The MAFE project aims at producing quantitative data to comprehend both the logic of migrations and the impact they have on countries of origin. This project relies on a comparative approach in order to go further than simple case study. It focuses on 3 African countries (Senegal, Congo and Ghana) and on 7 European countries (France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain and the Netherlands).

Three main axes of comparison have been identified: (1) a descriptive study of migration trends (migrants' characteristics, modalities of circulation, route of migration); (2) An analysis of factors of international migration that focuses as much on departures as on returns. (3) A study of socio-economic shifts combined with international migrations in a biographic perspective. Two angles will be examined: on the one hand, the connection between migratory routes and family construction; on the other, the interactions between migratory experience and the evolution of migrants' professional carriers.

The MAFE project aims at producing its own data to feed the comparative analyses mentioned above. As far as methods to collect data are concerned, the project incorporates the principles of ethnosurvey developed to study migrations between Latino America and the USA (cf. Doug Massey, experience of the Mexican Migration Project) and of the acquired savoir-faire when it comes to biographical survey in the French-speaking world. In short, the project will allow us to obtain : (1) transnational samples (about countries of departure and countries of arrival), (2) retrospective longitudinal data, (3) multilevel (individual, familial, communitarian and national).

website of the MAFE project: http://www.mafeproject.com

Contact the MAFE project: info@mafeproject.com