West African Youth, Mobility and Football Trafficking James HN Esson
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A body and a dream: West African youth, mobility and football trafficking James H N Esson Department of Geography University College London (UCL) Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) November 2012 II Declaration I, James H N Esson confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Signed: Date: III Abstract Football trafficking, particularly the exploitation of male West African youth, has become the object of much recent academic and political concern. This thesis provides an alternative theorisation and counter narrative to the neo- classical and structural historical theories that dominate accounts of football trafficking, and African football migration more generally. These dominant accounts ignore migrant agency and subjectivity, as well as abstracting football migration from broader social relationships. By doing so, they cast migration and development as antagonistic, and seek to solve the problem of trafficking by returning young migrants home. This approach is diametrically opposed to the migratory disposition of young African males, who see development as freedom through spatial mobility. The alternative framework for understanding football migration elaborated in this thesis thus places central emphasis on the subjectivity and agency of West African male youth, as these are shaped by broader socio-economic contexts, such as the racial and gendered signification of sport. Contrary to arguments based on structural historical theories and anti-trafficking policies, this thesis shows that young West African males are not migrating just because of neo-colonial relations in the footballing political economy, nor because traffickers dupe them. Rather than casting these young West African males as passive victims, or stressing their commodification, the thesis portrays them as ‘entrepreneurs of self’, who actively try to migrate through football because they see it as a means of overcoming the uncertainty and constraints on life ambitions facing them in Africa. The thesis takes the form of a ‘critical ethnography of migration’. It is based on field research with male African youth in Accra (Ghana) and explores how and why they are drawn into the football industry, and follows the trajectory of young African players to Europe, explicitly Paris (France). IV Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................1 1.1 The scandal of Africa's trafficked players ..........................................2 1.2 An alternative framework for understanding African football migration .................................................................................................5 1.3 Research Aims .................................................................................10 1.4 Thesis Outline ..................................................................................11 2.0 Literature Review ........................................................................................13 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................14 2.2 Moving beyond structural historical theories .................................15 2.2.1 The muscle drain: A new scramble for Africa? ..................................16 2.2.2 A neocolonial commodity? .................................................................21 2.3 From the plantation to Vanity Fair ................................................28 2.3.1 Human Trafficking: Football’s dirty secret? ......................................29 2.3.2 Grasping slippery definitions: Theorizing irregular migration .........31 2.3.3 Don’t stop moving: Young People in Sub Saharan Africa ...........37 2.4 Matter over Mind: Race, gender and sport ....................................43 2.4.1 Race: On the streets but not on the page ...........................................45 2.4.2 Gender: From masculinity to masculinities ......................................50 2.5 Conclusion .......................................................................................58 3.0 Methodology ..............................................................................................60 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................61 3.2 Critical Ethnographies of Migration ...............................................61 3.3 Multi-sited ethnography in Accra ..................................................63 3.3.1 Identifying sites in Accra using Poli’s GCC ........................................66 3.3.2 Researching daily life at the clubs ......................................................73 3.3.3 Expert Interviews ..............................................................................80 3.4 Researching a ‘hidden population’ in Paris, France ......................82 3.4.1 Researching irregular football migrants ............................................84 V 3.4.2 The challenges of researching irregular football migrants ...............87 3.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................88 4.0 Playing by Force: ........................................................................................90 4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................91 4.2 From independence to SAPs ...........................................................92 4.3 Ghanaian football: Money talks ....................................................101 4.4. ‘Chairman give me transport’ ......................................................108 4.5 Conclusion .....................................................................................116 5.0 Competing fields of play: ...........................................................................118 5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................119 5.2 Dropping out of school and into football ......................................120 5.3 Living the X-Way ...........................................................................131 5.4 A commodity or Entrepreneur of Self? .........................................137 5.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................141 6.0 Never let your boots leave your eyes: .......................................................143 6.1 Introduction ..................................................................................144 6.2 Justifying your inclusion ...............................................................145 4.3 You have to try your luck ..............................................................158 6.4 Conclusion .....................................................................................172 7.0 Leaving by Force: .......................................................................................174 7.1 Introduction ...................................................................................175 7.2 Leaving by force .............................................................................176 7.3 Chasing the dream, catching the reality .......................................184 7.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................203 8.0 Conclusion ................................................................................................205 8.1. Thesis Overview ...........................................................................206 8.2 The ‘African football migration fetish’ ..........................................214 Bibliography ....................................................................................................221 VI List of Figures Fig 1: Cover of Vanity Fair July 2010 13 Fig 2: Didier Drogba signs for a Chinese Super League club 17 Fig 3: Linear-ideal- typical input-output structure 22 Fig 4: Cartoon from West African Pilot, Nigeria, July 23, 1949 43 Fig 5: Hammer and Nail 60 Fig 6: Map of Ghana in Africa 64 Fig 7: Map of Greater Accra Metropolitan Area 66 Fig 8: Diagram showing ethnographic interview techniques 76 Fig 9: Map of Paris in France 84 Fig 10: Supposed to be in school? 90 Fig 11: MTN Corporate Sponsorship, The Hearts of Oak team bus 102 Fig 12: RtD Residential facility 105 Fig 13: RtD Grass pitches 105 Fig 14: Training at Future Icons FC on a Sakora pitch 106 Fig 15: A body and a dream 118 Fig 16: Mansions in the background- living the X-Way 135 Fig 17: Discarded Dreams 143 Fig 18: On the way to the prison 151 Fig 19: Pray 4 Muamba 162 Fig 20: Church in the background 163 Fig 21: Bad Position? 169 Fig 22: Cones not Goals 172 Fig 23: Leaving by force 174 Fig 24: Iya at Sacre-Coeur Basilica 199 Fig 25: On the sidle lines (late comer to training) 205 VII List of Tables Table 1: Country of origin, African players expatriated in Europe Oct 2008 15 Table 2: Training Schedule 73 Table 3: Breakdown of training sessions attended 73 Table 4: Breakdown of structured interviews 78 Table 5: ‘Expert’ interviews conducted in Accra 82 Table 6: Interviews conducted in Paris 84 Table 7: Overview of Fieldwork 89 Table 8: Official fees associated with managing amateur and colts club 108 List of Appendices Appendix 1: Godwin’s email from the fake agent 252 List of Acronyms CAF: The Confederation of African Football CFS: Culture Foot Solidaire