PhD Student: University of Chicago
Dept. of Anthropology
Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between the Mediterranean Sea and the subsequent flows of North African immigration by examining the history, city structure, social-political differences and commonalities, which establishes Marseille as La Porte de l’Orient. A longstanding history of immigration in one of Western Europe’s oldest port cities and a transport system through an historically accessible waterway helps constitute a network of cross-cultural acceptance and structural cohesion. After a brief discussion of Marseille’s identity as a port of cultural transmission, I will illustrate that the city’s history and its relationship to the Mediterranean and the Maghreb population has shaped it into a space of immigration and pluralism. Finally, I will examine the ways in which forms of collectivity and solidarity operating within both public and private spheres allow for transnational exchanges that form a communitas.
My paper is based not only on present conditions for the Maghreb population in Marseille, but also examines the future for the next generation of North Africans and their relationship with Marseille connected with the Mediterranean Sea. My research is based upon fieldwork conducted recently; including twenty interviews, and participant-observation with the North African Youth Summit, L’avenir de 2031. The summit incorporated expressions of anxiety, racism, immigration, and hope with aesthetic performances, interviews, and sessions for an invited audience. I was granted the fortuitous opportunity to share in performances and private interviews as the only anthropologist invited to the summit.
