Discerning the Reality of ‘Those Left Behind’ in Contemporary Migration Processes in Sub-Saharan Africa: Some Theoretical Reflections in the Light of Data From Senegal

Abstract

When analysing migration processes, particular problems arise due to the phenomenon of migration rarely being addressed holistically – largely because of its complexity. This is evident in the study of South–North migrations, where the majority of existing research has been through an economic perspective often neglecting the sociocultural dimensions. In this article, we consider the situation of men and women in West Africa who do not migrate despite living in communities saturated by intense emigration to European or other Northern countries. We review the existing literature on ‘those left behind’ in general, and more specifically in the West African context and then, based on a case study in Senegal, we examine the processes that lead some people to stay behind, while others migrate. In this article, we discuss and deconstruct the label ‘left-behind’ as found in the literature and discuss it based on qualitative interviews conducted in a community in Senegal.