ABSTRACT
The term ‘adventurer’ is sometimes used as an analytical category with which to classify migrants who have overcome risks and dangers to traverse the various barriers and borders introduced to curb migratory movements. The media systematically represents migratory adventures as the behavior of youth in the Global South who dream of living better lives in the Global North. Central to the migratory adventure is the fact that it is appreciated as a lifestyle allowing one to escape a gloomy and predictable everyday life and to find fulfillment. In their performances they compared the migratory and professional trajectories of diamond smugglers to those of the traditional Tukulor heroes, thereby reinserting the hope of glory in those who had already begun their migratory adventure and motivating those who had yet set off from home. Through associating migratory adventurers with the conduct of heroes, migrants indicate that they are not just puppets controlled by fate but, in fact, actors shaping their lives.
