Migration Politics, Racism, Gender-based Violence against Sub-Saharan Immigrants and Resistance: A Multidimensional approach

Cosmos Talk 

Teresa Cappiali, Institute Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Lund University

Migration Politics, Racism, Gender-based Violence against Sub-Saharan Immigrants and Resistance: A Multidimensional approach

Abstract
The project is an in-depth empirical study on the nexus between migration politics and the socio-political operation of contemporary racism at its intersection with increasing gender-based racist violence against Black Sub-Saharan immigrants in Morocco. The analysis uses a multidimensional approach to examine the evolution of migration dynamics in Morocco within the broader Global context. The main Research Objectives focus on three key socio-political dimensions of racism and anti-racism: (1) The potential role of Moroccan political elites (and the influence of the international actors) in activating and legitimizing (wittingly or unwittingly) abuse and violence towards Black Sub-Saharan immigrants via a variety of open and less open anti-immigrant discourses; (2) The strategies of immigrant activists to expose and challenge racism with the help of Moroccan and Spanish civil society supporters; and, (3) The ways Black Sub-Saharan immigrants experience and challenge racism. Using an intersectional lens, the study also examines how racism and gender intersect and address the gendered dimensions of racism and anti-racism focusing on the three axes highlighted above. The study uses a mixed-method approach and relies on desktop research, discourse/media analysis and political ethnography in Morocco. The data collection includes field research in selected cities, participant observation and semi-structured interviews with a multiplicity of actors, participant observation of key events, and a selection of key texts produced by political elites and their challengers.