Abstract

Abstract

Inhabitants of Niaogho in Burkina Faso have seen their village transform into a rural municipality despite or rather because of its ongoing outmigration over the course of several decades. More precisely, remittances from Italy sent to Niaogho have created something that has prompted Burkinabé to refer to this region as ‘Little Italy’. In Niaogho, remittances improve and foster public infrastructure and private businesses and bring about modern ways of living, modern attitudes, a spirit of competition and individualism, as well as political clout for transmigrants and returned migrants. In this article, the authors investigate how the physical space in Niaogho has changed, and how the interaction with diaspora members has influenced the usage of space, the social values, and the power relations back home, highlighting cultural changes and social disparities between households with connections to diaspora and those who do not. In view of the tangible and intangible changes, the authors conclude that Niaogho’s case represents a positive example of migration.

Trialog - A Journal for Planning and Building in a Global Context #138 “Cultural Space”. Volume editors: Elettra Griesi, Rebekka Keuss and Kosta Mathéy
https://www.trialog-journal.de/en/journals/trialog-138-cultural-space/