Over the past few years, the European crisis and the EU enforcement and
externalization of border control have shaped how Europe and migration are
perceived in Africa. Areas of out-migration, such as Senegal, are not only experiencing
changes in mobility patterns but also a social diversification in the
way in which \uabEurope\ubb is viewed and talked about. While several studies have
underlined transformations occurring over time amongst Senegalese migrants
in Europe, less attention has been paid to analysing their migration decisionmaking
practices through a diachronic perspective. Drawing on ethnographic
research carried out in Senegal and Italy between the mid-1990s and the first
decade of the 2000s, this paper aims to explore how imaginaries and narratives
of migration and destination countries are formed. Taking into account
the interconnections of global and local dynamics, the paper discusses shifting
perceptions of Europe and mobility in Senegal, highlighting how imaginaries
of \uabelsewhere\ubb are ambivalent and historically grounde