Juju subjugation? Deconstructing the categories of dependence among young migrants from Nigeria
Abstract
The article aims to discuss the role of the magical-religious dimension in the subjection and sexual exploitation of the women Nigerian migrants in Italy, and the resonance that this dimension has in public discourse. Drawing on my involvement in a court case against a woman accused of trafficking and enslavement, the article aims to provide an Africanist perspective to the discussion on Nigerian women migration. It develops on two main issues. First, I reconstruct the frame that produced what is commonly called juju; then I analyze the correlation between dependence and debt in the frame of the Atlantic and colonial history. The purpose of the article is to give a historical and political dignity to migrants and to question the juju as a device that in Italy contributes to strengthening gender discriminations, individual suffering and to produce racist discourses.
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