The complex dance of diaspora and transnationalism taking place in the Euro-African secondhand cars exportation business

The growth in global circulation of people and goods challenge our understanding of the nation-state. Strong analytical tools are needed to describe the multiple involvements of migrants in homeland and host countries. That’s why old concept such as diaspora or more recent one such as transnationalism are now widely used. Those two concepts, even if closely linked, describe different realms of the global circulation of people and goods. I will illustrate those differences and complementarities through a single case study; the Euro-African secondhand cars exportation business.

Intensive multi-sited fieldwork has been conducted to describe the exportation of secondhand cars between Brussels – EU’s capital – and Cotonou, Benin. Interestingly, two very different profiles of cars importers can be found in Cotonou; Lebanese one, working as a business diaspora, and Beninese one having a profile of transmigrants. Lebanese cars importers never travel to buy their cars. A high level of enforceable trust between ethnic co-members allows them to rely on the Lebanese diaspora to send cars directly to Cotonou. As a community using its network of members to address technical problems linked to a common commercial activity, they can be described as a commercial diaspora. On the contrary, Beninese importers travel themselves in order to buy their cars. The poor level of trust and the absence of a strong Beninese community in business places such as Brussels oblige them to be present at each step of the activity. Working in Cotonou, but regularly spending long sojourns in Europe, they have the double involvement characterising transmigrant concept.

The discussion of this case study allow us to describe the complex dance concepts of diaspora and transnationalism are playing together in order to help us analyse new form of global circulation.