Study name: The (De-)Colonial Dynamics of Im-mobility in 21st Century Representations of Migration: An Interdisciplinary Study of (Counter-)Narratives around (North-)African ‘Harga’ to EU-rope
Project lead: Khaoula Zitouni Sayyah
Project length: 2020– 2024
Project overview
This PhD dissertation examines contemporary narratives and counter-narratives around (North) African unauthorised migrations to EU-rope by foregrounding the view from the Southern Mediterranean side. Using a critical narrative approach, It particularly analyses the ways Moroccan and Algerian political and media discourses construct unauthorised migrants by focusing on the latter's moments of immobility, displacement and so-called 'crisis'. It also experiments with the aforementioned concepts by looking into the potential of hegemonic discourse to 'immobilise' and dis-place migrants at the margins of representation, turning them into figures in 'crisis'. Then, it confronts these framings to the (counter) narratives produced by migrants themselves like published testimonial accounts, Facebook' hypershort' Stories, and other forms of cultural production like migration literature to explore their potential to subvert hegemonic narratives and mobilise alternative 'histories' around (North) African unauthorised migrations.