Identity and Roles of the Senegalese Transmigrant

This chapter provides an overview of the Senegalese transmigrants’ identity work. It shows how the diasporans engage in languaging strategies which undergird identity constructions woven into their life histories. The chapter discusses how the studied Senegalese diasporans create an in-betweenness of self-identification by othering two communities: their Senegalese countrymen back home on the one hand and the Western Blacks on the other, both of whom the diasporans insist on being distinguished from. The chapter also shows how the speakers monitor their urban Wolof repertoire to construct three types of identities: (a) their identity as Senegalese diasporans characterised by the foregrounding of Wolof linguistic features as the main marker of Senegality abroad; (b) their identity as sermonisers by infantilising their compatriots in Senegal, especially when addressing issues of bad governance and the many ills of Africa; and (c) their identity as successful, multilingual cosmopolitans through the use of more English features, which, by the same token, showcase their desire to rid Francophone Africa of France’s overbearing tentacles.