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

Situated at the crossroads of im-mobility-focused migration research, cultural studies, and digital humanities, this thesis offers an interdisciplinary and nuanced examination of 21st-century representations of (North-)African-European unauthorised migration, known as harga in Maghrebi dialects, against the backdrop of the so-called European migrant crisis. While the phenomenon has been extensively explored across different communicative structures in the European cultural context, perspectives from the Southern Mediterranean have remained thus far significantly under-researched. To address this gap, this thesis engages with a diverse array of harga-centred (counter-)narratives in Arabic and French, spanning different genres, produced in and around the Maghreb between 2015 and 2019. This specific timeframe is significant as it covers a period of heightened media attention to ‘South-North’ illegalised migrations on both sides of the Mediterranean and ends shortly before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on a hybrid qualitative methodological framework—combining Multimodal and Critical Narrative Analysis—and unfolding along a tripartite thematic schema, this thesis charts three distinct ‘regimes’ of migration representation encompassing media, testimonial literature, and digital platforms by specifically foregrounding and experimenting with the material and symbolic nuances of migrant im-mobility across pre- and post-migratory spaces, as well as within transit hubs. Applying a decolonial lens and leveraging theoretical and conceptual resources gleaned from immobility scholarship, it first examines Algerian and Moroccan mediascapes and retrieves the discursive mechanisms undergirding the dehumanising portrayals of (North-)African unauthorised migrants, while reflecting on how these representations border their stories and identities, de-authorising them in the process. Though testimonial accounts co-authored by ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants and Western writers (due to publication barriers in Morocco and Algeria) are lauded for contesting media clichés about ‘South-North’ unauthorised migration, this thesis unveils the power asymmetries underpinning these productions, with a specific focus on the persistent coloniality of the French language and its bordering effect on migrants’ identities and histories. Expanding the conceptual framework of immobility into cyberspaces and building on the recent theoretical developments in digital migration studies, the thesis then shifts its focus to Algerian and Moroccan (would-be) harraga’s digitally mediated, subversive migratory imaginaries and practices—communicated to online audiences through diverse (and often hybridised) linguistic repertoires—to illustrate the extent to which they resist and disrupt dominant migration narratives by mobilising alternative, unfiltered gazes on the multifaceted nature of the harga journey to Europe. In so doing, it foregrounds previously silenced epistemologies while underscoring how the often precarious nature of digital memory complicates the establishment of a ‘stable’ counter-archive ‘from below’. As such, a fundamental contribution of this thesis lies in its critical engagement with primary and secondary sources—both textual and audio-visual—composed in French, Modern Standard Arabic, Maghrebi dialects, and translingual modes, with English serving as the medium of scholarly analysis. By moving beyond the confines of monolingual paradigms, thi research illuminates the interconnections between language(s) and identity negotiation within cultural productions, and examines the ways in which they inform Mediterranean audiences’ perceptions of (North-)African harraga. Ultimately, this study aims to extend ongoing academic inquiries into the (de-)colonial dynamics of 21st-century im-mobility narratives, while emphasising their complexities and the insights they offer for rethinking migration representation.