Racialization and masculinities in a violent border regime: The case study of the 2022 Melilla fence jump through a translocational lens

Sammanfattning: On June 24th 2022, nearly two thousand people attempted to cross the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries. Scholars have suggested that these border crossings in the Mediterranean highlight the systemic border violence that is exercised towards migrants in the region to prevent presenting them as isolated or sporadic. To contribute to this field, this study examines the Melilla events through a translocational approach: it focuses on the local violence of that day and links it to transnational factors. Six interviews were conducted, which have been combined with field observations in the enclaves’ fences, to examine how the case study of the Melilla fence jump illustrates modes of racialization and masculinities of the Moroccan-Spanish border. This paper showcases the need to situate local violent experiences such as the Melilla events within the broader context of border coloniality to identify the systemic roots of border violence.