Migrants and Strangers in an African City

Bruce Whitehouse is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Lehigh University.

[A] very readable and accessible ethnography . . . .(Journal of African History) An excellent example of multisited research projects in an age of globalization. . . . Highly recommended.(Choice) Migrants and Strangers in an African City is very well written and, simultaneously, it is engaging in important scholarly debate while remaining accessible. To a large extent, the book benefits immensely from the author's demonstrated deep ethnographic knowledge of both the home and host countries.(African and Asian Studies) [A]n in-depth study that provokes more questions about other migrants in other settings across the continent. It opens a window on the motivations, lives, achievements and frustrations that affect so many Africans, and it is a story well worth reading about.(New Books in African Studies) Whitehouse's ethnography is an often surprising and carefully argued book.(Inside Story) Even though the book does not conclusively resolve the 'stranger-ness' of West African migrants in Brazzaville, it uncovers fascinating aspects of migrant social life that often remain outside the limelight of academic attention. . . . [It is] an interesting read for students of African Studies as well as those interested in broader socio-economic transformations on the African continent.(Africa) Bruce Whitehouse has produced an important volume that examines the settlement of West African migrants in Brazzaville and sets out to explain why their integration into Congolese society has been so limited.(Ethnic and Racial Studies)

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Exile Knows No Dignity1. The Avenue of Sergeant Malamine2. Enterprising Strangers3. Among the Unbelievers4. The Stranger's Code5. Transnational Kinship6. Children of ExileConclusion: The Anchoring of IdentitiesEpilogue: Displaced DreamsAppendix 1. Notes on MethodsAppendix 2. Survey ResultsNotesBibliographyIndex