Abhatoo - Centre Nationale de Documentation

In recent years, the city of Fez has become a major destination of European and sub-Saharan migrants. We postulate that this is not linked to endogenous dynamics, but rather to a symbolic representation of a city that had its economic and cultural glory in the past. For Europeans it is generally a choice and a mean to start a new project of life in the south, or a way of being at the same time ‘here’ (Fez) and ‘there’ (place of origin). Whereas sub-Saharan perceive Fez in reference to its historical functions, spiritual, commercial and haven for students, the role played by the city throughout centuries. And because of these links Fez is represented as a city to which sub-Saharan migrants can travel illegally and in which it is also possible to settle without identity breach while keeping links with home territories and African identity.
Sub-Saharan migrants, have mixed with students or pilgrims whose presence in Fez has become familiar, contributing to the consecration of an existing ‘otherness’ and for which the host society has developed ways of coping with. There is neither assimilation nor integration planned, nor that the society has overcome the problem of coping with ‘others’, but, in all its various layers, it offers slots to allow settling and in some cases even social promotion.
Our aim in this paper is to analyze the role played by Fez in attracting flows of African migrants, as well as to see how far it can exceed its symbolic function in order to respond positively to of people’s expectations regarding employment and social and cultural integration, whose primary reason for migrating is economic.