Ruben Andersson - Illegality, Inc.: Clandestine Migration and the Business of Bordering Europe

The California Series in Public Anthropology emphasizes the anthropologists role as an engaged intellectual. It continues anthropologys commitment to being an ethnographic witness, to describing, in human terms, how life is lived beyond the borders of many readers experiences. But it also adds a commitment, through ethnography, to reframing the terms of public debatetransforming received, accepted understandings of social issues with new insights, new framings.

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Illegality, Inc.: Clandestine Migration and the Business of Bordering Europe, by Ruben Andersson

Illegality, Inc.

Clandestine Migration and the Business of Bordering Europe

Ruben Andersson

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.

University of California Press

Oakland, California

2014 by The Regents of the University of California

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Andersson, Ruben, 1977

Illegality, inc.: clandestine migration and the business of bordering Europe / Ruben Andersson.

pages cm. (California series in public anthropology; 28)

Summary: In this groundbreaking ethnography, Ruben Andersson, a gifted journalist and anthropologist, travels with a group of African migrants from Senegal and Mali to the Spanish North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Through the voices of his informants themselves, Anderson explores, viscerally and emphatically, how migration meets and interacts with its targetthe clandestine migrant. This vivid, rich work examines the subterranean migration flow from Africa to Europe, and shifts the focus from the concept of illegal immigrants to an exploration of suffering and resilience. This fascinating and accesible book is a must-read for anyone interested in the politics of international migration and the changing texture of global cultureProvided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-520-28251-3 (hardback)

ISBN 978-0-520-28252-0 (paper)

ISBN 978-0-520-95828-9 (e-book)

1. Illegal aliensSpainCuetaCase studies. 2. Illegal aliensSpainMelillaCase studies. 3. Ceuta (Spain)Emigration and immigrationCase studies. 4. Melilla (Spain)Emigration and immigrationCase studies. 5. MaliEmigration and immigrationCase studies. 6. SenegalEmigration and immigrationCase studies. I. Title.

IV 8259. Z 6 C 482 2014

364.1370964dc23

2014010244

Manufactured in the United States of America

23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices. UC Press has printed this book on Natures Natural, a fiber that contains 30% post-consumer waste and meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z 39.48-1992 ( R 1997) ( Permanence of Paper ).

To those who have died trying

Contents

ONLINE CONTENT

The appendix A Global Front: Thoughts on Enforcement at the Rich Worlds Borders is available online from the University of California Press website, www.ucpress.edu/go/illegality.

Illustrations

FIGURES

MAP

Acknowledgments

A great many people and institutions have helped make this book possible, too numerous to mention here.

First of all, I am very grateful to the young repatriates of the Dakar neighborhood I call Yongor for welcoming me despite their difficult circumstances and for setting my whole project on a new track. I am greatly indebted to all the migrants who have shared their stories with me, in Senegal, Mali, Morocco, and Spain: protecting their identities prevents me from mentioning them by name here.

In Ceuta, I am indebted to Pepi Galvn, without whose hospitality, kindness, and help my experience in the city would have been completely different. I am also grateful to the director of the enclaves migrant reception center and its workers for receiving me, as well as to the Spanish Red Cross staff and volunteers in Ceuta.

A great many journalists, aid workers, academics, and activists have helped shape this project. While many of them will not be mentioned here by name in order to safeguard anonymity, I do wish to thank Melanie Grtner and Max Hirzel for their great collegiality; Pepe Naranjo and Nicols Castellano for their contacts and inspiration; and Papa Demba Fall for receiving me at lInstitut Fondamental dAfrique Noire in Dakar. Among the numerous organizations that have helped make this research possible, I wish to extend special thanks to the team at Aracem for their warm welcome in Bamako. I am also thankful to the Spanish Guardia Civil and the Senegalese border police for having received me on numerous visits.