Paper short abstract:

Memories and recollections of early international migrants of the Gambia River show the intersection between diasporas and the nationalist struggles of the 1950s and 1960s, and unveil the longer historical dynamics behind contemporary West African migrations to Europe.

Paper long abstract:

This essay discusses the social trajectory of a generation of rural Gambian men that reached other African countries and Europe in the 1950s and early 1960s. Some were students in search of further education. Some others yearned for adventure and money in the diamond economies of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Congo Brazaville and Kinshasa. All of them were seeking social emancipation from the restraints of village life and the joke of colonial rule at a time in which the colonial state was promoting innovation and change. After years of travels, many of these migrants resettled at home and tried to carve out a niche in the rapidly changing and economic deteriorating set up of independent Gambia. Their recollections are key to an in-depth understanding of a crucial phase in the history of West Africa, which in the late 1950s and 1960s saw nationalist struggles and the achievement of independence intersecting with the first waves of international diasporas. In a broader perspective, this essay reminds analysts of West African migrations to address the geographical and social immobility of contemporary West African youths in light of the social memories of two or even three generations of returnees, whose experiences abroad strongly influenced the development of their home countries.