Melilla, the border as social fabric of a city

Abstract

This photo-essay results from three-months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Melilla, a Spanish enclave in the north of Africa, in the framework of the ERC-funded project EU Border Care. It explores how, beyond a highly polarized debate, migration forms the very social fabric of the city. Melilla’s economic fate is highly dependent on both regional border crossings and international migration. The ‘migration industry’ employs border guards and police forces but also social workers, translators, and healthcare professionals. Administratively, this border city can be characterized as a ‘central periphery’: while some sectors, such as health and education, depend more directly on the central Spanish government than it is the case for other regions, Melilla presents at the same time distinct tax and migration regimes. A regional migration regime facilitates mobility between the enclave and the neighboring Moroccan region of Nador as the movement of people and goods ensures the city’s daily life. This photo-essay illustrates how formal borders create sharp cuts within geographical and social continuities.