La migration régionale et entrepreneuriale des Libanais de Dakar, Abidjan et Ouagadougou

Abstract

In contrast to the communitarian analysis of the Lebanese presence in West Africa, we suggest an analytical framework that takes into account Lebanese regional mobility based on socio-political conditions and economic opportunities. During our doctoral research in social anthropology, we conducted fieldwork in Dakar, Abidjan and Ouagadougou and we observed the existence of two types of regional migration - one related to individual initiative and another one based on the initiative of companies which recruit their managers according to their national belongings. This perception leads to re-examine the concepts of “diaspora” and “middleman minorities” which are traditionally mobilized in the study of Lebanese people in West Africa but maintain a grey zone, especially about the extraterritoriality of “communities” and their strategic mobilization of African nationalities.