Dimensions and Dynamics of the Gambian Diaspora in the Digital Age (2015)
Chant, Sylvia
in Nando Sigona, Alan Gamlen, Giulia Liberatore and Hélène Neveu Kringelbach (eds) Diasporas Reimagined (Oxford Diasporas Programme: Oxford), 51-62.
The tiny West African nation of The Gambia allegedly possesses a diasporic population of approximately 70,000. is represents around 4 per cent of the national total, making e Gambia’s net migration rate (migrants per 1,000 people) the tenth highest in Africa.
Movement out of the Gambia has a history which stretches back centuries, not least on account of the Slave Trade. Nowadays, however, flows are more diverse and of differing durations. Over and above short-term (including daily) cross-border transit between e Gambia and Senegal, there are longer-distance and longer-term sojourns. Many international migrants go to other Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) such as Nigeria, while others move to North African countries which often serve as stepping stones to ‘Babylon’, a colloquial term referring to the world’s ‘advanced economies’. Yet as many North African countries have become far less manageable staging posts in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, journeys by sea have become much more precarious. Going the so-called ‘back way’ is riskier than ever. If rafts and fishing boats overloaded with people are not apprehended and returned by fleets patrolling the eastern Atlantic, then there are strong chances that deception, dispossession and/or death by drowning becomes the fate of aspirant voyagers at later stages of their journey, as evidenced so starkly by the huge number of fatalities incurred in Mediterranean crossings from Libya to Lampedusa in the first few months of 2015. The most uncertain and dangerous routes of migration to Europe, and especially to the eventual most aspired-to destinations of Spain and the UK, are often undertaken by young men, who, facing few Belonging: imagining and remaking home opportunities for employment in e Gambia itself, put life, limb, and savings on the line in order to explore ‘greener pastures’ abroad (Jones and Chant 2009).
As with many international economic migrants across the globe, the particular appeal of ‘Babylon’ owes to the lure of better education and employment, more lucrative earnings, and the opportunity to support immediate and extended family back home. In many ways this has become easier in the ‘digital age’, through mobile phones, internet facilities and rapid financial transfers.
According to World Bank data, overseas remittances amount to nearly 10 per cent of GDP and render the Gambia one of the topmost recipients in Africa. This complements other forms of diasporic assistance such as the shipping of containers packed with second-hand goods for recycling and re- sale. While international migration entails sacrifice and hardship for those who leave, as well as for those le behind, many forms of diasporic support and connectedness, enhanced by the ICT revolution, go some way to alleviate the burden, as well as playing a part in transforming e Gambia’s social and economic dynamics.
