Dying a Senegalese Muslim in Migration

Abstract

The occurrence of death in an immigrant situation is a little-explored albeit essential subject considering, for example, the presence in France of a substantial immigrant population, now largely settled, of people working and living - but also dying - in France. To study funerary practices in such circumstances is to consider the entirety of social behaviours that are caused by a migrant's death in migration. The question of death is approached here from a dual perspective: that of the choice of place for the grave (France or in the country of origin), and that of the funerary practices (what migrants actually do when a death occurs in France). It is situated at a crossing of two issues, that of the migration process and that of death, its representations, and related practices.