1. The Borderization of Bodies

“Border” by Lakbira Ijamai

The “borderization” of bodies” as articulated by Mbembe (2019, p. 5) is a phenomenon which creates global asymmetries in space and time in the name of security. These asymmetries distinguish between those bodies that are allowed to move freely and those that are considered “illegal” whose movement is either forbidden or severely restricted, leading them to exist in a state of invisibility, waiting, and erasure (2019, pp. 11-12). Moreover, the feminization of the global economy has led to alternative geographies based on cross-border circuits linking low-paid female labour to illegal profit-making and government income (Sassen, 2000). In response, critical feminist reflections on the intersection between gender, borders and migration have highlighted the importance of developing epistemologies and methodologies that promote openness, reflexivity, and equality to explore the colonial legacy of such cross-border dynamics. Additionally, decolonial and anti-colonial perspectives have offered alternative ways of understanding the processual, interrelational, and multi-perspectival nature of borders, centering the knowledge(s) and agency of borderlanders and migrants to counter essentialist viewpoints and methodological nationalism.

To achieve this, it is crucial to establish epistemological collaborations with citizens, grassroots organizations, and other external entities in terms of knowledge production and dissemination. These collaborations provide a fertile ground for the intersection of activism, culture, and academia to co-create polyphonic forms of joint experimentation through “epistemic partners” (Estalella & Criado, 2018, p. 17). Here, we adopt the term “polyphony” developed by Clifford (1986) as a means to include various voices in the research and assume fragmentation, incompleteness, and nonlinearity as inherent to reality. As feminist scholars focusing on border studies, we reflect on the possibilities of such epistemological collaborations through participatory action research to challenge border epistemologies from a grassroots perspective and consider alternative forms of mobility and belonging.

“Little Bird” by Selma

2. The Reel Borders Project: embodying the border through film
Within the Reel Borders project, which investigates the relationship between borders and cinema, we collaborate with epistemic partners to co-produce and disseminate knowledge about borders and everyday bordering practices based on dynamics of inclusion and exclusion through participatory visual methods. This involves combining critical theory with collective action for social change. In doing so, we consider the types of knowledge we generate and share, the methods, technologies and tactics we use to redress inequalities in our research and the narratives we contribute to. Taking inspiration from Harding’s (1998) seminal text “Is there a feminist method?, we highlight the relevance of exposing the power hierarchies inherent in research processes and the ethical challenges that arise in each context when rethinking traditional research methods and androcentric techniques.

Our aim in this piece is to explore the experimental nature of our research connections as a collective effort to examine everyday re-bordering practices from an intersectional, grassroots perspective. In doing so, we will interweave texts and a selection of the 26 short essay films included in the collective webdoc “ABCeuta, The Alphabet of the Border”, which are based on the testimonies of thirteen Moroccan women, ages 30 to 55, who lived in Ceuta between five and thirty years ago and work as undeclared domestic service workers. According to local trade unions and NGOs, 80% of domestic workers in Ceuta are not registered. As a result, they have no access to social security, public health, or education, and, following the hardening of the border, they have no right to mobility. In Ceuta and Melilla, they represent a group of about 2000 domestic workers. In Europe, the European Commission has estimated a total of 10 million domestic workers, of whom at least 3.5 million are undocumented migrant women.

“Looking Forward” by Hafida

The empirical data was collected in the winter of 2022 through in-depth interviews, participatory filmmaking and cineforum methods. Participatory filmmaking (PF) or participatory video (PV) is a set of techniques to involve a group or community in shaping and creating their films (Lunch & Lunch, 2006, p. 10). The cineforum uses the visual stimulus of a film in the context of a group discussion to understand experiences and latent memories about a certain social phenomenon (Almenara-Niebla, 2024).

 

 

While the combination of field notes, interviews, voice-over testimonies and images may give a sense of what it means to be an undocumented female worker on the southern border of Europe, we start from the belief that there is so much that is invisible/missing from this process. Those who long for documents to prove their right to be and their freedom of movement across borders are, conversely, unable to document this very transversality. Those without documents occupy a space that is also undocumentable.

“Powerlessness” by Basmae

3. Ceuta and the Moroccan-Spanish Border
The context of our inquiry is the Moroccan-Spanish border, specifically the enclave of Ceuta, which is one of the most visibilised borders in the EU’s borderlands due to its carceral geography and fortified infrastructure.

 

The visual impact of Ceuta’s fence lies in its geopolitical and biopolitical nature, which performs a “multi-faceted fault line” (Sadikki, 2017, p. 63) between the ex-colonizer and the ex-colonized (Spain and Morocco, respectively), two peoples (Spaniards and Moroccans), two nations (Western and Arab), two religions (Christianity and Islam), two continents (Europe and Africa), and two regions (Western Europe and Arab Maghreb)” (ibid.). 

“Xenofobia” by Irene Gutiérrez

The fence of Ceuta was built and progressively reinforced to deter Sub-Saharan African immigrants from entering Europe. However, today, the border measures after the COVID-19 pandemic have turned the Moroccan-Spanish border into a hard border for Moroccans too. The special permit that allowed neighbors from the region of Tetouan to enter Ceuta on a daily basis – with the condition of not staying overnight – was cancelled in June 2022, two months after the border was re-opened after two years of closure. From then onwards, Moroccans crossing to Ceuta must present a work or residence permit.

4. Setting the field
On October 3rd, 2022, we arrived in Ceuta, four months after this announcement. We partnered with the NGO Digmun, which provides Spanish-language literacy and legal support to unregistered Moroccan women and children since 2005. We chose Digmun to explore how the border impacts migrant women based on race, ethnicity, class, and legal status. We met with a group of 20 women enrolled in Digmun’s Spanish language course who expressed interest in participating in the research we had announced three months earlier. From the outset, the issue of forced immobility due to their legal status was a key concern. As Lakbira mentioned:

“The long-awaited opening to be reunited with our families after more than two years was shadowed by the conditions imposed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs […]. Years of work here do not entitle us to benefit from the Foreigner Law […] Many of us have been working here for more than 20 years. If Spain is a democracy that respects human rights, we cannot understand why our rights as workers are not respected here.”

When we referred to the topic of the project, they affirmed that, for them, the issue was not the border but their lack of papers to be able to cross and see their loved ones. Lakbira, the only one who has had the cross-border permit for two decades, explained:

“During the mandatory lockdown in Ceuta, I rented a house with three friends, where we lived together until they re-opened the border. After a couple of weeks, my body felt relieved. I could finally stay for a few days without having to cross the border. Then, I realized how exhausted I was physically and mentally.”

Charifa, who has been living in Ceuta since 2016, detailed why she decided to stay in Ceuta and get rid of the trans-border special work permit routines and procedures:

“I used to be able to get in and out with the trans-border worker permit. First three months. Then six months. Then one year. It goes like this. Then you have to get it again. Before my permit ran out, I used to go to Tangier to make an appointment. It wasn’t easy to get one, but they gave you the permit if you had all your papers in order. I have been getting permits from 2011 to 2016. Then I moved to Ceuta. I was tired of it.”

“Cage” by Charifa

5. Addressing immobility through visual methods

According to Alvarez (2021), filmmaking plays a central role in research practices that aim to engage with the analysis of social realities in a unique way. Filmmaking as a method can potentially expand knowledge production by generating multiple outcomes, meaningful interventions, and aligning with the strategies and desires of the people involved. Moreover, PF creates a different research context where the researcher does not position herself as an observer but rather utilizes her skills to serve those who want to amplify their voice. As a filmmaker, Irene put her skills at the disposal of the women in the workshop, who responded individually and collectively to this process of engagement.

After an internal discussion, thirteen women agreed to participate in the workshop. Their decision was driven by a desire to denounce their situation of immobility and their long-term status as undeclared workers. However, before the workshop commenced, they laid out four specific conditions for their participation: the scope of dissemination of their stories; the use of language; the need for anonymity; and other ways to avoid exposure. During our first group conversation, they proposed three levels of dissemination: local, national, and international, as a first basic condition to participate.

Fati: “We want our films to be shown here and in other parts of Spain. We especially want our films to be screened in front of Spanish politicians because they don’t know the suffering they cause to people whose only goal is to contribute to Spanish society with their work.”

Lakbira: “We also want these films to be shown in other parts of Europe. I am pretty sure people don’t know what is going on here in Ceuta now.”

The second condition concerned the language used in the workshop and cineforum sessions. Since the participants were already enrolled in an ongoing Spanish language course and had limited free time, they were asked to align the filmmaking workshop and cineforum with the ongoing Spanish classes provided by Digmun in the evenings so as not to miss them. The research would serve to improve not only their filmmaking skills but also their written and oral Spanish. As they stated in the first session, they wanted to demonstrate their proficiency in the language through their films, as they had been living in Ceuta for decades, had invested time in learning Spanish, and were perfectly able to engage in conversations with Spanish politicians about their situation. Although the workshop would not be conducted in their mother tongue, Darija, the participants considered mastery of Spanish as a sign of agency and cultural capital. Therefore, Irene designed a program combining media production with language literacy. Written and oral storytelling became the most important method in the workshop, enhanced by practices such as reflexive interviews and reflexive voice-over recording. Their stories formed the basis of the co-creation of individual auto-ethnographic essay films.

“Brave” by Fatima Bghiel

The third condition was regarding anonymity and exposure. Most of the participants requested to avoid using or creating any images taken in Morocco by themselves or their relatives who are able to cross. As Malika stated: “For our peace of mind, we would prefer not to involve the Moroccan side in images or information about our families there. We already have many worries and don’t want this to be a problem for anyone else.” Transparent conversations allowed all parties involved to start negotiations regarding participation and to establish a compromise between the participants’ needs, the continuation of Digmun’s main activities, and our research interest. Thus, the workshop was adapted to the needs of the group and individuals (see Gutiérrez-Torres, 2023). 

To align with the dynamics of a language course, crucial words related to everyday life in Ceuta were brainstormed to define the topics the participants wanted to address. The stories shared included experiences of abandonment, gender violence, and sorrow but also empowerment, independence, women’s sorority, and resistance. These stories formed a patchwork of situated experiences and knowledge about what it means to be a borderlander. The films collectively presented a polyphony, illustrating how international borders do not define women’s needs and agendas, but rather are articulated through cross-border solidarities and notions of belonging based on gender, sexuality, feminism, and class or country status that transcend borders (Sassen, 2003, p. 103).

 

 

During the filming stage, and after six shooting sessions (three indoors and three outdoors), we decided to combine the footage they had recorded during the workshop and existing materials from different sources. They used pictures and videos they previously had shared with their relatives or published on their TikTok profile, and chose footage of Irene’s collection of Ceuta, filmed from 1980 to 2018. The selection of the visuals responded to each storyteller’s visual imaginaries. For instance, we did a second round of brainstorming to ask each participant how she would visualize her films, which images and sounds she would imagine to be assembled with the voiceover of her story. 

“Romantic” by Rabia Benaly

In our exploration of social hierarchies in research, we have drawn inspiration from black feminist thinkers such as Patricia Hill Collins (2000) and bell hooks (2000), who emphasize the integration of knowledge production with racial inequalities. They have called attention to the need for new epistemologies that position experience as an essential principle and highlight knowledge produced from the margins (Collins, 2000, p. 251). For example, we are aware that PF as a method can reinforce power hierarchies of knowledge (whose knowledge is taken into account and why?), perpetuate neo-colonial extractivist practices (the need to record audio and video, to make films) and privilege technological skills over methods (who participates and on what basis?).

As the workshop progressed, we reconsidered our strategies based on the group’s preferences. For instance, after six filming sessions, the women expressed a preference for staying indoors at Digmun for discussions rather than venturing outside to operate cameras and learn video production. Imposing a method disrupted the empathetic agreement between us. It also raised concerns about exposure, as five women did not want to be filmed in public, four did not want to be portrayed, two preferred their pictures with blurred faces, and two wanted to use their own smartphone-created content rather than the “professional” cameras provided. Consequently, we identified three methods to obscure their identity: facial portraits, blurred faces, and faceless representation.

“Daughter” by Khadija

Early on in the process, they expressed that their goal was not to be filmmakers or editors but to be able to tell their stories and share them with broader audiences. In this collaborative process, Irene took on the role of the primary editor. She was responsible for refining and shaping the raw footage into a cohesive narrative. This process consisted of sending via WhatsApp first and second cuts, which usually took three feedback rounds until they agreed with the final cut. 

Selma [to Irene]: “You are the filmmaker here, so you should know better how to combine everything we gave you to make an impact.”

Therefore, we adopted a flexible approach to collaboration, acknowledging that not everyone was interested in capturing images or sound and that editing was not a task they wished to undertake. This approach enabled us to tailor our transfer of skills and knowledge to each individual’s preferences and strengths. Additionally, seven participants brought personal objects with emotional significance. These objects formed the thematic and visual core of the faceless films. Furthermore, we delved into how the senses are linked to the materiality of personal belongings, connecting individuals to their loved ones and spaces in Morocco and the broader world. Items such as a medal, a purse, a stone, an olive tree branch, a picture of a boat, a coin, and a smartphone were used to explore the meanings of material culture through faceless films and to avoid exposing the participants. By shaping memories and reflections on belonging and identity, these objects sparked the “cinematic imagination” (MacDougall, 2006, p. 245) to create an interpretive space for the audience, shedding light on the women’s transnational condition.

“Medal” by Malika

During the workshops, two cineforums were conducted with the aim to invite them to reflect together about personal and collective experiences related to the border. The group collectively selected two films from a list of six in our project databases (Reel Borders, 2021) that featured intimate representations narrated by or starring women on the Moroccan-Spanish border. They chose Bab Sebta (Randa Maroufi, 2019) and Tarfaya (Daoud Aoulad-Syad, 2019). After the screening, the group engaged in a discussion about the film without addressing any predetermined questions, but rather reflecting on how the film was linked to their own personal experience. For example, after watching Bab Sebta, discussions arose about the differences between the border situation and the measures taken before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, as depicted in Lakbira’s film. After the screening of Tarfaya, they discussed the prospect of building a new life beyond Ceuta, on the Spanish mainland, with a legal residence permit. These conversations led to the creation of the film “Boat” by Fati.

“Boat” by Fati

6. Potentials and limitations
The fragmented diary of our fieldwork in Ceuta that we have presented so far is an account of the entanglements with the 13 women, the NGO Digmun, and how we all adapted to integrate the workshop and cineforum into the ongoing Spanish language course. It also demonstrates how the workshop’s original design changed based on the women’s views and needs to speak out about their long-term experiences as undocumented migrants in Ceuta, especially their forced immobility after the post-COVID pandemic border measures. Furthermore, their films advocate for mobility rights for everyone, which would have revealed a different reality: one in which they could enjoy the best of both worlds and have the right to choose where and how they want to live.

“Kilometres” by Hafida

The Moroccan side is absent here. Morocco is the out-of-frame of the workshop. Therefore, the space and set conditioned not only the format of the workshop and the audiovisual forms we chose but also revealed the power of the border control regime to limit their self-representation and the visualization of their every day in Morocco. Moreover, Hafida’s home, Khadija’s village, Malika’s grandmother’s food, or Nora’s olive trees appear as blurred spaces of the past, places of happiness where they are no longer allowed to be. As they are re-bordered in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, the conditions imposed on them underline that “borders are meant to concretize the principle of dissimilarity rather than that of affinity” (Mbembe, 2019, p.11). Where there was a conjunction, here and there, there is now a disjunction, here or there. 

“Olive tree” by Nora

Finally, regarding the dissemination phase, we could manage such disjunction through the ubiquity of the digital; as an open access webdoc, we could bring the film collection to any audience with an internet connection. However, ethical questions arose when we organized a screening of the films at the European Parliament for different political groups and planned to have at least two women present to discuss their films. For the ones without documents, travel was impossible. For the two women with a Moroccan passport, the visa procedure was so slow and uncertain that, after three months of paperwork, we had to assume they would not be able to come. The only participant who was able to travel in Europe could not attend because she had just started a new job in a laundry and could not spend a day in Brussels. Mobility, nationality, gender and class differences raised ethical concerns about the after-fieldwork of participatory research. Engagement during dissemination is equally important, as the goal is not to talk for others but to amplify their voices in front of strategic audiences in the search for concrete action at all stages.

7. Concluding notes
Ceuta is an example of how the EU’s external borders are postcolonial boundaries and that European enlargement corresponds to colonial governmentality (Ferrer-Gallardo & Gabrielli, 2022; Moffette, 2013). Ceuta’s border regime is based on constant surveillance, containment, and exclusion of racialised individuals, which also leads to their removal from political and cultural discussions in the short and long term. It is no coincidence that Ceuta has been defined as a limboscape (Ferrer-Gallardo & Albet-Mas, 2016). This condition brings us back to Mbembe’s (2019) statement about borders as dividing lines between those whose lives have been systematically slowed down because they are trapped in indefinite waiting. Therefore, the role of participatory audiovisual methods in border research can offer a potential tool for challenging unequal knowledge production and Eurocentric perspectives while claiming counter-geographies based on cross-border mobility, multiple affiliations and transnational belonging.

*Some women preferred to use their full name, while others opted for a nickname or pseudonym.

 

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