Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the practice of polygyny within transnational families across Senegal, France and the UK. It is suggested that mobility between Africa and Europe both transforms and reinforces local ideas about marriage in unexpected and highly gendered ways.

Paper long abstract:

This paper proposes to explore some of the social dynamics at play in transnational families between Senegal and Europe. From the 18th century onwards, the Senegambian region served as a platform for the transatlantic trade, and later for the colonial conquest of West Africa. As a result, marriage to Europeans has a long history in the region. This form of exogamy intensified during the colonial period, when many young Senegalese men went to France to study, and married French women. Today, transnational marriage involving a Senegalese and a European partner are so common as to be found in most Senegalese families.

At the same time, the widespread practice of polygyny in Senegal has proved surprisingly resilient in urban and rural contexts alike. Polygyny has shaped 'mixed' marriages in highly gendered ways: whereas Senegalese women marrying European men find the assurance of a monogamous marriage, Senegalese men marrying European women are often under pressure to take a Senegalese wife as well. Senegalese families may find in this arrangement the assurance that Senegalese men living in Europe will not be 'lost' to them.

Drawing on on-going fieldwork across several locations (France, the UK and Senegal), this paper examines the accommodation with or rejection of polygyny within transnational families. It is suggested that mobility between Africa and Europe both transforms and reinforces local ideas about marriage in unexpected ways.