Drawing Ambivalence

Abstract

Abstract This article reflects on the significance of Melilla, a Spanish enclave and southern border of the European Union (EU), in the migratory experience of the Moroccan youth on the move to Europe who call themselves harraga. The methodology combines a multisited ethnographic approach (Marcus 2001), from Casablanca to Paris, with a multimodal one (Westmoreland 2022), collecting information through in-depth interviews, life stories, participant observations and a drawing workshop. Although the institutional violence in the governance of the mobility of this youth makes Melilla resemble a city-prison (Khosravi 2021), in my reflections I argue that this border has an ambivalent impact on the whole migratory experience of the harraga youth. On the one hand, frustration, everyday violence, and racism appear; on the other, friendship, autonomy and networking.