Ethnographic Notes on Religion, Magic, and Adventure

Journal title MONDI MIGRANTI
Author/s Ivan Bonnin, Luca Queirolo Palmas
Publishing Year 2024 Issue 2024/3
Language Italian Pages 18 P. 95-112 File size 231 KB
DOI 10.3280/MM2024-006
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The essay explores, through ethnographic field diaries, some social dynamics of the migratory adventure intertwined with the magical and the religious in Mauritania and Tunisia. The authors highlight how the religious dimension, infused with magical elements, shapes the social construction of the journey to Europe for Sub-Saharan migrants, producing essential material infrastructures and favorable relational configurations. The roles of guides and correspondents are reconsidered not only as intermediaries but as active co-authors of the ethnographic narrative, emphasizing the agency of local actors and offering a richer and more complex view of the reality investigated. In Mauritania, interaction with guides reveals a deep integration of the magical and religious in daily life along the route, significantly influencing the organization of movements. In Tunisia, the focus shifts to the complex relationship between migrants and the local society during the sacred period of Ramadan. The text emphasizes the centrality of the magical and of religiously based social solidarity, seen as a vital resource that people on the move use to navigate and survive the challenges of their journey. A complex interaction between faith, religious practice, and strategies for survival and autonomy emerges.

Keywords: migrations; adventure; solidarity; magic; religion.

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Ivan Bonnin, Luca Queirolo Palmas, Note etnografiche attorno a religione, magia e avventura in "MONDI MIGRANTI" 3/2024, pp 95-112, DOI: 10.3280/MM2024-006