(Im)mobility and Mediterranean migrations: journeys ‘between the pleasures of wealth and the desires of the poor’

ABSTRACT

Foregrounding (im)mobility to engage with experiences of human displacement, this study seeks to disrupt and set a change of emphasis in current debates about migration in literary and cultural studies. It engages with Laila Lalami’s Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits [2005. Tangier: Altopress, Moroccan Cultural Institute] to explore the novel’s representation of Morocco-Europe migration, the journeys between what Badiou aptly defines as ‘the pleasures of wealth and the desires of the poor’ [2008. “The Communist Hypothesis.” New Left Review 49: 29–42]. Through reading the stories of Murad and Halima – the two characters in the novel who fail to make it into Europe – this paper draws on anthropological studies of contemporary migration and examines the ways in which failure and (im)mobility stimulate fruitful transformations. It explores the complexities at the heart of migratory projects and the role that both mobility and immobility play in shaping the characters’ lives, and thereby problematises understandings of migration which privilege mobility and border-crossing. A focus on immobility reveals cultural and social processes which would otherwise remain obscured by an increased focus on narratives of mobility; through an insight into experiences of displacement beyond mere movement, this paper identifies acts of resistance, empowerment and agency activated by what Carling calls forced, ‘involuntary immobility’ [2002. “Migration Control and Migration Fatalities at the Spanish-African Borders.” International Migration Review 41 (2): 316–343].

KEYWORDS:

• Postcolonial literature
• migration
• Mediterranean
• Morocco
• mobility
• immobility

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions; I am also grateful to Roger Bromley for his time, insightful suggestions and constructive criticism.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Abderrezak reminds us of some of the representatives of this sub-genre among Moroccan, Spanish, Italian and French writings: Youssef Amghar’s Il était parti dans la nuit, Moulay Hachem El Amrani’s Hmidou el emigrante, Nasser-Eddine Bekkai Lahbil’s Le Détroit ou le voyage des vaincus, Ahmed Bouchikhi’s Le Cimetière des illusions, El Driss’s Vivre à l’arrache, Hocein Faraj’s L’Aller et le retour, Rachid El Hamri’s Le Néant bleu, Salim Jay’s Tu ne traverseras pas le détroit, Youssef Jebri’s Le Manuscrit d’Hicham, destinées marocaines, Y Youcef M.D.’s Je rêve d’une autre vie, and Hamid Skif’s La Géographie de la peur (2009, 462).

2 Other works by Moroccan (francophone) writers such as Tahar Ben Jelloun, Youssouf Amine Elalamy, and Mahi Binebine also ‘react against and offer an alternative to monolithic narratives in mass media and politics concerning clandestine migration’ (Abderrezak 2009, 462).

3 Among other contemporary Arab Anglophone (British or American) women authors are ‘Ahdaf Soueif, Fadia Faqir, Laila Lalami and Leila Aboulela and others as British Arabs; Naomi Shehab Nye, Layla Halabi, Susan Muaddi Darradj and Diana Abou Jaber and others as Arab Americans (Sarnou 2014, 68). For Sarnou, it is important to recognise ‘Arab Anglophone women’s narratives as a new minor literature that is articulated in a major language – English – and as an international discourse’ (2014, 80).

4 Balibar observes that our

world that is now broadly unified from the point of view of economic exchange and communication needs borders more than ever to segregate, at least in tendency, wealth and poverty in distinct territorial zones […] The poor, at least, need to be systematically triaged and regulated at points of entry to the wealthiest territories. (2009, 113)

5 From The Hague Programme (2004), to the Stockholm Programme (2010–2014), and the creation of Frontex (Minter 2015) – the European agency which enforces border controls at the frontiers and beyond – there has been a steady institutionalisation of border management and an increased focus on curbing migration.

6 From the eighties up until more recently, there is a long history of agreements and treaties between the EU and North Africa within the framework of migration (MPC 2013).

7 See Vice (23-04-2015) ‘In Photos: Europe’s mass Migrant Graveyard in the Mediterranean’. Available at: https://news.vice.com/article/in-photos-europesmass-migrant-graveyard-in-the-mediterranean

8 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=55389#.WEfn-GqLSUk.

9 Mainly towards OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, such as France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Germany. A report by the Migration Policy Centre states that ‘[e]migration brings important resources to Morocco. These financial transfers, in fact, represent the second source of hard currency after tourism receipts, themselves brought by Moroccan expatriates spending the summer break in Morocco’ (MPC 2013, 1).

10 Aziz, one of the novel’s characters who managed to dodge the coast guards and find his way to his destination where he was promised a job in a farm, successfully emigrates to Spain. Laden with presents for relatives, friends, neighbours, Aziz visits his family back in Morocco; he embodies the paradigm of the emigrant who has made it elsewhere, and his return is a display of success, measured in goods. However, Lalami’s novel also refers to other aspects of Aziz’s migratory venture:

But he didn’t talk about the time when he was in El Corte Ingles shopping for a jacket and a guard followed him around as if he were a criminal. He didn’t describe how, at the grocery store, cashiers greeted customers with hellos and thank yous, but their eyes always gazed past him as though he were invisible, nor did he mention the constant identity checks that the police had performed these last two years. (Lalami 2005, 144)

Interestingly, this extract begins with the adversative adverb ‘but’ – announcing an antithesis ‘but’ aptly introduces a series of negations, what Aziz failed to recount.

11 The novel commences with Murad’s account of the trip across the waterway to reach Spain, and grounds the narrative in Morocco’s past; he recalls how:

Tariq Ibn Ziyad had led a powerful Moor army across the Straits and […] established an empire that ruled over Spain for more than seven hundred years. Little did they know that we’d be back, Murad thinks. Only instead of a fleet, here we are in an inflatable boat – not just Moors, but a motley mix of people, from the ex-colonies, without guns or armor, without a charismatic leader. (Lalami 2005, 2–3)

This passage brings to the surface the countries’ shared histories and decisively situates colonial legacies in the narrative. The journey undertaken by Murad and this motely mix of people from the ex-colonies – armless and harmless, and without a leader – reminds our narrator of the famous invasion of Spain at the hands of the Moors.