The Adventure : Violent Borders, Illegal Migration, and the Uncertain Quest for Life in Morocco

This ethnographic study examines the moral, gendered, affective, social, and political dimensions of irregular migrants’ experiences of entrapment, uncertainty, and violence in Morocco. To counter dehumanising narratives of a crisis, the book is articulated around the emic notion of ‘the adventure’ as a quest to carve out a better life and future. -- .

This ethnographic exploration of irregular migration from Western and Central Africa in Morocco deconstructs dehumanising narratives of a “migration crisis” and a “sub-Saharan problem” in politics of migration. The book provides an original focus on how migrants understood and experienced their entrapped mobility. The emic notion of “the adventure” at the heart of this study sheds light on a transformative, epic quest to carve out a better life and future. The book traces how young men from Western and Central Africa sought to assert themselves as agents of their own destinies, despite uncertain, illegalising processes. In steering away from aesthetics of despair and fearmongering narratives, the book brings new insights into inter-disciplinary debates (e.g. illegality, uncertainty, immobility, violence, suffering, transit, etc.). Such focus is essential to draw out the complexity and existential depth of (irregular) migrants’ lives, journeys, and stories.