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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

"𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗼𝗿 & 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀: 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗢𝗳𝗳 𝗙𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗰𝗼" New article drawing on ethnographic research with irregularized migrants to explore how humour & laughter become crucial ways of navigating racist, violent, & uncertain border regimes tinyurl.com/yfhvcs39

Abstract of article : This article focuses on a ‘day off’ spent at a Moroccan beach with ‘irregularized’ migrants from Central and Western Africa. For these young men on a dangerous quest for dignity and a better life, engaging in humorous exchanges and laughter was crucial to cultivate, maintain, and display the ‘right mentality’ while facing violent border regimes. This was an important feature in the articulation of their lives and journeys as ‘adventurers’ abiding by the imperative not to give up in the face of violence, uncertainty, and the risk of failure. The article also highlights how a focus on the workings of humor and laughter in the study of (‘illegal’) migration is important to foreground and acknowledge the inequities at the core of ethnographic encounters.

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Présentation de mon livre au Centre for Global Studies (Université Internationale de Rabat) avec Prof. Nadia Khrouz (Vendredi 22 Mai - 11h). The Adventure : violent borders, illegal migration, and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco. Le Ebook est en accès libre : tinyurl.com/4rnand8n

Présentation de mon livre au Centre for Global Studies (Université Internationale de Rabat) avec Nadia Khrouz (Vendredi 22 Mai - 11h - salle polyvalente batiment 3, UIR). Le titre du livre:
The Adventure : violent borders, illegal migration, and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco. Le Ebook est en accès libre ici : https://tinyurl.com/4rnand8n

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

وقّعوا على البيان "كان ياما كان: احترام حقوق المهاجرين في المغرب؟" مع اقتراب بطولة كأس الأمم الأفريقية، تدعو منظمات المجتمع المدني والمدافعون عن حقوق الإنسان الدولة المغربية إلى الاحترام الكامل للحقوق الأساسية للمهاجرين. #can2025 #afcon2025 #canmaroc2025 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

With the Africa Cup of Nations approaching, Migreurop is joining forces with the campaign ‘CANyamaCAN, the rights of migrants in Morocco?’ and, alongside civil society organisations and human rights defenders, is calling on the Moroccan State to fully respect the fundamental rights of exiled persons

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Manifesto "CAN yama CAN: Respect for the rights of migrants in Morocco?" Civil society organisations and human rights defenders are calling on the Moroccan State to fully respect the fundamental rights of migrants. #CANMAROC2025 #CAN2025 #AFCON2025 More info: migreurop.org/article3507....

Two cartoons. First one shows someone sitting in a stadium with an african nation cup pass. The second one shows someone sitting next to a bus following the deportation of a group of migrants into the desert. This is part of a series of illustrations calling on Moroccan authorities to protect and respect the rights of migrants. The AFCON cup is a time of celebration but civil society organisations call for renewed attention to violence and human rights abuses against migrants from the African continent and beyond.

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

A l'occasion de la Journée Internationale des Migrants du 18 décembre 2025, et à quelques jours du début de la Coupe d'Afrique des Nations 2025, lancement du Manifeste « CAN yama CAN : Le respect des droits des personnes migrant.e.s au Maroc ? » #CAN2025 #CAN2025Maroc #AFCON2025

Cartoon depicting the mascot of the CAN 2025 African cup in the middle of a press conference, smiling while stepping onto people trapped in a cage under the desk. The text reads "once upon a time. welcome everyone" in Arabic.

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Are you an early career researcher in the arts & humanities with bold ideas? Apply for the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship through The University of Manchester Faculty of Humanities and join a world-class research community. EOI deadline: 26/1/26 www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/research/fun...

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

It was an honour to launch my monograph The Adventure: Violent borders, illegal migration & the uncertain quest for life in Morocco. Special thanks to Prof. Hage, Dr. Obeid & Dr Zagaria for acting as discussants. I am very humbled by their generous comments.Open access eBook: tinyurl.com/4rnand8n

Picture of the launch with Prof. Ghassan Hage, Dr. Michelle Obeid and Dr Valentina Zagaria .
At a time of heightened moral panic over (illegal) migration, anthropology and ethnographic work are key to analysing and dismantling racialised and violent politics of containment that unequally distribute the ability to cross borders but also to stay and settle somewhere. Every day we seem to be reaching new and terrifying depths in the vilifying discourses and cruel practices enforcing the containment of those racialised as underserving, dangerous and undesirable.
The book - The Adventure : Violent borders, illegal migration and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco - is an attempt to steer away from ubiquitous aesthetics of despair and criminality to look at how so-called ‘illegal’ young men from Western and Central Africa stuck in Morocco strive to face up to and overcome bordering practices - to retain control over their lives and mobility.
In the book, I look at the notion of “the adventure” to explore how migrants cultivate fragile but necessary dispositions, skills, and relationships to navigate deadly bordering measures stretching across and beyond the Mediterranean region. The adventure was a transformative, initiatory journey, through which they could assert themselves as agents of their own destinies, despite uncertain, illegalising processes. A focus on the notion of adventure deconstructs the pervasive narratives of a “migration crisis” and a “sub-Saharan problem” in Morocco, it sheds light on the violent consequences of hostile migration policies and practices, and it provides the means to account for how migrants themselves make sense of their entrapped mobility. 
The book, which is in conversation with the growing corpus of works within anthropology and other disciplines that look at migration and borders critically, is open-access

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

This Saturday in Manchester - The Group for Debates in Anthropological Theory debates the motion: Theorising the future is the future of anthropology. [November 29th 2-6pm, Alexander Theatre, Samuel Alexander Building] www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/social-anthr...

This Saturday The Group for Debates in Anthropological Theory debates the motion: Theorising the future is the future of anthropology.

[November 29th 2-6pm, Alexander Theatre, Samuel Alexander Building.]

Ghassan Hage and Rebecca Bryant (Utrecht) will be proposing the motion. Stef Jansen (Sarajevo) and Basak Sarac-Lesavre (Sciences Po) will be opposing the motion. Pizzas and drinks at Sandbar afterwards. This event is supported by the Association of Social Anthropologists and the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester.

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Tomorrow in Manchester (5pm): book launch for my monograph "The Adventure: violent borders, illegal migration and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco” Discussants: Ghassan Hage, Michelle Obeid and Valentina Zagaria. Open access e-book : tinyurl.com/4rnand8n

book launch poster. I am delighted to invite you to a book launch for my recently published monograph “The adventure: violent borders, illegal migration and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco” (MUP). Tuesday 25th November at 5pm in the Arthur Lewis Building Boardroom (University of Manchester).

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Upcoming book launch for my monograph "The Adventure: violent borders, illegal migration and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco” ( @manchesterup.bsky.social ). MCR 25/11 5pm @uomsoss.bsky.social @uomsoss.bsky.social more info about the book: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526177681/

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

So thrilled ! I have received the copies of my book published by ‪@manchesterup.bsky.social ! “a compelling an urgent book about life at the borders of Europe” #migration #morocco Copies available here: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526177681/ @uomsoss.bsky.social #monograph #anthropology

book cover of my monograph: "the adventure
Violent borders, illegal migration, and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco"

This ethnographic exploration of irregular migration from Western and Central Africa in Morocco deconstructs dehumanising narratives of a "migration crisis" and a "sub-Saharan problem" in politics of migration. The book provides an original focus on how migrants understood and experienced their entrapped mobility. The emic notion of "the adventure" at the heart of this study sheds light on a transformative, epic quest to carve out a better life and future. The book traces how young men from Western and Central Africa sought to assert themselves as agents of their own destinies, despite uncertain, illegalising processes. In steering away from aesthetics of despair and fearmongering narratives, the book brings new insights into inter-disciplinary debates (e.g. illegality, uncertainty, immobility, violence, suffering, transit, etc.). Such focus is essential to draw out the complexity and existential depth of (irregular) migrants' lives, journeys, and stories.

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

NEW BOOK - Very happy to announce that today is the publication date for my monograph: "'The Adventure': violent borders, illegal migration, and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco" An open-access copy is available here www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781...

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

A comic by #Calais -based artist Loup Blaster about solidarity houses where residents welcome exiled people with dignity in defiance of deadly and racist politics of #migration. Part of a project on the criminalisation of #solidarity in France & Morocco : sebastienbachelet.com/crimes-of-so...

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Une BD de Loup Blaster sur les maisons accueillantes de Calais. #migration #calais

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

The MADAR festival is underway in the emblematic Cinema Ritz in Casablanca. Screenings, debates and panels on migration in the Maghreb with researchers and practitioners from Europe and Africa. madar-network.org/en/

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Discover Manchester: Sociology/Anthropology Showdown! Calling all sixth-formers interested in the Social Sciences! Learn about the relationship between Sociology and Social Anthropology and get a taste of what it's like to study at Manchester! tinyurl.com/npueepfj

a meme with two people sitting in a car - one is dressed extravagantly, the other plainly. The former is 'anthropology', the latter 'sociology'. The caption reads: "get in, loser. We are doing a participant observation."

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Our report on the criminalisation of solidarity actors supporting migrants is available in English/Arabic/French. The insidious forms of harassment discussed as part of violent bordering regimes are relevant beyond our 2 case studies (Morocco & France). sebastienbachelet.com/crimes-of-so...

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 15/03/2024

Our department is hosting a public festival in Manchester to celebrate #anthropology and to encourage more people to be curious about work in this exciting discipline. 5-7th April 2024 Full programme is here: theasa.org/conferences/...

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Sébastien Bachelet @sebbachelet.bsky.social · 06/03/2024

نعرف من أنتم": السياسات العدائية للهجرة وتجريم الفعاليات المتضامنة في فرنسا والمغرب" The Arabic version of my project's report (written with M.Hagan) on the #criminalisation of #solidarity with migrants in France & Morocco is now available. More info here: sebastienbachelet.com/crimes-of-so...

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