STRATEGIES FOR THE INTEGRATION OF MIGRANT ITINERANT SELLERS IN THE URBAN MARGINS IN KORHOGO

Abstract

This article is based on the results of an empirical research that addresses the integration of migrants into marginal activities in northern Côte d'Ivoire. Its objective is to analyze the strategies of social integration of migrants from the ambulatory sale in the city of Korhogo. As part of a qualitative approach, the data was produced using interview guides and focus groups built around the social imaginaries associated with the phenomenon. Network sampling was used for this study. In total, thirty-five migrant street vendors were interviewed. The data produced was stripped manually and subjected to content analysis. The socio-economic profile of the interviewees is organized on the basis of nationality, educational background, age and marital status. As soon as they arrive in Korhogo, migrants are welcomed and hosted by their resident peers. They are introduced to work on the margins by the latter with whom they maintain relations of solidarity, tolerance which constitute social springs which positively influence the integration and maintenance in the ambulatory trade. Put to the test of the institutional system of social and professional integration, the urban margins offer potentialities which are transformed into sources of subsistence and production of social ties.