this topic

35
00:01:55.095 --> 00:01:56.795
and to see what I can make of it.

36
00:01:56.855 --> 00:01:59.995
In fact, when I was, in graduate school,

37
00:02:00.375 --> 00:02:03.315
the first paper I wrote was on Mood

38
00:02:03.315 --> 00:02:04.835
migrant in New York City.

39
00:02:05.595 --> 00:02:07.355
I was then at Michigan State University,

40
00:02:07.695 --> 00:02:11.315
and I, I was fascinated by the ability of these disciple,

41
00:02:11.865 --> 00:02:15.035
some of them landing in New York City without a dime,

42
00:02:15.225 --> 00:02:17.915
knowing nothing English, just finding a way

43
00:02:17.935 --> 00:02:19.155
to survive and to prosper.

44
00:02:20.055 --> 00:02:22.635
And, and whenever I ask question about this, they return

45
00:02:22.635 --> 00:02:24.355
to their own and identity

46
00:02:24.895 --> 00:02:27.835
and look at Amadou Baba's biography itself.

47
00:02:28.095 --> 00:02:32.235
And the value of the Meridia is something that really,

48
00:02:32.255 --> 00:02:34.035
was what made them successful.

49
00:02:34.735 --> 00:02:36.715
So, when I finished my first book,

50
00:02:37.035 --> 00:02:41.195
fighting the Great Jihad, I, I, I decided to come back,

51
00:02:41.615 --> 00:02:44.515
to this topic of migration and, and mobility

52
00:02:44.575 --> 00:02:46.115
and culture and, and identity.

53
00:02:47.055 --> 00:02:50.795
Um, so one thing that was really significant, of course,

54
00:02:50.845 --> 00:02:54.315
there is a literature on all of this, you know,

55
00:02:54.425 --> 00:02:57.835
migration, African migration, migration itself.

56
00:02:58.135 --> 00:02:59.165
But it's a literature

57
00:02:59.165 --> 00:03:02.325
that really focus mostly on out of Africa.

58
00:03:02.625 --> 00:03:04.245
You know, people leaving the continent,

59
00:03:04.245 --> 00:03:05.805
they're not very much interested in

60
00:03:06.075 --> 00:03:08.205
what was going on on the continent first.

61
00:03:08.505 --> 00:03:12.805
Second, this is a, a scholarship mostly driven

62
00:03:12.865 --> 00:03:14.245
by the push pull argument.

63
00:03:14.705 --> 00:03:17.565
You have, you know, pool area and push areas,

64
00:03:18.105 --> 00:03:21.285
and people tend to migrate from depressed,

65
00:03:21.765 --> 00:03:25.405
geographical areas to more, wealthy areas and so forth.

66
00:03:25.425 --> 00:03:27.005
So, and culture was not important.

67
00:03:27.195 --> 00:03:28.805
It's really about labor migration.

68
00:03:28.805 --> 00:03:31.845
There is nothing about culture yet ultimately

69
00:03:31.845 --> 00:03:33.365
that I spoke to and talk about.

70
00:03:33.835 --> 00:03:38.225
Emphasize culture as a central factor

71
00:03:38.805 --> 00:03:40.305
in their migration journey.

72
00:03:40.765 --> 00:03:43.225
And trust is something that was crucial

73
00:03:43.695 --> 00:03:45.105
that they see in their success.

74
00:03:45.245 --> 00:03:49.145
And of course, trust here is based on the belief in Amad

75
00:03:49.295 --> 00:03:50.305
Baba and the fact

76
00:03:50.305 --> 00:03:52.785
that Amadou Baba himself was actually an immigrant,

77
00:03:52.785 --> 00:03:54.025
but an involuntary one,

78
00:03:54.025 --> 00:03:57.545
because he was sent, to, to many places by the,

79
00:03:57.725 --> 00:03:59.145
by the French as an exile.

80
00:03:59.525 --> 00:04:02.945
And they saw his travel, his, his tribulations

81
00:04:03.125 --> 00:04:04.945
and these trials as something

82
00:04:04.945 --> 00:04:06.545
that was an inspiration for them.

83
00:04:06.685 --> 00:04:10.105
So I was mostly interested really in, in kind of looking at

84
00:04:10.405 --> 00:04:12.825
how culture play around in migration.

85
00:04:13.335 --> 00:04:14.745
What is the foundation of trust,

86
00:04:14.745 --> 00:04:17.345
which is very political in any kind of migration.

87
00:04:17.685 --> 00:04:20.705
And how does space in place play a role in

88
00:04:20.705 --> 00:04:21.745
this Madrid migration?

89
00:04:21.805 --> 00:04:24.785
And how all of this is tied to the holy city of the Meridia.

90
00:04:25.165 --> 00:04:27.865
Uh, the city of Touba in Senegal, this is a sheik

91
00:04:27.865 --> 00:04:29.345
that live in the 19th century.

92
00:04:29.605 --> 00:04:33.065
He was born, we believe, in the 19, in the 1850s.

93
00:04:33.405 --> 00:04:37.825
And he died in 1927, as Sufi in general.

94
00:04:37.925 --> 00:04:41.345
He was a quietest. He was somebody who was

95
00:04:42.365 --> 00:04:43.985
really kind of proselytizing

96
00:04:44.085 --> 00:04:46.865
and promoting what he called the Greater Jihad.

97
00:04:46.865 --> 00:04:48.345
This is the subject of my first book.

98
00:04:48.365 --> 00:04:51.265
And of course, the Ji The Greater Jihad is the Jihad

99
00:04:51.265 --> 00:04:55.705
of the Soul, is the jihad that focus on struggling

100
00:04:55.705 --> 00:04:59.425
with your own, weaknesses, spiritual weaknesses, and,

101
00:04:59.425 --> 00:05:01.305
and, and working to get closer to God

102
00:05:01.685 --> 00:05:04.345
by purifying your soul, by education

103
00:05:04.405 --> 00:05:06.625
and by building relationship with the Prophet Muhammad,

104
00:05:06.675 --> 00:05:08.105
which make you closer to God.

105
00:05:08.105 --> 00:05:11.145
That's where the success is to be found,

106
00:05:11.485 --> 00:05:12.865
and very much against violence,

107
00:05:13.365 --> 00:05:16.025
and to some, to some extent, a little withdrawn too be.

108
00:05:16.025 --> 00:05:17.705
But what is interesting with the Meridia,

109
00:05:18.005 --> 00:05:21.545
and many of these tarika that actually tend to be withdrawn,

110
00:05:21.545 --> 00:05:24.745
tend to be quite turned to turn their back to material life,

111
00:05:25.085 --> 00:05:27.985
is that they have very, they have been very successful in,

112
00:05:28.285 --> 00:05:31.665
generating a disciple in more,

113
00:05:32.015 --> 00:05:35.225
that traveled the world becomes become,

114
00:05:35.225 --> 00:05:38.145
quite wealthy and their own holy cities actually became

115
00:05:38.145 --> 00:05:39.945
quite modern with modern building,

116
00:05:39.945 --> 00:05:41.225
modern hospital and so forth.

117
00:05:41.225 --> 00:05:44.745
So this is really what, what the meridia is, is all about.

118
00:05:45.125 --> 00:05:47.825
In the 1960s and 1970s,

119
00:05:48.135 --> 00:05:51.665
when the situation was quite difficult, in Senegal,

120
00:05:51.675 --> 00:05:54.185
these built in an older tradition.

121
00:05:54.185 --> 00:05:56.705
This is not something new. This is the continuity of

122
00:05:56.745 --> 00:06:00.085
A tradition, because already in West Central Senegal,

123
00:06:00.135 --> 00:06:03.045
which is really the heartland of the meridia, a process

124
00:06:03.265 --> 00:06:05.765
of rural urban migration had started already.

125
00:06:06.555 --> 00:06:10.885
Many of these me are trained in the d in the Dara.

126
00:06:11.655 --> 00:06:14.805
These are school, that

127
00:06:15.675 --> 00:06:18.045
educate people in the tradition of Sufi.

128
00:06:18.875 --> 00:06:21.765
This is not the classical education where you go to a,

129
00:06:21.845 --> 00:06:23.925
a madrasa and you get kind of what we call,

130
00:06:23.925 --> 00:06:25.725
what we can call discursive education.

131
00:06:26.315 --> 00:06:29.765
Here, what we have is a kind of experiential education that

132
00:06:30.295 --> 00:06:34.005
whose role is actually to, to teach your body,

133
00:06:34.005 --> 00:06:35.325
to be faithful to God,

134
00:06:35.465 --> 00:06:39.565
and to be able to combat Satan in his,

135
00:06:39.975 --> 00:06:44.365
misleading, people to actually be,

136
00:06:44.675 --> 00:06:46.525
dominated by the material life.

137
00:06:46.785 --> 00:06:49.725
So how do you, weaken your biological self so

138
00:06:49.725 --> 00:06:51.565
that you can strengthen your spirit yourself?

139
00:06:52.025 --> 00:06:54.045
So in that process, these school

140
00:06:54.395 --> 00:06:56.645
that actually scholar called walking school are very

141
00:06:56.645 --> 00:07:00.445
important where young adult go and what do they do?

142
00:07:00.715 --> 00:07:03.405
They do the zl, the thinking of the spiritual songs,

143
00:07:03.735 --> 00:07:07.285
meditating on their, shes examples and walking very hard

144
00:07:07.435 --> 00:07:10.405
because you really have to have your mind, your body,

145
00:07:10.505 --> 00:07:13.685
and your spirit busy with good work so

146
00:07:13.685 --> 00:07:16.725
that you could not be distracted in your path to God.

147
00:07:17.025 --> 00:07:21.205
So in that process, these young men walk in the,

148
00:07:21.205 --> 00:07:23.125
walking school during the rainy season

149
00:07:23.465 --> 00:07:26.205
and during dry season, they go to the town to walk.

150
00:07:26.705 --> 00:07:28.325
Mostly men are walk and,

151
00:07:28.345 --> 00:07:30.685
and earn a living, which they return back to their sheik,

152
00:07:30.705 --> 00:07:33.725
and part of it they use in their own, their own school.

153
00:07:33.785 --> 00:07:36.645
So you have then that process of rural urban migration.

154
00:07:37.465 --> 00:07:40.765
Now with independence, when mobility was easier

155
00:07:40.765 --> 00:07:41.805
because the strain

156
00:07:41.805 --> 00:07:44.885
that the colonial rule actually impose on subjects

157
00:07:44.985 --> 00:07:46.845
and the colonial subject mobility were removed,

158
00:07:47.225 --> 00:07:49.085
people now were freer to move around.

159
00:07:49.585 --> 00:07:52.285
So you see them then traveling within Senegal itself,

160
00:07:52.745 --> 00:07:55.685
and then within the French Empire in West Africa,

161
00:07:55.685 --> 00:07:58.685
particularly co dir and later on Gaon.

162
00:07:58.945 --> 00:08:01.565
So you have this tradition of mobility already started.

163
00:08:02.385 --> 00:08:04.845
Now in the 1960s with independence,

164
00:08:04.905 --> 00:08:07.365
and particularly in the 1970s with the drought,

165
00:08:08.205 --> 00:08:11.605
disciple had accumulated, what you might call,

166
00:08:11.745 --> 00:08:12.965
cultural capital.

167
00:08:13.595 --> 00:08:15.445
They have accumulated symbolic capital,

168
00:08:15.825 --> 00:08:18.925
and now they can invest those capital in new,

169
00:08:18.935 --> 00:08:19.965
let's say adventures

170
00:08:20.345 --> 00:08:23.405
or in new ventures actually to move beyond West Africa,

171
00:08:23.625 --> 00:08:26.125
beyond south west, central Africa, into Europe

172
00:08:26.185 --> 00:08:27.725
and elsewhere, until they reached the

173
00:08:27.725 --> 00:08:29.165
United States in the 1980s.

174
00:08:29.505 --> 00:08:32.525
One thing that I, I discovered with this marine migration is

175
00:08:32.525 --> 00:08:34.885
that it's not actually the poorest who migrate

176
00:08:36.005 --> 00:08:38.085
is all about depression and being poor and,

177
00:08:38.105 --> 00:08:39.285
and searching this.

178
00:08:39.715 --> 00:08:42.205
Many of these people actually were successful traders in

179
00:08:42.405 --> 00:08:45.125
Senegal, and it's exactly

180
00:08:45.125 --> 00:08:47.485
because they were successful traders that they can

181
00:08:48.075 --> 00:08:50.205
have the money to actually spend,

182
00:08:50.205 --> 00:08:52.805
because migration is quite expensive to do.

183
00:08:52.905 --> 00:08:54.805
You know, I'm not only talking by tickets,

184
00:08:54.985 --> 00:08:58.805
but getting a visa and even having the information itself

185
00:08:58.805 --> 00:09:01.445
because one of the most critical,

186
00:09:01.445 --> 00:09:02.925
good you need in migration is

187
00:09:03.145 --> 00:09:04.685
to having network and connection.

188
00:09:05.055 --> 00:09:08.165
Where to go, what kind of work to do, and how to get there.

189
00:09:08.825 --> 00:09:10.085
You can do this only

190
00:09:10.085 --> 00:09:12.045
because you already have some experience.

191
00:09:12.075 --> 00:09:14.725
Some, i I was talking earlier about cultural capital,

192
00:09:14.785 --> 00:09:16.325
but you can also add material capital.

193
00:09:16.505 --> 00:09:17.525
So one of the things

194
00:09:17.525 --> 00:09:19.365
that I found is these people are

195
00:09:19.365 --> 00:09:20.485
not the most depressed people.

196
00:09:20.935 --> 00:09:22.645
These are people that are quite well off,

197
00:09:22.705 --> 00:09:24.205
and some of them were working, you know,

198
00:09:24.205 --> 00:09:25.645
then I interviewed them, I realized

199
00:09:25.645 --> 00:09:26.405
that they were working in

200
00:09:26.565 --> 00:09:27.685
Senegal, and they were actually well off.

201
00:09:27.745 --> 00:09:29.965
And I sometime ask them, why did you decide to migrate?

202
00:09:30.185 --> 00:09:32.925
So, and, and many of them will tell me, well, you know,

203
00:09:32.985 --> 00:09:34.605
you have to be ambitious when you are a

204
00:09:34.725 --> 00:09:35.845
disciple of Amadou Baba.

205
00:09:36.495 --> 00:09:37.685
Don't limit yourself

206
00:09:38.315 --> 00:09:41.685
because there is limitless possibility for success for you.

207
00:09:42.105 --> 00:09:44.805
Uh, and look what Amadou Baba went, underwent himself.

208
00:09:45.385 --> 00:09:48.045
He was, arrested by the French

209
00:09:48.045 --> 00:09:49.685
for the first time in 1895,

210
00:09:50.225 --> 00:09:53.605
and then capped in the house arrest until his death in 1927.

211
00:09:53.955 --> 00:09:56.885
This is a man who was all his life in jail

212
00:09:56.945 --> 00:09:58.725
or in exile for 32 years.

213
00:09:58.875 --> 00:10:00.165
Look at his people right now.

214
00:10:00.895 --> 00:10:02.995
He has millions of disciple around the world

215
00:10:03.345 --> 00:10:05.835
that can take care of themself, take care of the,

216
00:10:05.835 --> 00:10:07.315
of the, of the organization itself.

217
00:10:07.535 --> 00:10:09.755
So if Baba has been able to achieve this,

218
00:10:09.905 --> 00:10:10.915
then we can achieve it

219
00:10:10.915 --> 00:10:14.115
because his prayers have been, answered by God,

220
00:10:14.535 --> 00:10:18.355
and it's our duty to make that acceptation of God's prayer,

221
00:10:18.415 --> 00:10:19.595
of his prayers manifest.

222
00:10:20.175 --> 00:10:24.075
So they have a mission is to make really manifest ahad,

223
00:10:24.085 --> 00:10:26.395
God's acceptance of Amad Baba's prayers in work.

224
00:10:26.655 --> 00:10:28.995
The implication my work is, is mostly

225
00:10:30.195 --> 00:10:33.795
I think from a methodological standpoint, the value of

226
00:10:34.345 --> 00:10:35.795
what I call history from within

227
00:10:36.745 --> 00:10:40.395
history from within is a history that really learn

228
00:10:40.395 --> 00:10:44.175
to listen, to people.

229
00:10:45.185 --> 00:10:47.245
You don't have to believe everything they say.

230
00:10:47.345 --> 00:10:49.045
You don't have to take everything they say,

231
00:10:49.305 --> 00:10:51.525
but there is value in listening.

232
00:10:51.525 --> 00:10:54.365
And Paul ask history to be good listeners.

233
00:10:55.065 --> 00:10:57.765
So respect, the subject you study

234
00:10:57.765 --> 00:10:59.845
and what they think you analyze, you criticize,

235
00:10:59.845 --> 00:11:01.525
you compare it something, but take it seriously.

236
00:11:02.345 --> 00:11:05.725
The second thing that I think was was important to us,

237
00:11:06.115 --> 00:11:07.325
that when you think,

238
00:11:07.325 --> 00:11:09.405
when you read the literature on migration in Africa,

239
00:11:09.835 --> 00:11:14.805
it's all about out of Africa, yet for every three African

240
00:11:14.835 --> 00:11:17.805
that migrate to stay on the continent,

241
00:11:18.465 --> 00:11:20.525
so enter African migration,

242
00:11:20.815 --> 00:11:24.325
enter continental African migration is more important,

243
00:11:24.675 --> 00:11:28.365
more significant than extra continental migration.

244
00:11:28.905 --> 00:11:33.185
And I think what I also brought in the picture was,

245
00:11:33.965 --> 00:11:36.225
the kind of connectivity between these two migrations.

246
00:11:36.765 --> 00:11:39.505
You cannot understand international migration if you don't

247
00:11:39.505 --> 00:11:40.945
understand intercontinental

248
00:11:41.605 --> 00:11:43.385
intercontinental African migration.

249
00:11:43.405 --> 00:11:45.785
In fact, one of the things that I learned from my work is

250
00:11:46.255 --> 00:11:48.825
when I started my project, first I was thinking

251
00:11:48.885 --> 00:11:51.905
of writing about mood migrant in France,

252
00:11:52.125 --> 00:11:53.405
in Italy, and in Spain.

253
00:11:54.385 --> 00:11:56.165
And when I started my interviews,

254
00:11:56.435 --> 00:11:59.565
interviewed disciple here in New York City,

255
00:11:59.665 --> 00:12:02.085
and, interviewed disciple in France and in Italy.

256
00:12:02.345 --> 00:12:05.445
And what I learned from those disciple was that all

257
00:12:05.445 --> 00:12:09.245
of them step migrated across Africa before they reach zero.

258
00:12:09.755 --> 00:12:12.005
They told me, okay, then, you know,

259
00:12:12.345 --> 00:12:13.605
the drought was very bad.

260
00:12:13.905 --> 00:12:17.405
Uh, I, I went to Dakar and then I managed to go to Codival.

261
00:12:17.715 --> 00:12:19.765
Then from Codival I went to Congo,

262
00:12:19.825 --> 00:12:21.245
and then from Congo I was able

263
00:12:21.245 --> 00:12:22.605
to collect enough money to go to France.

264
00:12:23.225 --> 00:12:25.405
So almost it was the same narrative.

265
00:12:25.625 --> 00:12:27.405
All of them almost told me

266
00:12:27.405 --> 00:12:29.285
that they step migrated across Europe

267
00:12:29.385 --> 00:12:31.805
before they migrated actually to Europe, to

268
00:12:31.805 --> 00:12:33.165
to the United States or to Europe.

269
00:12:33.725 --> 00:12:35.845
I realized that in order to really do justice

270
00:12:36.385 --> 00:12:37.925
to my subject, I need to go back.

271
00:12:38.225 --> 00:12:39.805
So I completely changed my project.

272
00:12:40.125 --> 00:12:41.925
I returned to the continent.

273
00:12:42.565 --> 00:12:45.805
I did a chapter in Senegal for that book, that book,

274
00:12:45.825 --> 00:12:49.045
the Uri on the move, one chapter in Senegal,

275
00:12:49.305 --> 00:12:52.085
one chapter in Kko Dvo, one chapter in Gabo

276
00:12:52.225 --> 00:12:53.925
before having two chapters in France

277
00:12:53.945 --> 00:12:55.285
and two chapters in the United States.

278
00:12:55.585 --> 00:12:59.005
So these are the three lessons really I learned, from,

279
00:12:59.185 --> 00:13:01.445
doing research for this book.

280
00:13:01.465 --> 00:13:04.165
The my latest book, the Meridia on the Move, Islam Migration

281
00:13:04.225 --> 00:13:05.085
and Placemaking.

Migration Patterns in West Africa's Independence Era

00:00:00 - The context is really the 1960s and 1970s. and of course, the 1960s, the years of the independence they say in West Africa, where many, former British and French colonies actually achieve national independence. and many of these countries sign a agreement, particularly with France, for mutual settlement of citizens of the former colony and citizen of France. So that going to Europe, for example, going to France,
00:00:35 - There were no visa impose and so forths. And the other major factor is really what happened in West Africa in the 1970s and the early 1980s, a devastating drought that really make it very difficult for farmers particularly, to survive. And what we see happening was gradually, people moving from the countryside to the cities on the Atlantic coast, and then from those cities finding their way to Europe,
00:01:06 - particularly Senegalese government called Rural Exodus, where you have all these farmers actually coming to the city, to find way of surviving the men families. My research, I've always been interested in, in this type of research, my first book, fighting the Great Jihad was a, intellectual biography, Hamad Baba, with the founder of the Maid Order. And I've always been interested in tic,
00:01:40 - And, after I finished writing my first book, I returned to my love to mobility and space building and culture and identity. And, I felt that I, I really need to pick up this topic and to see what I can make of it. In fact, when I was, in graduate school, the first paper I wrote was on Mood migrant in New York City. I was then at Michigan State University,
00:02:11 - some of them landing in New York City without a dime, knowing nothing English, just finding a way to survive and to prosper. And, and whenever I ask question about this, they return to their own and identity and look at Amadou Baba's biography itself. And the value of the Meridia is something that really, was what made them successful. So, when I finished my first book, fighting the Great Jihad, I, I, I decided to come back,
00:02:44 - and culture and, and identity. so one thing that was really significant, of course, there is a literature on all of this, you know, migration, African migration, migration itself. But it's a literature that really focus mostly on out of Africa. You know, people leaving the continent, they're not very much interested in what was going on on the continent first. Second, this is a, a scholarship mostly driven

Cultural Influences in Migration Dynamics

00:03:14 - You have, you know, pool area and push areas, and people tend to migrate from depressed, geographical areas to more, wealthy areas and so forth. So, and culture was not important. It's really about labor migration. There is nothing about culture yet ultimately that I spoke to and talk about. Emphasize culture as a central factor in their migration journey. And trust is something that was crucial
00:03:45 - And of course, trust here is based on the belief in Amad Baba and the fact that Amadou Baba himself was actually an immigrant, but an involuntary one, because he was sent, to, to many places by the, by the French as an exile. And they saw his travel, his, his tribulations and these trials as something that was an inspiration for them. So I was mostly interested really in, in kind of looking at how culture play around in migration. What is the foundation of trust,
00:04:17 - And how does space in place play a role in this Madrid migration? And how all of this is tied to the holy city of the Meridia. the city of Touba in Senegal, this is a sheik that live in the 19th century. He was born, we believe, in the 19, in the 1850s. And he died in 1927, as Sufi in general. He was a quietest. He was somebody who was really kind of proselytizing and promoting what he called the Greater Jihad.
00:04:48 - And of course, the Ji The Greater Jihad is the Jihad of the Soul, is the jihad that focus on struggling with your own, weaknesses, spiritual weaknesses, and, and, and working to get closer to God by purifying your soul, by education and by building relationship with the Prophet Muhammad, which make you closer to God. That's where the success is to be found, and very much against violence, and to some, to some extent, a little withdrawn too be. But what is interesting with the Meridia,
00:05:21 - tend to be quite turned to turn their back to material life, is that they have very, they have been very successful in, generating a disciple in more, that traveled the world becomes become, quite wealthy and their own holy cities actually became quite modern with modern building, modern hospital and so forth. So this is really what, what the meridia is, is all about. In the 1960s and 1970s,
00:05:51 - these built in an older tradition. This is not something new. This is the continuity of A tradition, because already in West Central Senegal, which is really the heartland of the meridia, a process of rural urban migration had started already. Many of these me are trained in the d in the Dara. These are school, that educate people in the tradition of Sufi.

Experiential Education and Migration in Senegal

00:06:21 - a madrasa and you get kind of what we call, what we can call discursive education. Here, what we have is a kind of experiential education that whose role is actually to, to teach your body, to be faithful to God, and to be able to combat Satan in his, misleading, people to actually be, dominated by the material life. So how do you, weaken your biological self so
00:06:52 - So in that process, these school that actually scholar called walking school are very important where young adult go and what do they do? They do the zl, the thinking of the spiritual songs, meditating on their, shes examples and walking very hard because you really have to have your mind, your body, and your spirit busy with good work so that you could not be distracted in your path to God. So in that process, these young men walk in the,
00:07:23 - and during dry season, they go to the town to walk. Mostly men are walk and, and earn a living, which they return back to their sheik, and part of it they use in their own, their own school. So you have then that process of rural urban migration. Now with independence, when mobility was easier because the strain that the colonial rule actually impose on subjects and the colonial subject mobility were removed, people now were freer to move around. So you see them then traveling within Senegal itself,
00:07:55 - particularly co dir and later on Gaon. So you have this tradition of mobility already started. Now in the 1960s with independence, and particularly in the 1970s with the drought, disciple had accumulated, what you might call, cultural capital. They have accumulated symbolic capital, and now they can invest those capital in new, let's say adventures or in new ventures actually to move beyond West Africa,
00:08:26 - and elsewhere, until they reached the United States in the 1980s. One thing that I, I discovered with this marine migration is that it's not actually the poorest who migrate is all about depression and being poor and, and searching this. Many of these people actually were successful traders in Senegal, and it's exactly because they were successful traders that they can have the money to actually spend, because migration is quite expensive to do. You know, I'm not only talking by tickets,
00:08:58 - because one of the most critical, good you need in migration is to having network and connection. Where to go, what kind of work to do, and how to get there. You can do this only because you already have some experience. Some, i I was talking earlier about cultural capital, but you can also add material capital. So one of the things that I found is these people are not the most depressed people. These are people that are quite well off, and some of them were working, you know, then I interviewed them, I realized

Ambition and Migration Among Amadou Baba's Disciples

00:09:26 - Senegal, and they were actually well off. And I sometime ask them, why did you decide to migrate? So, and, and many of them will tell me, well, you know, you have to be ambitious when you are a disciple of Amadou Baba. Don't limit yourself because there is limitless possibility for success for you. and look what Amadou Baba went, underwent himself. He was, arrested by the French for the first time in 1895, and then capped in the house arrest until his death in 1927. This is a man who was all his life in jail
00:09:58 - Look at his people right now. He has millions of disciple around the world that can take care of themself, take care of the, of the, of the organization itself. So if Baba has been able to achieve this, then we can achieve it because his prayers have been, answered by God, and it's our duty to make that acceptation of God's prayer, of his prayers manifest. So they have a mission is to make really manifest ahad, God's acceptance of Amad Baba's prayers in work. The implication my work is, is mostly
00:10:34 - what I call history from within history from within is a history that really learn to listen, to people. You don't have to believe everything they say. You don't have to take everything they say, but there is value in listening. And Paul ask history to be good listeners. So respect, the subject you study and what they think you analyze, you criticize, you compare it something, but take it seriously.
00:11:06 - that when you think, when you read the literature on migration in Africa, it's all about out of Africa, yet for every three African that migrate to stay on the continent, so enter African migration, enter continental African migration is more important, more significant than extra continental migration. And I think what I also brought in the picture was,
00:11:36 - You cannot understand international migration if you don't understand intercontinental intercontinental African migration. In fact, one of the things that I learned from my work is when I started my project, first I was thinking of writing about mood migrant in France, in Italy, and in Spain. And when I started my interviews, interviewed disciple here in New York City, and, interviewed disciple in France and in Italy. And what I learned from those disciple was that all
00:12:09 - They told me, okay, then, you know, the drought was very bad. I, I went to Dakar and then I managed to go to Codival. Then from Codival I went to Congo, and then from Congo I was able to collect enough money to go to France. So almost it was the same narrative. All of them almost told me that they step migrated across Europe before they migrated actually to Europe, to to the United States or to Europe. I realized that in order to really do justice

Lessons from My Research in Migration

00:13:04 - So I completely changed my project. I returned to the continent. I did a chapter in Senegal for that book, that book, the Uri on the move, one chapter in Senegal, one chapter in Kko Dvo, one chapter in Gabo before having two chapters in France and two chapters in the United States. So these are the three lessons really I learned, from, doing research for this book. The my latest book, the Meridia on the Move, Islam Migration and Placemaking.

Faculti AI can make mistakes

Research

Policy

Analysis