Paper long abstract:

International migration is an accepted means to wellbeing in the Gambian valley. However, many Gambian youths are facing a condition of 'involuntary immobility' due to restrictive migration policies in desirable destinations. The surge of undocumented boat migration from Senegambian coasts to the Canary Islands has contributed to fuelling debates in the public as well as in more private spheres, with governments, Islamic movements and ordinary people discussing the merits and demerits of migration. This paper analyses some of these discourses, paying particular to the virtues attached to the act of staying in a context strongly polarised by out-migration. It shows that, far from epitomising a mere crisis or the downside of the global mobility regime, immobility in Gambia is a long-standing feature of local migration processes and discourses. The paper critically engages the 'mobility turn' by showing the usefulness of analysing sedentarity in order to shed light on (im)mobility processes.