Labour migration in colonial Africa has been analyzed in terms of linear models which convey the impression of a coherent, homogeneous process being at work, the dynamism of the modem capitalist sector standing in contrast with the (sometimes enforced) passivity of the domestic economy. In fact, the movement of migrations in colonial Congo has known marked fluctuations, as well as being loaded with fantasies and emotions, on the European as well as on the African side. Migrant labour in all cases functioned as a contact zone for transcultural innovations, both in the receiving and exporting regions of the colony.
