Fighting Migrant Smuggling in Senegal. Euro-Senegalese Borderwork and the Reproduction of Coloniality

In recent years, often with financial support from the European Union (EU), Senegal has significantly intensified its efforts to combat migrant smuggling and to prevent illegalized departures. This research investi-gates how coloniality is reproduced in counter migrant smuggling efforts in Senegal. Empirically, this thesis follows three (partially) European-funded initiatives on migrant smuggling: the reform of the Senegalese legal framework governing migrant smuggling; the modernization of the civil registry; and the elaboration of the strategy to fight irregular emigration. Additionally, a methodological chapter discusses the politics of care in research on border externalization. This work contributes to the interdisciplinary field of Migration Studies and engages with adjacent debates in Critical Border Studies, and Critical Security Studies. The research puts forward two key contributions. Empirically, it examines counter migrant smuggling as an aspect of borderwork and sheds light on its multi-scalar construction. Conceptually, it advances scholarship that analyses the reproduction of coloniality within contemporary borderwork shaped by externalization. Show more