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8 Information & communication technology and its impact on transnational migration: The case of Senegalese boat migrants Henrietta M. Nyamnjoh Abstract Transnational migrants today are characterized by a more elastic relationship with family and friends as a result of their ability to forge and sustain simultaneous multi-stranded social relations linking their societies of origin and of settlement. This is due to the possibilities offered by new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the revolution in air travel that allow migrants to maintain family ties or ties amongst themselves in their host country. This chapter suggests that Senegalese boat migrants are effectively using ICT not only to stay in touch with the home country but equally to transform the lives of family left behind as well as protecting the socio-cultural values of their home society. It is argued that ICT plays an important role in the lives of migrants. Critical to understanding the migrants’ use of ICT is the inextricable link to the margins given that boat migration was considered illegal by the authorities in Senegal and Spain. The margins, seen here in terms of economic and geographic perspectives, thus become the perfect space for migrants to thrive in their illegality. Introduction: Fatou’s story Fatou has two migrant sons living in Spain and a brother there. All three successfully migrated by boat. She is also the aunt of my research guide in Dakar. Mohammed , an unsuccessful migrant, introduced me to some of his family who live in Yarakh on the outskirts of Dakar and during one of our regular visits to Fatou ’s house in 2008, a letter and parcel arrived from her sons in Spain with some photos enclosed. Like wildfire, news of the photos spread through the neighbourhood and soon the compound was full of curious neighbours who had come to see how much the men had changed and how ‘Europeanized’ they had become: Henrietta M. Nyamnjoh 160 ‘They are now real modou modou’1 , ‘see how fresh looking they are’ and ‘life is really good for them out there’ were some of the comments. Fatou was overwhelmed and all she could do was place the photos on her chest and look up to the sky to praise God ‘Yala bhana’ (‘Praise be to Allah’) as tears streamed down her cheeks. The wife of one of the sons could also not hide her emotions as she stared at the pictures. These were the first set of photos they had received since the men’s departure in December 2006. Every detail on the photo and their physical appearance, clothes and posture were commented on. Everything pointed to the fact that they were doing well, as could be seen from the gifts and money they sent for the feast of Tabaski. It also upheld people’s perception of Europe as a continent of affluence. Soon after migrating to Spain, Fatou’s son had refurbished her room, bought her a new bedroom suite and installed a fixed phone. The joy of receiving the photos and gifts and the commotion it caused mirrors not only the notion of transnational migration and the process of engagement back home but also the expectations of those left behind. This chapter suggests that boat migrants are effectively using information and communication technologies (ICT) not only to stay in touch with the home country but also to transform the lives of those left behind as well as preserving their socio-cultural values. Prior to her sons’ departure, Fatou had had no fixed phone at home and the wife of one of her sons did not have a cell phone but as soon as the men settled in Spain, they arranged for a fixed phone in Fatou’s bedroom and sent a cell phone to the spouse left behind so they could stay connected with home. The phone becomes what Palen et al. (2001, in Geser 2004: 12) describe as the ‘umbilical cord’ that joins mothers and family with their migrant family members. Although migrants maintained links with relations and friends back in their home country prior to the ICT revolution, it is now possible for migrants to live a life of what Grillo & Mazzucato (2008) refer to as a process of ‘double engagement ’, i.e. the ability to be ‘here’ and ‘there’. This contribution deals with one aspect of this double engagement, namely engagement with ‘back home’ amongst Senegalese migrants in Spain, and focuses on how they are able to sustain and maintain links with their...

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