Marriage Without Borders: Transnational Spouses in Neoliberal Senegal

María Hernández-Carretero of University of Olso reviews Marriage Without Borders Transnational Spouses in Neoliberal Senegal by Dinah Hannaford.  Dinah Hannaford writes a multi-sited study of Senegalese migration and marriage that showcases contemporary changes in kinship practices across the globe engendered by the neoliberal demand for mobility and flexibility. Based on ten years of ethnographic research in both Europe and Senegal, the book examines a particular social outcome of economic globalization: transnational marriages between Senegalese migrant men living in Europe and women at home in Senegal. These marriages have grown exponentially among the Senegalese, as economic and social possibilities within the country have steadily declined. More and more, building successful social lives within Senegal seems to require reaching outside the country, through either migration or marriage to a migrant. New kinds of affective connection, and disconnection, arise as Senegalese men and women reshape existing conceptions of spousal responsibility, filial duty, Islamic piety, and familial care.

Read the book review at https://doi.org/10.1177/0197918318798580.