Paper short abstract:

This paper interrogates questions of shared intent and friction in remittance sending, through analysis of the language that Senegalese in France used to describe how and why they shipped second-hand objects to their relatives in Senegal via shared shipping containers.

Paper long abstract:

This paper interrogates questions of shared intent in remittance sending, through analysis of the language that Senegalese in France used to describe how and why they shipped second-hand objects to their relatives in Senegal via shared shipping containers. Much slower and less frequently available than other means of sending money or goods to Senegal, the material affordances of shipping containers make it possible to send items of a size, weight, and monetary value that would otherwise be impossible to transport between the two continents. Filled with largely secondhand items: refrigerators, freezers, barrels of second-hand clothing, motorcycles, and used car parts, the stories that surround shipping containers reveal how people’s (expressed) intentions in sending are socially and linguistically produced through metapragmatic processes of typification

First, I consider shared intent as an emic ideal in Senegal, through analysis of the phrase “nio far” (meaning “we are together” in Wolof) as used in bids for alignment in discussions regarding monetary arrangements. Second, I examine the semiotic processes through which “intent” comes to appear embedded in objects themselves through analysis of narratives surrounding objects typically sent by container. Finally, I analyze tensions between senders and receivers in remittance transactions and the ways migrants sometimes intentionally create friction in their transnational transactions in order to limit expectations to send.