Ex-Centric Migrations : Europe and the Maghreb in Mediterranean Cinema, Literature, and Music

"Plunges the reader into a tour de force across radically divergent artistic responses to Mediterranean migration." — Bulletin of Francophone Postcolonial Studies Ex-Centric Migrations examines cinematic, literary, and musical representations of migrants and migratory trends in the western Mediterranean. Focusing primarily on clandestine sea-crossings, Hakim Abderrezak shows that despite labor and linguistic ties with the colonizer, migrants from the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) no longer systematically target France as a destination, but instead aspire toward other European countries, notably Spain and Italy. In addition, the author investigates other migratory patterns that entail the repatriation of émigrés. His analysis reveals that the films, novels, and songs of Mediterranean artists run contrary to mass media coverage and conservative political discourse, bringing a nuanced vision and expert analysis to the sensationalism and biased reportage of such events as the Mediterranean maritime tragedies. " Ex-Centric Migrations is crucial reading for scholars and students of contemporary Maghrebi, French, and Spanish literatures and cultures. It breaks new ground by encompassing the literature, film, and music of 'return migration' and examining the trajectories of Maghrebi migration outside France." — H-France "Hakim Abderrezak convincingly illustrates how politically committed artistic practices serve to humanize the challenges of human migration, and in the process dramatically improves our understanding of the complex cultural, economic, political, and social realities that shape 21st-century existence." —Dominic Thomas, author of Africa and France: Postcolonial Cultures, Migration, and Racism Writing in the wake of the political and social uprisings known as the "Arab Spring" and the restrictive European immigration policies that followed, Hakim Abderrezak contests the common notion that emigrants from former European colonies migrate predominantly to the land of the ex-colonizer. Focusing particularly on clandestine migration practices, he shows that despite a linguistic affinity, a tradition of labor, and additional historical ties with the colonizer, migrants from the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) are no longer trekking to France, but instead are drifting toward other destinations like Spain, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Middle East. Abderrezak locates this migratory shift away from France in literary, cinematic, and musical representations of the emigrant's journey. Contrary to mass media coverage and mainstream political discourse, these cultural productions reveal new patterns of human movement and an alternative mapping of the Mediterranean Cover 1 Contents 8 Preface 10 Acknowledgments 12 Note on Translation and Transliteration 14 Introduction: Mediterraneans and Migrations in the Global Era 18 1 Disimmigration as a Remedy for the Illness of Immigration in Ismaël Ferroukhi’s Le Grand voyage 42 2 “Burning the Sea”: Clandestine Migration across the Mediterranean in Francophone Moroccan Illiterature 73 3 Southward Road Narratives: How French Citizens Become Clandestine Immigrants in Algeria 106 4 The New Eldorado in Mediterranean Music 140 5 Europe Bound: Shooting “Illegals” at Sea 162 6 Heading Home: Post-Mortem Road Narratives 202 Conclusion: “White Sea of the Middle” or “Wide Sea to Meddle In”? 231 Notes 242 Bibliography 262 Index 274 A 274 B 274 C 275 D 276 E 276 F 277 G 277 H 277 I 278 J 278 K 278 L 279 M 279 N 280 O 280 P 280 Q 281 R 281 S 281 T 282 U 282 V 282 W 282 Y 283 Z 283 Introduction: Mediterraneans and Migrations in the Global Era 1. Disimmigration as a Remedy for the Illness of Immigration in Ismaël Ferroukhi’s Le grand voyage 2. "Burning the Sea": Clandestine Migration Across the Mediterranean in Francophone Moroccan Illiterature 3. Southward Road Narratives: How French Citizens Become Clandestine Immigrants in Algeria 4. The New Eldorado in Mediterranean Music 5. Europe Bound: Shooting "Illegals" at Sea 6. Heading Home: Post-Mortem Road Narratives Conclusion: "White Sea of the Middle" or "Wide Sea to Meddle In"? Notes Bibliography Filmography Discography Works Cited Index