As one of the most comprehensive studies so far of a West African immigrant community in the United States, this book sets a new standard in the field of migration and diaspora studies with reference to Africa. In particular, Kane's focus is on the Senegalese presence in New York, and he employs a variety of theoretical perspectives, drawn from migration studies, transnationalism, and globalization theory, to analyze their strategies for establishing themselves in the American diaspora, their interaction with their host society as well as other immigrant groups, and their relationship with their home country on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Given the wide array of topics addressed in the study, the title is perhaps a little misleading. Rather than portraying a community that lives physically abroad but remains mentally in Senegal, the book provides insights into the everyday struggles Senegalese men and women are facing in New York and elsewhere, ranging from underpaid work and precarious immigration status to marital discord and the problem of raising children under insecure living conditions. Looming large behind these struggles are issues of identity and religion, specifically Islam.
Kane uses Islam as the most important, though by no means the only lens through which he views the community under study. Accordingly, he devotes the first chapter to an outline of the religious field in Senegal, providing an overview of the various Muslim groups, mostly Sufi, and their relationships with the Senegalese state and society. One of the great merits of The Homeland is the Arena lies in the fact that it is not limited to the study of the Mourides, who have hitherto received the bulk of academic attention in studies of Senegal. Kane provides a welcome counterbalance to the ‘Mouridocentrism’ in the literature and shows that some of the features purportedly unique to the Mourides actually correspond to recurrent patterns in Senegalese Muslim communities.
Chapter Two introduces the city of New York as the setting of the study, sketching the history of Senegalese migration to the United States and the demographics of the community. Kane describes the preferred neighborhoods of Senegalese migrants (Little Senegal in Harlem and Fuuta Town in Brooklyn), their socioeconomic background, the role their remittances play for the economy at home, paying close attention to age, gender, and occupation. In Chapter Three Kane revisits the Sufi orders introduced in Chapter One to trace the ways they organize their religious activities in the diaspora. This largely descriptive summary of the various associations is carried over into Chapter Four, which presents the non-religious (political, ethnic, etc.) associational life of Senegalese migrants in New York.
In Chapter Five, titled ‘The Transnational Spiritual Economy’, the book takes a more analytical turn. Borrowing the notion of spiritual economy from Benjamin Soares, Kane describes the various festivities in the religious calendar and then turns to what he calls ‘honoraria-for-service marabouts’, that is, Sufi leaders who travel from Senegal to the US and offer religious services in exchange for donations, usually in cash. Kane shows how many Senegalese migrants seek out such services in the hope of curing a disease or solving a marital, professional, or financial problem. The cash flow not only involves visiting religious leaders, but also takes the form of remittances to religious associations, known as da'ira, both in the US and Senegal, as well as to religious leaders in Senegal.
Chapter Six is the most ethnographic of the book. Drawing on conversations and interviews with Senegalese men and women, the chapter brings the material presented in the previous chapters to life. Attuned to generation and gender differences, Kane presents male and female views of the migration experience, professional careers, responses to the expectations of family members in Senegal, and the challenges the diaspora situation poses to marriages and childrearing.
Under the title ‘Immigration or Death’, Chapter Seven offers reflections on diverse themes, including the strong desire among young Senegalese to migrate (often with dangerous consequences), the impact of migration on urban transformation in Senegal, and the benefits and costs of emigration. Perhaps the most significant insight offered in the epilogue relates to the perception of Senegalese migrants in the US as both ‘good blacks’ (as compared to African Americans) and ‘good Muslims’ (as compared to the purportedly more radical Arab or Asian Muslims) – a perception that facilitated their integration in the American host society both on individual and communal levels.
Although rich in ethnographic detail, Kane's narrative sometimes seems to break off just where the reader would have expected him to dig deeper. This becomes especially evident when we compare his ethnography to the one Zain Abdullah provides in Black Mecca (Oxford University Press, 2010). On the other hand, Kane's account is less essentializing than Abdullah's portrayal of West African Muslims in Harlem as ‘blues people in search of hope’. In contrast, in his characterization of Senegalese migrants, Kane argues that ‘transnationalism remains the dominant mode of adaptation for many of them’, an argument based on his observation that ‘most believe and act as if the homeland is the arena’ (p. 246). While the truth might very well lie somewhere in the middle, Kane's book has done a great service to understanding the dynamics of African migration to the United States.
