The Struggle Over Mobility Narratives: How Senegalese Activists use Alternative Information Campaigns to Contest EU Externalization

Abstract

For nearly two decades the European Union and its member states have invested in migration awareness and information campaigns (MICs) in West Africa to prevent unwanted migration. While a growing body of migration scholarship has critically engaged with the larger-scale, European-funded MICs in Africa, local activist-led campaigns have received less attention. The article addresses this gap by focusing on campaigns organized by a local, activist-led organization in Dakar, Senegal. Building on ethnographic fieldwork, the article shows how activist-led MICs use counternarratives and action repertories entangled in and motivated by recent externalization interventions in Senegal and the EU–Africa borderlands. By situating these “ripple effects” of externalization locally and exploring their repercussions, the article illustrates how migrant experiences, border control, and violence become catalysts for collective action. The activist-led MICs in Senegal can be understood as activities that fundamentally challenge the political premises and outcomes of EU–Africa migration governance, including European-driven MICs. This perspective enriches our understanding of MICs in West Africa and the local ripple effects of externalization, underscoring local actors’ proactive role in trying to contest and reshape Eurocentric migration narratives and policies.