Des migrants « agents adaptatifs » pour leur communauté d'origine ? Analyse translocale des transferts politiques dans un contexte de changements socio-environnementaux. Le cas des Haalpulaar du Sénégal en Belgique..

Policymakers and scholars increasingly assume migrants to be “agents of change” (Grabowska et al., 2017), “agents of development” (Sinatti & Horst, 2015) or “adaptive agents” in the face of climate change for their country or community of origin (Ransan-Cooper et al., 2015). However, we argue that this should not be argued ideologically, but should be investigated more thoroughly. Indeed, it is mostly assumed in a neo-liberal fashion, notably in the New Economics of Labour Migration theory, that the migrant-actor is a flexible, resilient individual coping in a too often depoliticised context. Very few research has been done so far in what I investigated in the migration as adaptation-research strand.
The role of remittances for social resilience has been addressed (Adger et al., 2002). The literature contains many references to factors that favour social resilience, such as financial remittances, livelihood diversification, participation in decision processes, openness to innovations (through social remittances), and many more (Siegmann, 2010; Béné et al., 2012; Grabowska et al., 2017).
However, there are very few studies simultaneously integrating in their analysis:
1. The translocal dimension of remittances or “translocality”. Most studies look at in-situ impacts – at the place of origin or destination on a general level – neglecting the translocal dimension of migration (Sakdapolrak et al., 2016).
2. Political dimension, including translocal power relations in the analysis for adaptation and social resilience. In this regard, the thesis mobilises Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice and the critical field of political ecology.
3. Ecological/environmental dimension looking further at emic perceptions of adaptation to environmental change, including climate change.
4. various social entities or translocal social institutions in the village of origin and in the country of destination, beyond the classical household-level analysis (i.e., family, association, enterprises).
The general objective of the thesis is to understand the role of political and ecological dimensions in translocal practices - understood here as political remittances - of members of migrant communities from areas affected by environmental change. More specifically, this qualitative, multi-sited research focuses on the contribution of members of the Haalpulaar migrant community in Belgium to the process of adaptation to environmental change in rural villages in the Fouta-Toro region (Middle Valley of the Senegal River, northeast Senegal).
To do so, we adopt a translocal perspective with an eclectic ethnographic approach focusing on transnational practices and their political dimensions. The translocal practices selected are those that, according to our respondents, improve living conditions in the context of environmental change. Furthermore, these practices reflect the political dimension of transnational relations between international migrants in Belgium and development actors at the village level. In this respect, salient socio-political conditions in their village of origin and in Belgium determine the extent whether international migrants can act as "adaptive agents" for their community of origin.

We therefore use a translocal social resilience approach, with an analytic lens informed by Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice and political ecology. The thesis’ operational framework is articulated in four main steps:
1. An emic perceptions analysis of environmental risks that affect living conditions in the Middle River Valley region. Within the villagers’ vulnerability context to socio-environmental changes, we try to grasp the social representations they have of international migrants, notably their expectations and social demands in relation to these identified environmental hazards. Then, in Dakar, we also analyse the perceptions of environmental risks of internal migrants from the Fouta-Toro region and we assess the social expectations and demands towards the diaspora and the links with the latter in terms of remittance practices towards the village of origin. Finally, in Belgium, we are interested in the socio-environmental perceptions and experiences of Haalpulaar migrants, both before and after their migration project. The emic perceptions approach is used to assess the discourse on practices in the translocal social field of village development.
2. An analysis of the major transnational practices of migrants with collective adaptation effects. In order to objectify the extent to which migrants can be considered as 'adaptive agents', we assess how the transnational practices and (political) commitments of these migrants enhance the adaptive capacity and resilience of the community. The assessment is made by examining ex ante slow-onset environmental adaptation practices (longer-term adaptation) and ex post rapid-onset environmental/climatic impacts (shorter-term coping strategies).
3. An analysis of the political dimension of the transfer practices identified as having an effect on adaptation to environmental change. In this context, we are interested in the socio-political dynamics and processes in the translocal field at the village level in Senegal and Belgium. The analysis calls for the involvement of changing power relations by social institutions in these translocal mechanisms (family, enterprises, associations), particularly in collective coping strategies influencing the livelihoods (resources) and living conditions of villagers.
4. Finally, we draw up a typology of Haalpulaar migrants in Belgium in relation to their capacity to contribute to coping strategies in their village of origin.
The thesis shows that the capacity of migrants to engage in collective adaptation strategies through various remittance translocal practices is strongly limited and constrained by social structure, notably composed of a political dimension. Hence, the improvement of living conditions at collective level beyond the household in the country of origin demands changing power relations through social and political networks. This will lead the international migrants to build their capacities (their ‘capitals’) in multilevel translocal conditions that shape the field of village development and the margin of action of the emigrants. While translocal practices are necessary for the migrants to acquire social recognition and legitimacy, the migrants’ various capitals in the sense of Bourdieu (1986) are constructed in a translocal space, amongst which in the country of origin and destination. These practices allowing for collective adaptation in the village of origin carry significant symbolic and political stakes.