María Isolda Perelló Carrascosa Work Team of the Research Group on Migration and Development Processes of the University of Valencia (Inmide). Doctor in Social Sciences from the University of Valencia (2015-2019), Research line: migration, mobility and social change. Thesis co-directed by the University of Valencia and El Colef (Tijuana). Master in Development Cooperation from the UV (2011-2013). Research lines: irregular migration, border control migration policy, detention and deportation procedures, and the role of civil society in the field of humanitarian aid and defense of human rights on the borders of Mexico-United States / Spain -Morocco. ORCID: 0000-0002-3682-0356

EncArtes multimedia

Travelling the spanish-moroccan border: a historical and visual tour. Field experiences in a border landscape

  • María Isolda Perelló Carrascosa

Keywords: borders, irregular migration, militarization, porters, securitization.

This photographic essay intends to show some of the results of the ground research carried out within the context of a doctoral dissertation, during the months of July through September of 2014 in Ceuta, as well as Melilla and locations near the Spanish-Moroccan border. As the text shows, the maritime enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla have once had a crucial geostrategic position in the Mediterranean. Currently, its purpose as an external European border in the African continent has been reinforced with the securitization of the border region to contain the threats related to criminal activities and “undesired” trans-Mediterranean migration, although it has also ended up affecting “atypical” trade or trafficking with Morocco.