Remitting Belief to the Global South: Pilot Research in Mali and Spain

This project will gather data on youth understandings of the migration process including decisions to migrate, how the migration process and living abroad may shape attitudes and ideas, and how young people share those attitudes and ideas with those living back home. We will conduct focus groups in two cities in Mali (Sevare and Bamako) drawing on an existing pool of tea-drinking clubs and through targeted focus groups with those Malians who have gone abroad, but returned home. Secondly, we will conduct interviews with Malians in Spain (Madrid) to understand their experience as migrants. We aim to use this data to gain a baseline understanding of the challenges, pressures, and opportunities facing Malians during the migration process as well as the diffusion of ideas (about religious beliefs, citizenship, and “success”) from migrants to friends and families. This research connects to Kellogg’s themes of democratization and human development.