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Journeys of patronage: moral economies of transactional sex, kinship, and female migration from M ozambique to E urope
Author(s) -
GroesGreen Christian
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of the royal anthropological institute
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1467-9655
pISSN - 1359-0987
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9655.12102
Subject(s) - kinship , adventure , transactional sex , white (mutation) , transactional leadership , consumption (sociology) , sociology , gender studies , demographic economics , economy , psychology , social psychology , economics , demography , history , anthropology , social science , biology , population , biochemistry , gene , research methodology , art history
The article explores how young M ozambican women's migratory trajectories towards E urope are shaped by sexual relationships with older white men and obligations towards female kin. Triads of exchange between young women known as curtidoras (women enjoying life) and their partners and kin in M aputo are understood through theories of patronage and exchange moralities. Searching for respect, adventure, and consumption in the sexual economy, young women at the same time struggle to ensure their families' well‐being by redistributing the money they extract from white men. Sexual‐monetary transactions, love, and desire must be understood as part of broader moralities of exchange in which migration to E urope and sending of remittances is also a kinship project. The forms of patronage available in M aputo's sexual economy become stepping stones as well as obstacles to migration northwards.