Waiting to burn: Spanish-Maghribi relations and the making of a new migrant class

ABSTRACT

It is impossible to think of modern Spanish-Maghribi relations without thinking of the complicated histories of migration that have shaped both nations. ‘Hrig,’ the Moroccan Arabic term for ‘illegal immigration,’ translates to ‘burning,’ signifying both the literal burning of one's identification papers to avoid repatriation if arrested by Spanish authorities and the symbolic burning of one's past in hopes of a better future abroad. This article draws on multiple years of ethnographic research with Morocco's rapidly expanding population of sub-Saharan Africans, illuminating a critical crossroads that falls just south of Europe's ongoing migrant and refugee ‘crisis.’ After its independence from France in 1956, Morocco quickly became a world leader in emigration, with over 10% of its citizens residing in Western Europe by 2000. But since the turn of the century, Morocco's placement only miles from an internally borderless European Union, with even easier entry through the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, has fomented the number of migrants and asylum seekers crossing on their journeys north. This population is projected to continue growing steadily in the coming years, as the European Union bolsters third-party political agreements between Spain and Morocco and formalises the illicit practice of ‘push-backs’ at its southern borders. The following pages explore the process of ‘burning’ through Morocco's history at the apex of trans-continental African migrations and Spain's contemporary role in shaping emergent immigration policies and reinforced border controls across the Maghrib. Inviting readers inside of a little seen side of a global humanitarian crisis, it raises critical questions about new and contested categories of social and political inclusion at the Spanish-Moroccan border.

KEYWORDS:

• Migration
• borders
• asylum
• race
• nationalism
• human rights

Acknowledgements

I owe my deepest gratitude to my research participants, who opened their worlds to me and made this work possible. I would also like to acknowledge Carla Freeman, Oussama Cherribi, Peter Little, and Michael Peletz, who advised my research in its early stages and strengthened my arguments through their thoughtful readings of my work. The framework for this article was first developed for my presentation at the 2016 American Institute for Maghrib Studies annual conference on ‘Mediterranean Crossroads’ at the Grand Hotel Villa de France in Tangier. It was further developed in association with colleagues in a thematic conversation on Spanish-Maghribi relations lead by David Stenner at the 2016 Middle Eastern Studies Association annual conference in Boston. Thoughtful readings by my colleagues David Stenner, Catherine Therrein, Elena Arigita Maza, and Aomar Boom strengthened later drafts of my work. This research has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship, the U.S Department of Education's Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Grant, the National Science Foundation's Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, the American Institute for Maghrib Studies’ Long-term Research Grant, and the first annual Saharan Crossroads Research Fellowship, awarded by the American Institute for Maghrib Studies and the West African Research Association.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Unless referring specifically to immigration law, I use the term ‘migrant,’ regardless of legal status in order to retain a sense of movement or what de Genova calls the ‘consequent irresolution of social processes of migration’ (2005, 3). I include the category of ‘asylum seeker’ under the term ‘migrant’ to underscore their similar treatment and marginalisation in political and social spheres in Morocco.

2 Being a population of clandestine migrants, there are no comprehensive datasets available on Morocco's migrant population. My research began with a large-scale demographic survey initiatives to establish baseline data and create a respondent group that was representative of the diversity found. It is a predominantly male (86%) and young (28% minors) population, with all migrants coming from West and Central African countries. The term ‘sub-Saharan’ is applied to denote all travelling from their home countries south of the Maghreb, as this is the term most commonly used within the community to self-identify.

3 El Hamel's research was based, in part, on his study of ‘The Registers of the Slaves of Sultan Mawlay Isma’il’ (or ‘Daftar Mamalik as-Sultan’). In this document, close to 1000 black slaves who were present in Morocco at the beginning of the eighteenth century are listed with short biographical data, including ‘their names, slave labels or categories, and descriptions of their physical characteristics (tall, fat, thick bearded, dark skinned, etc.)’ (2014, 177).

4 Any terms referencing ‘illegality’ are placed in quotations in order to problematise the notion of the individual as an ‘illegal’ subject and raise questions about the conditions under which such ‘il’/legalizations were constructed.

5 The derija term ‘hrig’ is derived from the fusha verb ‘to burn’ or ‘haraqa.’

6 All names and other identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of my research respondents.

7 Spain's refugee and asylum laws can be reviewed in greater detail at the Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/refugee-law/spain.php

8 Quotes taken from interviews in Parkinson and Hinshaw (2015).

9 Both Morocco and Spain are signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention – a multilateral treaty that defines who is a refugee, the rights guaranteed to individuals who are granted asylum, and the responsibilities of nations that grant asylum. It builds on Article 14 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which first recognised the right of all individuals to seek asylum from persecution in other countries. Morocco became a signatory to the 1951 Convention in 1956.

Additional information

Funding

This research has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship, the U.S Department of Education's Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Grant, the National Science Foundation's Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, the American Institute for Maghrib Studies’ Long-term Research Grant, and the first annual Saharan Crossroads Research Fellowship, awarded by the American Institute for Maghrib Studies and the West African Research Association.