Religion, Ethnicity and Transnational Migration between West Africa and Europe: An Epilogue

Abstract

One and a half decades have passed since Gerrie Ter Haar in her book Halfway to Paradise drew attention to a group of people that researchers had tended to overlook; African Christian migrants in Europe. While Ter Haar's observation brought about extensive research into African Christian migrants and their religious communities, another group of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa still remains underexposed. West African Islam, heavily influenced by colonial representations based on the work of Paul Marty has in academic and colonial discourses been construed as an irenic form of Islam. This chapter tries to tease out some overarching observations about these two topics; (i) it explores patterns of self-representation of West African Muslims in Europe, paying specific attention to role of religion and ethnicity, and (ii) examines impact of migration on patterns of interreligious relating both in new migration context and where material is available also in context of origin. Keywords: African Christian migrants; ethnicity; Europe; Gerrie Ter Haar; migration context; Paul Marty; religion; West African Islam