Masculinités et féminités à la frontière maroco-espagnole. Miroirs d’un contrôle migratoire racialisé et genré

Abstract

Cette contribution éclaire une dimension peu étudiée des perceptions, stratégies et tactiques déployées par les acteurs et actrices confronté•es à l'articulation entre sécurité et migration en Afrique, ici autour du cas des ressortissant•es d'Afrique centrale et de l'Ouest tentant de franchir la frontière maroco-espagnole. L'article explore, d'un point de vue ethnographique, comment les masculinités et les féminités de migrant•es racisé•es sont reconfigurées aux portes des enclaves de Ceuta et Melilla. S'appuyant sur un travail de terrain de longue durée, réalisé entre 2015 et 2017, il présente plusieurs figures d'hommes migrants dans cet espace spécifique, celle des « sauteurs de barrières » et celle du « chairman », tout en montrant, en miroir, l'articulation de ces masculinités à la construction de féminités particulières. Étudier les conditions de production et de performance de ces positions sociales (plus ou moins) éphémères de genre, c'est entreprendre une compréhension beaucoup plus détaillée des conséquences actuelles des politiques migratoires et de ce qu'elles génèrent en termes de violences racistes, sexistes et sexuelles.This contribution sheds light on a little-studied dimension of the perceptions, strategies and tactics deployed by the actors confronted with the articulation between security and migration in Africa, specifically around the case of Central and West African nationals trying to cross the Moroccan-Spanish border. The article explores, from an ethnographic point of view, how the masculinities and femininities of racialized migrants are reconfigured at the gates of the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Based on long-term fieldwork carried out between 2015 and 2017, it presents several figures of migrant men in this specific space, the "barrier jumpers" and the "chairman", while showing, in mirror image, the articulation of these masculinities to the construction of particular feminities. Studying the conditions of production and performance of these (more or less) ephemeral social positions of gender means undertaking a much more detailed understanding of the current consequences of migration policies and what they generate in terms of racist, sexist and sexual violence.

As if there was a border. Bordering through excision in Melilla and the Canary Islands

“…Yet, the pressure of border control has been felt and exercised unequally in these two areas over the past 40 years. This is due both to the nature of the border connecting and separating these areas to the rest of the African and to their different integration into the surrounding region (Ferrer-Gallardo, 2008; Tyszler, 2019; Vives, 2017a).…”

“…During the 1990s, the fences surrounding the two Spanish enclaves were repeatedly strengthened, and the border shifted from a mere line of barbed wire into a six-metre high triple fence equipped with thermal cameras (Andersson, 2016) and surveilled with drone military technology ( El Independiente, 2022). Spanish authorities developed a tight collaboration with Moroccan border guards to intercept irregular border crossing attempts and return people that have managed to cross the border, according to a practice become known as devolución en caliente (Tyszler, 2019). As fences were reinforced and border control cooperation became tighter, centres were built in Melilla to temporarily host migrants who had managed to cross into the city and that could not be legally returned.…”

“…Existing literature argues that excision usually emerges out of extra-legal border enforcement practice, generally as a response to a declared emergency (see Gregory, 2006). Such procedures, however, are then usually enshrined in law – a course of action necessary to make the exclusion of foreigners more defensible in the long term (Makaremi, 2008; Tyszler, 2019). Whereas the literature has extensively analysed how some areas are excised from territory for the purpose of border control, much less attention has been paid to how excision, either as a codified or informal practice, can be challenged and reversed.…”

Embracing complexity in ‘Southern’ migration governance

“…The expression 'Sub-Saharan', in fact, has a very strong colonial connotation because it replaced the label 'Afrique noire' (Black Africa) to refer to formerly colonized countries after the juridical end of colonization. The term 'Sub-Saharan migrant' is thus a neo-colonial construction that profiles dark-skinned people as actual or 'potential' irregular migrants on their way to Europe (Gazzotti & Hagan, 2021;Tyszler, 2019).…”

La visibilité des femmes serait-elle un leurre ? Pour encore prendre en compte les rapports de genre

“…Plus de la moitié du continent africain est, ou a récemment été, en situation de guerre civile durant les dernières décennies, des guerres menées aux armes légères maniables aussi par les femmes et par les enfants, sans considération des conventions internationales (Turshen, 1998). La participation active des femmes aux conflits armés ou à des activités proches de situations de guerre, telles que les zones d'extraction minière, brouille les repères de genre (Tyszler, 2020) et incite à de nouvelles formes d'action (De Boeck, 1999). Toutes ces circonstances extrêmes mettent les liens sociaux en tension, renversent les normes qui les sous-tendent et ouvrent de nouvelles possibilités de (re)construction, mais à quel prix ?…”