As I was trying to find a topic to write my blog post about, I wrote "Spaniards' attitudes towards Moroccan immigrants" and discovered something interesting. As of recently, there has been an influx of Spanish citizens migrating to Morocco in search of work. The article is titled "'The world upside down': The Rise of Spanish Immigration to Morrocco". This immediately intrigued me since we have just recently read Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits which is, as we all know, about the opposite--Moroccan immigantion to Spain. As I clicked on the video that came along with the article I thought how is it possible that in such short of time circumstances has changed for these countries?
The two-minute video that coincides with the articles discusses the life of a recent migrant to Morocco from Spain. In it, Marcos Martinez Bacelo is a 36-year-old mechanic from Vigo, Spain who is a husband and father of two. Since the unemployment rate is at a staggering 26% in Spain from when this article was written in 2013, he decided to leave his family and migrant to find work.
The number of Spaniards registered as residents in Morocco have risen dramatically between 2003 and 2011. Additionally, the number of undocumented residents has risen over the past years.
Now, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits was written in 2005 and I find it interesting how only in a matter of 8 years, situations have totally flipped. In the article, it discusses how absolutely no one would have imagined that in Spain there would be an influx of emigration to Morocco. The standard quota was what we read in Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits. However, I wanted to find out if the lives of women migrants were any better or worse than the lives of Moroccan immigrants. I was not able to find any sources about the lives of Spanish women immigrating to Morocco but to take anecdotal evidence from the video, it can be said that these people are not leaving for refugee status. Rather, they are leaving due to rising unemployment. This, to me, is the biggest difference between the two time periods of immigration. While Moroccan immigration was necessary for finding work, political asylum, and refugee status, Spanish immigration is merely just for the necessity of seeking employment.
This difference could have a different impact on women than on the Moroccan women. One might see more men like Marcos Martinez Bacelo who are going to seek work to support their families. This differs than what we have seen from our readings--single or married women migrating to support their families or even a young single man immigrating to find work. I don't believe that we have seen nor read about fathers immigrating to support their families. I could be wrong on this subject, but it seems that because Spain is a wealthier country, there might be more immigration of fathers rather than mothers.
Here is the link to the article: https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2013/0321/The-world-upside-down-The-rise-of-Spanish-immigration-to-Morocco
Hannah Martin
It is interesting that you were able to find the new change in migration between Spain and Morocco. Although I do have to question if these Spaniards are being affected by the issues that the Moroccans and other North Africans are facing, such as political issues. I mean, these people are claiming refugee status for a reason, so why are these Spaniards attempting to immigrate, legally or illegally, to a place where people are risking their lives to leave that county. Also, I wonder if this influx of immigration to Morocco are just the Moroccans and other refugees that are returning back to North Africa. As you said, the unemployment in Spain has drastically increased over the past couple of years, so these people may just be returning back because the job opportunities have disappeared.
ReplyDeleteYou also brought up another important point. I would love to see more about fathers immigrating to support the families, especially into an area where it might not be completely safe. Thank you for sharing this new information! I would not have known about this change without this post. I know that a lot of refugees and migrants are flooding into Europe due to politics and war, but I forget that some of the countries with a large amount of migration are already struggling, therefore people have to leave to find work.
-Maire Simpson
I, too, think that this was a very interesting article, especially after reading your comparison to Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits. I would love to learn more about the similarities and differences that exsist between those who migrate from Spain to Morocco and those who migrate from Morocco to Spain. For example, I would assume that they would face some similar challenges, for example, leaving family behind and djusting to a new culture.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a unique look into comparing and contrasting the lives of emigrants, whether they are emigrating from Morocco or Spain. This specific case also gives a unique take on a man, a father trying to get work in another country. Again, this would be a cool space to compare his experiences with those of a woman.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I am now going to research more into the similarities and differences that exist between migrants of other countries, especially focusing on the differences that exists between women and men of the same place, men and men from the same place, women and women from the same place and those same combinations but including different locational backgrounds.
Erin Cuppett
ReplyDeleteTo add in an interesting historical and cultural aspect to this trend, Southern Spain is highly influenced by Arabic culture. Moors ruled over parts of Spain, especially the southern part by Morocco. The seven or so centuries that they had a foothold in this region for is actually referred to the Siglo del oro (Golden Age) because of how progressive the moorish people were. They were focused on education and social rights. They built lots of libraries and universities. Of course during the crusades they ruin everything. Even in their language, a fair amount of Spanish words are from Arabic origin. So Arab culture and influence is pretty big in Southern Spain. On the other hand, Spain spent a lot of time in the 20th century under Franco who was a fascist dictator who openly targeted LGBT individuals, like Lorca, and killed them. He was not progressive at all. Doing a lot better, some Spaniards still can have racist beliefs so it does not surprise me that some people are migrating to Morocco from Spain, especially if they are not Christian or white. It would be interesting then to see where in Spain a lot of migrants do go, especially the Syrian refugees. I would imagine they would stick to southern regions but the Vasco country in Spain has been stigmatized throughout history so I wonder if they would be more accepting or because of how rich their culture is and the pride they carry with it if they would be less accepting to those outside it.
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