Free Content Senegalese Women and the Cyber Café: Online Dating and Aspirations of Transnational Migration in Ziguinchor

Author: Venables, Emilie1

Source: African and Asian Studies, Volume 7, Number 4, 2008 , pp. 471-490(20)

Publisher: BRILL

Abstract:

In this article, I show how young women in the Senegalese town of Ziguinchor are using Internet technologies as a way to communicate with European men in the hope of forming relationships that may lead to transnational migration. Rather than assessing the degree to which women are successful in their aspirations, I consider how online communication enables them to assert their agency and imagine a better future for themselves.

Keywords: SENEGAL; INTERNET; GENDER; SEXUALITY; MIGRATION

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1163/156921008X359623

Affiliations: 1: Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, Chrystal Macmillan Building 15a George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD, Scotland, UK

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