When migration is also work

A 4000 Km journey between Lisbon and Senegal several times a year in an old Peugeot 504 demands many practical and social skills as well as courage and determination. A journey across cultures through multiple racisms by a 62-year old Senegalese man which challenges Western stereotypes about migrants.

Migration has different experiences and different meanings, it usually means a search for work a better life, but migration can sometimes become a way of life and earning a living. And this can happen especially in cultures where movement is not considered an anomaly, and home is not one geographical location.

Pedro Figueiredo Neto and Ricardo Falcao are Portuguese anthropologists who through their interest in Africa met Mbaye Sow, a Senegalese migrant and travelling merchant -salesman is the wrong word- who makes regular journeys taking goods between Lisbon and Dakar in Senegal, in which he faces many problems and sometimes dangers. Neto and Falcao developed a friendship with Mbaye and made the film "Yoon" (meaning 'journey' in the Wolof language) accompanying him on two of these trips, where they saw close-up the personal qualities and skills that he needs.

They spoke to The Prisma in Lisbon, following the showing of their film at the DocLisboa film festival in 2021, where it won the award in the 'safety and health at work' category. The film was also shown in the IDFF in Ji.hlava in the Czech Republic where it also got an award, and at the IDFA in Amsterdam in November.

The first part of this interview was first published on the Prisma Multicultural Newspaper site in 2021 and re-published in July 2022. It can be read here with links and still images: https://theprisma.co.uk/2022/07/04/when-migration-is-also-work/