‘Now they move you, now they don’t’: transferability, territory and (im)mobilities at the Spanish peripheries

The analytical emphasis on migration control and external borders has overlooked the mechanisms of state regulation of internal mobility in the peripheral territories of the countries of the European Union. Based on an analysis focused on the Spanish case, and more specifically on the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands, this article introduces the concept of transferability to show the logics and dynamics of intraterritorial migrant (im)mobility between the peripheral enclaves and mainland Spain. The analysis shows the construction – and evolution – of (in)transferable migrant subjects and the complex and changing puzzle of (im)mobility at these peripheral geographies.