ABSTRACT
This chapter examines male migration over two periods, 1947-1959 and 1960-1973. By 1947, a necessary condition for reconstituting the colony had been satisfied: "free" labor migration had developed sufficiently to allow the abolition of forced labor. Policies in the late colonial era aimed not only at attracting burkinabe labor to Cote d'Ivoire but also at discouraging migration to Ghana. Labor migration to international destinations remained essential. In 1947-1959, the movement of Burkinabe men to Cote d'Ivoire became the predominant international flow. Internal migration remained relatively unimportant. The chapter aims to reconstruct the social characteristics of migrants who went to international destinations in the years, and explores the larger economic, social, and political factors that contributed to international mobility. The sociodemographic characteristics of mobility—the duration of migration and the ages and marital status of migrants at migration—underscore the continued circular nature of the system in 1947-1959 and 1960-1973.
