NEW MOBILITIES AROUND MOROCCO: A CASE STUDY OF THE CITY OF FES Final Report for the MacArthur-Funded Project on: “African Perspectives on Human Mobility” Prepared By: Mohamed Berriane Mohammed Aderghal Mhamed Idrissi Janati Johara Berriane Cartography: Abdealali. Binane RESEARCH TEAM FOR THE REGIONS AND REGIONALISATION, UNIVERSITÉ MOHAMMED V, AGDAL, RABAT NOVEMBER 2010 Disclaimer: This report is the work of the Research Team for the Regions and Regionalisation, Mohammed V University. Any comments or questions about the report should be directed to the research team in Morocco, not to the International Migration Institute in Oxford. New Mobilities Around Morocco Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................................................... i LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................ ii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................. iii CHAPTER 1: A STUDY OF MIGRANTS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CITY, SEEN THROUGH THE CASE OF FES ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 CONTEXT OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ........................................................................................................................... 5 1.4 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH AND CHALLENGES ................................................................................. 8 CHAPTER 2: THE FAMILIES OF MOROCCAN MIGRANTS: NEW CITY DWELLERS ARRIVING IN FES PARTLY THROUGH INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND IN THE PROCESS OF INTEGRATION? ................................................................................................................................................ 21 2.1 SOCIAL ORIGINS OF MOROCCAN MIGRANTS GOING ABROAD FROM FES ................................................ 21 2.2 MIGRANTS‟ FAMILIES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CITY OF FES ........................................................ 28 CHAPTER 3: THE SUB-SAHARANS: AN IMMIGRANT OR ‘TRANSIT’ POPULATION? ................ 33 3.1 MOROCCO‟S PLACE IN THE AFRICAN MIGRATORY FIELD ...................................................................... 34 3.2 THE GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGINS AND SOCIAL PROFILES OF THE SUB-SAHARAN MIGRANTS OF FES .......... 35 3.3 MIGRATORY EXPERIENCES ................................................................................................................... 44 3.4 SOCIAL INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SUB-SAHARAN MIGRANTS AND THE HOST SOCIETY ......................... 50 3.5 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SUB-SAHARAN MIGRANTS AND THE CITY ACROSS THE RELIGIOUS FIELD ..... 56 3.6 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 68 CHAPTER 4: THE WESTERNERS: RESIDENT TOURISTS OR IMMIGRANTS? ............................... 70 4.1 A RECENT AND SPECTACULAR PHENOMENON ....................................................................................... 70 4.2 ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN THE PHENOMENON ............................................................................................ 73 4.3 CHOICE AND MENTAL IMAGES OF FES .................................................................................................. 81 4.4 WESTERN RESIDENTS AND THE MEDINA AREA ...................................................................................... 88 4.5 WESTERN RESIDENTS IN FES: NORTH-SOUTH IMMIGRANTS? ............................................................... 100 CHAPTER 5: GENERAL CONCLUSION: FES – A COSMOPOLITAN CITY IN THE MAKING? .. 113 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................. 120 i New Mobilities Around Morocco List of Tables LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Categories selected for analysis .............................................................................................. 12 Table 2. Summary comparison of socio-professional profiles of households of migrants and households with no migration ............................................................................................................... 23 Table 3. Distribution by country and general region of Sub-Saharan migrants in Fes ......................... 36 Table 4. Levels of education among Sub-Saharans in Fes .................................................................... 39 Table 5. Member acting as head of the household in the survey subject's family ................................. 40 Table 6. Types of activities undertaken before leaving and level of education .................................... 44 Table 7. Activities undertaken by Sub-Saharans in Fes ........................................................................ 54 ii New Mobilities Around Morocco List of Figures LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Socio-spatial entities of Fes ..................................................................................................... 2 Figure 2. Year of immigration ............................................................................................................... 27 Figure 3. Year of migration of Moroccans to Spain and Andalusia ...................................................... 28 Figure 4. Distribution of households impacted by international migration ........................................... 29 Figure 5. Birthplace of heads of household living in Fes ...................................................................... 30 Figure 6. Map of origin countries of Sub-Saharan migrants to Fes....................................................... 35 Figure 7. Age distribution of Sub-Saharan migrants to Fes .................................................................. 37 Figure 8. Reasons for leaving ................................................................................................................ 45 Figure 9. Arrival of migrants to Fes by year ......................................................................................... 50 Figure 10. Distribution of Sub-Saharan migrants per neighbourhood .................................................. 51 Figure 11. Growth of investment in residential properties in the medina (1997-2008) ........................ 70 Figure 12. Growth of building permits for redevelopment in the Medina ............................................ 73 iii New Mobilities Around Morocco Introduction CHAPTER 1: A STUDY OF MIGRANTS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CITY, SEEN THROUGH THE CASE OF FES 1.1 Context of the study The research subject for the Moroccan team‟s contribution to the African Perspectives on Human Mobility programme was chosen on the basis of the assessment of research into Moroccan migration which emerged from the first phase of the programme. It should be remembered that the report1 had concluded there was a need to consider the multiplicity of migratory functions operating in the country. Thus this project, New mobilities around Morocco – a case study of the city of Fes is part of the global process which, rather than focussing on the one form of migration involving Moroccans which had been studied up until now, includes other forms of human mobility which link the two opposing shores of the Mediterranean, with movement in both directions, and in which Morocco is involved. These are the three forms of mobility now affecting Morocco: Moroccan emigration abroad, Sub- Saharan flows across Morocco, and the Europeans, more and more of whom are choosing to settle in Morocco as “resident tourists”. The city of Fes was chosen, for, while being an area where migration has been studied little, if at all, it has the advantage of being a recipient of the three forms of migration selected for analysis, and satisfies a certain number of criteria established at the start of our study. Considered to be the most ancient capital of Morocco (its foundation dates back to 789), Fes faced its first wave of migrants from 817-818, as populations driven out of Andalusia were assimilated by the city. It was also the country‟s political, economic, intellectual and spiritual capital. As a recipient of internal migratory flows, some of which were linked to international migration, from the 1970s it experienced a demographic explosion which led to poorly managed spatial growth and considerable socio-spatial heterogeneity (Figure 1). Its urban economy is built on industry (with 25,000 jobs, it is the country‟s third largest industrial centre), which has struggled to move beyond the cottage industry stage, tourism which suffers from very short durations of stay, and a function as a university town, which it has to share with neighbouring Meknes. These economic sectors, to which governmental departments can be added, remain inadequate to respond to growing demand from the urban labour market swelled by continuous demographic growth. Hence the development of an informal sector involving more than 50% of the working population, whose size is explained by