Media-related Configurations of translocal social spaces by West African Migrants in Europe

• Applicant: Professorin Dorothea E. Schulz, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: from 2011 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 194851096

The research project examines forms of translocal sociability and media practices of West African Migrants in Europe and their families and friends in West Africa. The media ethnography pays particular attention to social and media spaces between Germany and Senegal and their gender and age specific configurations by Senegalese in (mainly) Berlin and Dakar. A special focus of analyses of the extension period lies on the practices surrounding smartphones, (historical) photography, social online applications like Facebook and Skype and their appropriation by users of different age and sex. On the one hand, the project assumes that West African migrants situate themselves both within the country of origin but also within the European country of residence through the social practices associated with the production and reception of media. On the other hand, it examines the influence of media on translocal social changes and takes into account transformation processes in both the country of origin as well as the country of residence. The research project complements the space and place centered approach of multi-sited ethnography with the multi-temporal ethnography and a perspective on temporality. By studying translocal migratory relations between Germany and Senegal, and taking into account the role of media practices in the translocal social context, the project is innovatively positioning itself at the interface of social and media anthropology.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants