From Dakar to São Paulo: the emergence of new migratory and commercial networks

Abstract

The end of the Fordist Era transformed the face of the migratory phenomenon and the policies that accompanied it. Such migrations are now characterized by relational peculiarities with labor markets established between the points of departure and arrival. Whether it's new family reunifications, refugees, adventurers, illegal migrants, traders etc, market movements performed by them escape the logic of the big capital and the institutional framework of the States concerned. The subject of my post doctorate is to reflect and discuss these new figures that boost the global informal economy between Brazil and Africa, particularly Senegal. The first phase of my work reflects the senegalezes's insertions in the informal market in the center of São Paulo. Some goods commercialized, such as tissues or natural hair, come directly from Africa, through regular trips made by migrants. With its many possibilities, this new trade route may be constitute a true accelerator of African migration to Brazil, strengthening it. At the same time, the movement of migrants in this market consolidates a new niche. In order to understand this superposition of commercial networks and immigration networks, the second phase of our research is dedicated to the observation of the places of origin of the goods; where the transcontinental movement of people and goods are woven. Our goal is to investigate the social frameworks of the market and the migration space in Senegal, in other words, to investigate the formation of a specialized migration ethos in transnational trade that promotes the purchase, transport and reselling of goods by those same migrants, in a circular manner. Our research is set on a transnational perspective and our work reflects on the type of socio-economic insertion of Senegalese migrants in São Paulo considering the structures of society that is the source of this migratory process. Articulating these different territories, entered at the same time on individual routes and within a collective history developed in Senegal, our internship abroad is constituted as an essential exercise to the full understanding of the migration phenomenon mentioned in our research. (AU)