Research Project of the Research Team 1 of FSP 3:

Subsaharan migrants in Sahelian Transit Cities:
From a Logic of Survival to a Logic of Success

This research project focuses on the analysis of survival strategies developed by foreigners/migrants to cope with precarious situations in Mauretanian transit cities. These "transit migrants" are waiting for an opportunity to continue their trip towards a better promising future, mostly anticipated to be found in Europe.

Two different objectives will be pursued. On the one hand, the survival strategies of these strangers in vulnerable life situations and their accommodation among the local population in the "new Sahelian transit cities" are to be analysed considering the advantages and disadvantages of different strategies. Their chances depend upon the participation in migrants networks and are closely linked to international migration policies. On the other hand, the research project will examine how the local authorities deal with the new challenges of migration. These include the complex interactions concerning the organization of the everyday life of migrants and the social structures in the urban quarters inhabited by foreigners. Economic, financial, infrastructural and social difficulties related to the presence of large number of migrants are analysed, but also the chances arising in the fields of innovation and local development.

Back to Area of Research 1 overview

Research fellow:

Marfaing, Laurence
Hein, Wolfgang
Kappel, Robert