Infrastructures of Belonging: An analysis of Borders and Closure in Morocco’s Eastern Region

Lecture by Dr. Yasmine Zarhloule

This study focuses on the Eastern region, an area in Morocco and bordering Algeria, following the border closure in 2012. Drawing on novel empirical research, from fieldwork, primary and archival sources, this presentation focuses on both the material implications and the discursive practices that shaped closure. It asks: In what ways do narratives of development shape understandings of spatiality in the border region? What are the dynamics between the imagined futures they encapsulate and a collective memory that has shaped notions of belonging in the borderland, as a distinct geographical and identity space?

The presentation examines how the material border infrastructure shapes modes of social and political life in a border space. Building on conceptual tools of border studies, it unpacks the nuances and intricacies of restructuring border regions, how they transform social and political relations, and thus spatial configurations. In this context, closure not only entailed physical fortifications at the international boundary, but it has played a pivotal role in legitimating and constructing the Eastern region as a new state space. Empirically, the investigation begins at the border as a departure point, presenting novel insights from primary sources to highlight the negotiations and contestations at the heart of bordering. It also broadens the scope of the investigation to include the affective dimension that shape everyday experiences in the region such as anticipation, hope, waithood, and idleness.

Speaker: Dr. Yasmine Zarhloule is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, and a Teaching Fellow at SOAS, University of London. Her research focuses on nation-state building, borders, and the politics of space in the Maghreb. She holds a PhD and an MSc in Modern Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Oxford and an MA in International Relations from the University of Warwick.

This event is part of the WONAGO Lecture series. 

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