Skip to main content

‘Why Do They Take the Money and Not Give Visas?’

The Governmentality of Consulate Offices in Cameroon

  • Chapter

Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series ((IPES))

Abstract

This is what an informant in Cameroon had to say about consulate offices. The informant had in vain supported the visa applications of two of his younger brothers. Deeply sceptical of the trustworthiness of consulate offices, he understood the money given to the consulate office as a “prize” he had paid without receiving anything in return. Andre is a middle-aged businessman in Cameroon with several family members abroad. Although he had also several times given money in vain to migration brokers, his wife had in the end been able to leave Cameroon and travel to Dubai. ‘The agencies know the transactions. You just pay them that money’. Although discontented with some of the aspects of the work of his wife’s migration broker, he did recommend the broker to other people in his surrounding.

You pay for registration. They receive all the money and in the end they say you cannot go. They are making their money. They are thieves. Why do they take the money and not give visas?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Bibliography

  • Ardener, S. and Burman, S. (eds) (1996) Money-Go-Rounds: The Importance of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations for Women (Oxford/Hernden: Berg Publisher).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (2012) Sur L’Etat: Cours au College de France (1989–1992) (Paris: Raisons d’Agir).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bigo, D. (2002) ‘Security and Immigration: Toward a Critique of the Governmentality of Unease’, Alternatives, 27: 63–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Genova, N. (2002) ‘Migrant Illegality’ and Deportability in Everyday Life’, Annual Review of Anthropology, 31: 419–437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, J. (2006) Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order (Durham, NC: Duke University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fitzpatrick, P. (1992) The Mythology of Modern Law (London: Routledge).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1991) ‘Archaeology of Knowledge’, in G. Burchell et al. (eds) The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1988) ‘Technologies of the Self’, in L. H. Martin et al. (eds) Technologies of the Self A Seminar with Michel Foucault (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press), 16–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyle, D. and Siracusa, C. A. (2005) ‘Seeing the State Like a Migrant: Why So Many Non-Criminals Break Immigration Law’, in W. van Schendel and I. Braham (eds) Illicit Flows and Criminal Things (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • McKeown, A. M. (2008) Melancholy Order: Asian Migration and the Globalization of Border (New York: Columbia University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Malkki, L. H. (1995) ‘Refugees and Exile: From “Refugee Studies” to the National Order of Things’, Annual Review of Anthropology, 24: 495–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. (1987) ‘The World Polity and the Authority of the Nation-State’, in G. Thomas et al. (eds) Institutional Structure: Constituting State, Society, and the Individual (Newbury Park, California: Sage), 41–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, T. (2006) ‘Society, Economy, and the State Effect’, in A. Sharma and A. Gupta (eds) The Anthropology of State: A Reader (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell), 169–186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olivier de Sardan, J. P. (2005) Anthropology and Development: Understanding Contemporary Social Change (London: Zed Books).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, N. et al. (2006) ‘Governmentality’, Annual Review of Law and Society, 2: 83–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salter, M. B. (2006) ‘The Global Visa Regime and the Political Technologies of the International Self: Borders Bodies, Biopolitics’, Alternatives, 31(2): 167–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, J. C. (1998) Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven/London: Yale University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Torpey, J. (2000) The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship and the State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Torpey, J. (1998) ‘Coming and Going: On the State Monopolization of the Legitimate “Means of Movement”’, Sociological Theory, 16(3): 239–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van der Ploeg, I. (1999) ‘The Illegal Body: Eurodac and the Politics of Biometric Identification’, Ethics and Information Technology, 1(4): 295–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Schendel, W. and Abraham, I. (eds) (2005) Illicit Flows and Criminal Things (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zelizer, V. A. (1997) The Social Meaning of Money (Princeton: Princeton University Press).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2013 Maybritt Jill Alpes

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Alpes, M.J. (2013). ‘Why Do They Take the Money and Not Give Visas?’. In: Geiger, M., Pécoud, A. (eds) Disciplining the Transnational Mobility of People. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137263070_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics