Mediterranean Mobilities

The chapter presents a discussion of political elite narratives and their significance before outlining the key features of European policy on the Mediterranean. It then explores critical perspectives on this before examining the views of Moroccan students. This chapter explores the dissonance between European political elite constructions of the Mediterranean, as expressed in a series of policy iterations on the region since the foundation of the European Economic Community in 1957 with the perspectives of a group of Moroccan graduate students as expressed in the context of a MEDCHANGe workshop in Casablanca.

The projection of Europeanization beyond the EU’s borders provides arenas through which the union strives to gain meaning, actorness and presence internationally. Actually it is a contested, fraught process with important discursive and instrumental dimensions. In this paper, we consider this process from “outside” the EU and specifically draw upon fieldwork conducted in Algeria, Italy, Morocco with civil society, specifically university students. In doing so, we provide alternative non-elite understandings of EU and Mediterranean spaces and offer critical insights into the changing “Europe”–North Africa relationship, as driven by mobile and immobile citizens across shores with a special emphasis on education, the experience of traveling across borders, and exposure to media.

Since 2014, hundred thousands of migrants from the Middle East have arrived at the Hungarian–Serbian and Hungarian–Croatian borders. This paper discusses the unique phenomenon of what role the political debate about Islam, the construction of the temporary border barrier protecting the Hungarian national borders, played in the competitive communication of the national-radical Jobbik party and the centre-right governing parties Fidesz-KDNP which typically emphasize their Christian character. Furthermore, this essay follows up the elements of political campaign related to the international migration, Islam and the referendum on relocation quota between the end of 2014 and November 2016.

In Italy, “Unaccompanied Foreign Minor” (UAM) refers to a minor who does not have Italian or other EU citizenship and is, for any reason, within the territory of the State without care or representation by their parents or other adults who are legally responsible for them under existing Italian laws. This provision was defined as the solution to a social phenomenon that became particularly significant in the country number-wise in the 1990s. Despite the attention of the government, the actual number of UAMs within the territory of the State is difficult to define, since most of them do not fulfil residence regulations and move considerably within Italian territory. Over the past seven years, the number of UAMs has remained stable with an average of 7/8000 per year, and a peak of 8461 in 2013. This figure will be greatly exceeded in 2014, 2015, and 2016. This paper analyzes the evolution of the presence of UAMs Italy, their characteristics, their migratory projects, and some aspects of the procedures to accommodate UAMs in Italy. This article is a part of a qualitative study completed by the Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies of National Research Council (CNR-IRPPS), carried out in 2016 on behalf of the Italian Committee of UNICEF—United Nation Children’s Fund.

The study is an exploratory test of ethnic minorities and ethnic migrants success in embedding themselves in host societies either in destination country or their majority space. It is based on a cross-cultural comparison of three cultural groups in three Mediterranean countries (Morocco, Italy, Israel). Methodology consists of a multidimensional model that investigates the sources of social, cultural, and emotional forms of capital either from intra-ethnic or inter-ethnic sources as it has been developed by Schnell et al (2015). We have developed a questionnaire distributed among 40 subjects in each of the three communities around the Mediterranean (120 in total): Italians in Morocco; Moroccans in South Italy, and Christian Arabs in Israel. Six indicators were tested. The results were used in order to characterize patterns of embeddedness either in places of origin or in host/majority places. The results show that minorities either tend to isolate themselves from host/majority milieus or to integrate by embedding themselves in both host/majority and origin places. The assimilationist strategy is rejected in almost all cases. The main level for embedding in host/majority milieus is the emotional aspect that is followed by learning host/majority language and socializing in host milieus.

Our study aims to understand the relationship between the use of the Internet and migrants’ interpersonal relations in their host environments with natives, with persons of the same ethnic group, and with their places of origin. Specifically, this study firstly attempts to discern the influence of Moroccan migrants’ virtual mobilities—coupled with their spatial mobilities as migrants in Italy—on individuals’ patterns of encountering and integration locally while keeping instant connection with their home country. Secondly, we attempt to realize a first appreciation of connected spaces through individuals’ communication patterns across the sea in order to initially assess the contours of the digitally connected Mediterranean Basin, on the basis of personal mobilities from Italy to Morocco and vice versa.

Moroccans are a recent and small migrant group in Portugal, yet they are significantly represented in the agricultural sector. Over 30% are concentrated in Algarve, the most southern region of the country with a more recent presence in Lisbon. Given their recent presence in Portugal, little is known about their process of integration or their migration experiences. This chapter has two main objectives. First, we provide a reading of the characteristics of Moroccan migrants in the Algarve and their integration. Second, we explore the role that network ties have in perpetuating migration to Portugal. In particular, we examine the role of current migrants in providing feedback and assistance to new/potential migrants considering migrating to Portugal. According to migration theory, migration increases over time as networks and social structures are established to sustain it (Massey et al. 1998). Such ties link migrants and non-migrants between origin and destination countries and may be helpful for organizing the process of migration and integration. To examine these processes, we draw on a survey conducted with 207 Moroccan migrants in the Algarve and 51 semi-structured interviews with Moroccan migrants and key informants conducted in the Algarve and Lisbon regions in the scope of the THEMIS (2011) and MEDCHANGe projects (2014/2015). Our findings identify important factors that have structured Moroccan migration including collective hiring schemes in agriculture and social networks. However, the effects of the economic and financial crisis seem to be resulting in stabilization or even decline of the migratory flow.

In Morocco, just a few studies have considered the issue of return migration due to the complex nature of this phenomenon. Therefore, in the context of the MEDCHANGE project and in view of the paucity of data and the partial nature of the actual information, investigations were conducted by the UCA team with a view to delving into this phenomenon, mainly in areas known to be the largest centers of emigration in Morocco: the provinces of Marrakech, El Kelaa of the Sraghnas, and Khouribga.

Marrakech is an example of the urban processes currently taking place as well in Morocco as in many cities of the world: gentrification, socio-economic polarization, deregulation in housing market or tourism activities. The recent economic crises have led to a North–South migration of European citizens looking for new opportunities in Marrakech. These immigrants contribute to the development of new socio-economic and artistic activities and their presence has an important impact on the transformation of the city. Indeed, both the Medina and Gueliz are evolving in response to these new actions, modifying the urban dynamic as well as the image of the Red City.

The environmental crises linked to the recurrent droughts that have characterized the Moroccan countryside from the 1980s onward have been disastrous for the stability of rural populations in Morocco. Recurring droughts have resulted in an absolute scarcity of water resources in rural areas. This has had dramatic consequences, not only on the herding/farming system, but also on the whole physical and human environment. The scarcity of water is thus a fundamental factor in the crisis that has characterized the rural world at all levels during this period, leaving as a direct consequence the massive migration of people toward cities. This article attempts to delve into the nature of the exceptionally recurrent droughts that have affected the hinterland of the city of Fez since the beginning of the 1980s, and to assess the consequences on the stability of rural populations or its mobility, and, as a result, on the major expansion of the of the urban area of Fez, especially in the outlying areas that are periodically exposed to natural disasters.

This chapter illustrates some of the main findings of the research that was conducted by the WP6 (Genoa Unit) within the European 7th F.P.—Project “MEDCHANGe” in Marrakesh between the Spring of 2014 and the Winter of 2015. We assumed that Morocco was an interesting fieldwork to investigate the relationships between tourism, culture, subjective expectations and climate. Those relationships have been mostly investigated from the perspective of their contribution in the tourist supply. The aim of the research is to deepen the understanding of the relationship between the perception on the weather conditions and psychological and cultural factors. The methodology of our study is based on: (a) a survey that was carried out by the administration of a questionnaire to a sample of European tourists in Marrakech; (b) the calculation of both the standard “objective” indices normally used in the literature resorting to the specific programme “RayMan” and new subjective indices. The research could help to verify how the subjective perception of the weather conditions may depend on cultural factors, the country of origin, the motivations for travelling, the “climatic” image of the locality in which the tourist stays and its responsiveness to the actual weather conditions encountered at different times of the year, in turn probably correlated with individual and social habits and previous experiences.

For a great part of the nearly 10 million of Western foreign tourists that every year go to Morocco, the medina of Marrakech is the most important stage of their trip offering the possibility to live for some days in an atmosphere that answers to the stereotypes of the “Orientalism”. In fact during the French Protectorate, Marrakech turned into a symbol of the “Islamic World” and its medina began to be considered the stage and the background of the tourist activities and a tourist strategy which was based on an image of Marrakech corresponding to the canons and stereotypes of such “Orientalism”. Thus, the medina was transformed into a sort of backcloth for the lives of the Europeans residing in the so-called European or new city and, shortly thereafter, for the tourists’ holidays. The end of the French Protectorate witnessed a new deep structural and functional upheaval in the urban setting that later on led to the development of a particular kind of the tourist structures, called riads, with a particular evocative power of attraction on the tourists. As a consequence, more and more frequently traditional houses of the historical centre have been restored and renovated into hotel facilities, and nowadays, the medina is an interesting study case of the processes of gentrification. The aim of this chapter is to build a model that can offer a new perspective and possible future scenarios of the urban and social dynamic of the medina. This objective has been achieved by means of statistical data, integrated by field observations conducted from the spring of 2014 to the winter of 2015 within the European Union Seventh Framework Programme Marie Curie project MEDCHANGe. From the studies emerged that in a recent couple of decades, the growth in the number of the tourist housing in the riads has led to a gentrification of the medina that is related to the “migration” of many individuals from Western countries, mainly European, who own the riads.

The vertiginous and unquestionable climate change could alter the delicate balance that exists between human beings and nature. Countries struggle to reach international agreements to set mitigation measures or adaptation to changing climatic conditions, otherwise, autochthonous population in certain vulnerable regions could be forced to search better living conditions. North Africa, highly vulnerable region against climate change effects, is characterized by large natural climate variability, a rapid land-use change, and high population dynamics. In such a way, climate phenomena have forced people to abandon rural areas. This chapter stems from the research developed inside MEDCHANGe-WP6 and aims to present the studies and experiences of scholars undertaken in Morocco, for fifteen months. The goal is to present a methodology through a systematic approach to initially assess the climate change impacts on the essential resources for the livelihood of rural population which could be deemed migration determinants. Mixed method was the necessary inquiry strategy to tackle the work. The complementarity among the methods permits to clarify and verify some intermediate levels of analysis in the course of discovering the change-induced migration. On the one hand, a qualitative methodology applies ethnographic methods such as participant observation and semi-structured personal interviews to key informants with Nussbaum’s theory as a theoretical framework to develop the research tools. On the other hand, quantitative methods try to numerically show a connection of meteorological variability and natural extreme phenomena with the movement of population.

Algiers, like developing world large cities, has known a massive urbanisation wave, due an increasing birth rate and migration from the interior of the country, which provokes many urban problems such as housing, transportation, unemployment and environmental issues. Moreover, the government has implemented many programmes and plans to resolve those problems. All failed because they took a political approach based on centralised management which neglected the participation of local actors. Following the political openness in the early 90s, the government has made many efforts to develop a legal framework which empowers citizens’ participation, with the role of women especially emphasised. Although the principle of citizens’ participation in urban development has recently been disseminated in Algerian society, women’s participation is still poor. The main aims of the paper are to show the actual situation of citizen participation in an Algiers metropolitan area (AMA), to evaluate the role of women in the urban development process, and, finally, to illustrate the attempts of both civil society and government to involve women. This chapter considers this a particularly important theme because participation in development is one of the factors which can discourage or stimulate migration flux from southern Mediterranean cities towards the northern shore if better development is carried out through women’s empowerment.

Following a mobility approach, this chapter elucidates MEDCHANGe research’s findings in terms of concepts and narratives of Mediterranean mobilities. First, it aims at providing challenges to concepts which shape regional views and migration studies and secondly at highlighting feedback to European relationships and mobilities’ policies.