Failed migrants in Bamako: The mental pressure of return

Abstract

Migration from sub-Saharan Africa to European shores became increasingly difficult and dangerous. Maghreb transit countries return migrants to their southern borders, and member states of the Europe enforced its expulsion policy. In Mali this leads to the frequent arrival of failed migrants, too ashamed to return to their families. Often, these returnees are in need of medical care. Cut off from traditional social networks, they gather in the city. Since 2005, returnees increasingly engaged in self-help groups. The organisations are offering assistance, first aid and medical care for returnees. Initiated out of the transnational experience of returned migrants, the work of these organisations answers the needs of failed migrants as an emergent urban social group, and is located within the framework of international health organisations. The paper explores how these organisations operate within the cultural urban framework at Bamako.