ABSTRACT

NORTH AFRICAN WOMEN IN SPAIN: DREAMS AND REALITY,

IDENTITY AND BELONGING
By
Laurie Ann Pasricha
May 2010
As more and more North African Muslim immigrants pour into Western
Europe, fears of "the other" continue to grow and become more salient in the everyday
lives of immigrants. In part, this is due to the global media reporting of the "War on
Terror." Most of the research in this area has focused on the political and economic
aspects of North African immigration to Europe with predominately male subjects.
This thesis presents the individual and subjective experiences of a small group of
North African women after their immigration to Spain. It will consider the dreams
motivating their migration and the realities they experience living as foreigners in
Spain. Additionally, this research considers how El Puerto, a social services
organization, provides a space where the traditional boundaries of identification are
explored and North African women in Spain find community and belonging.

NORTH AFRICAN WOMEN IN SPAIN: DREAMS AND REALITY,

IDENTITY AND BELONGING

A THESIS
Presented to the Department of Anthropology
California State University, Long Beach

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts in Applied Anthropology

Committee Members:
R. Scott Wilson, Ph.D. (Chair)
Barbara LeMaster, Ph.D.
Ron Loewe, Ph.D.
College Designee:
Mark Wiley, Ph.D.

By Laurie Ann Pasricha

B.A., 1997, Fresno Pacific University
May 2010

UMI Number: 1486433

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Copyright 2010
Laurie Ann Pasricha
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am thankful for my husband, Sudeep, who supported me and loved me
through this entire process and gave me the strength to not give up.
Thank you to my mom, Velda Rose, and to my Uncle, Alton Morse, for their
help with editing and with processing ideas and their encouragement along the way.
I would also like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr. Scott Wilson, and committee
members, Dr. Barbara LeMaster, Dr. Ron Loewe, and Dr. Pamela Bunte for their
valuable time and guidance.
Lastly, I would like to thank and acknowledge each of the North African
women who shared their lives and their hearts with me. Their openness and trust
made this research possible. I am also grateful for the staff of El Puerto for allowing
me to work with them and for being my extended family while I was in Spain.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

iii

LIST OF FIGURES

vi

PREFACE

vii

CHAPTER
1. REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
Immigration and Nationalism
National Identity
The Post-Modern Shift and the Power of the Nation-State
Identity/Identities
Transnational Identities
Religion
Gender
Space and Identity
2. RESEARCH DESIGN

1
1
2
3
4
9
11
13
16
19

Setting and Focus Population

Spain's Immigrant Population
Immigrants at El Puerto
The El Puerto Social Services Organization
The El Puerto Centers
Methods
Ethical Considerations
Data Collection and Analysis
3. SPAIN AND IMMIGRATION

19
19
20
21
22
23
27
28
30

Islamic Spain
Spain After the Re-Conquest
Civil War and Franco's Spain

30
31
32
iv

CHAPTER

Page
The New Spain and the European Union
Immigration Policies in Contemporary Spain
Legislation
Regularizations

4. THE DREAM: A BETTER FUTURE

Motivation
Just Coming to Visit
Gender Issues
A Better Future
Infrastructure and Health Care
Job Opportunities for Now and the Future
Security
5. THE REALITY: TOTALLY DIFFERENT
Regret
Unprepared
Isolation
Work
Uneven Responses
North African: The Muslim Other
The Veil
Different Perspectives on National and Religious Identities
Struggling with Hope
6. CONCLUSION: EL PUERTO AS A TRANSNATIONAL SPACE

32
33
33
34
37
38
38
40
42
42
44
45
47
47
48
49
50
52
54
57
59
62
64

Similarity and Difference

Crossing Boundaries
A Bridge
A Place of Hope

65
66
69
70

APPENDIX: INTERVIEW GUIDE

72

REFERENCES

74

LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE

Page

1. Percentage of immigrants living in Spain by nation of origin

vi

20

PREFACE
My interest in North African immigrants in Spain began when I first
volunteered with El Puerto in the summer of 2004. El Puerto is a small, non-profit
social services organization focused on serving the North African immigrant
community in Spain. Many of the immigrants I met that summer expressed
disappointment with life in Spain; but once they came, they felt they did not have
alternatives or any way to change their situation. I wondered why North Africans
continued to come to Spain and why they stayed, when they faced a reality full of
challenges and regret. As I reflected on the conversations I had with the various
immigrants I met and with the El Puerto staff, I realized the need to better understand
the experiences of the immigrants and how organizations such as El Puerto make a
positive difference in their lives.
When I returned to the United States at the end of the summer, I discovered
another motive for qualitative anthropological research among North African Muslim
immigrants. As I began sharing stories with my family and friends about the people I
met, I was amazed at their responses. Many of them stated that they had never
interacted on a personal level with a North African or a Muslim. They were
influenced by the representations of Muslims mostly gathered from American news
and movies. They knew those images and ideas could not be the whole story, but they
lacked personal experiences to push them beyond the stereotype. I found myself being
a link between my new Muslim North African friends and my family and friends in
vii

America. Through my experience, I was able to help the Americans in my circle of

influence reshape their negative images of Muslims; and on my second trip to Spain, I
found that I was part of a similar reshaping of the views North Africans at El Puerto
had of Americans. In the chapter on the dynamics of El Puerto, I will discuss in more
detail the significance of this transformation of stereotypes from both sides of the
Muslim versus Westerner divide.
The purpose of this ethnographic study is to explore the dreams and realities of
North African women who recently immigrated to Spain and to understand the role El
Puerto plays in their lives. This will include looking at the women's motivations for
immigrating, their actual experiences of life (work, home, community) in Spain, and
their subjective reflections on those experiences. Essentially this research considers
the following questions: (1) What are the experiences of North African Muslim
women living in Spain? (2) What motivated their immigration and where do they see
their future? (3) How does meaning emerge from the intersection of their dreams and
the realities of their experiences as immigrants? (4) What role does El Puerto play in
their lives? (5) How is the social space of El Puerto formed, and what social
interactions occur there? In addition to considering these questions, I will explore the
concepts of identity and belonging as experienced by the women I met through El
Puerto.
As an anthropological researcher, I will present the data I gathered as
accurately as possible, attempting to evaluate any biases that may influence the
evaluation of my observations and interviews. Broadly, I offer this research as a
contribution to the anthropological literature on immigration and transnational
viii

identities. In addition, it is my hope that this research will lead to improved lives for
immigrants by (1) providing a deeper understanding of their needs, hopes, and dreams
for non-profit organizations seeking to serve them, and (2) helping both Americans
and North African Muslims to cross the boundaries of their stereotypes and fears and
to enter into the experience of the other.
This thesis is presented in two parts. The first three chapters establish the
background and context of this research. In chapter 1,1 will review the relevant
literature and discuss the theoretical environment in which this research is embedded.
In chapter 2,1 will focus on the research design, including a description of the specific
setting and community where I conducted my research and details of the research
methods. Chapter 3 will include a brief history of the interaction between Spain and
North Africa and a review of current immigration policies.
The second part of this study will present my research and findings. In chapter
4,1 will present the motives the North African women at El Puerto describe for
immigrating to Spain. In chapter 5, their dreams of life in Spain will be contrasted
with the realities they experienced. I will conclude with chapter 6 which specifically
explores the community of El Puerto and its significance in the lives of the women
who take part in the events and classes offered there.

ix

CHAPTER 1
REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
In this chapter, I will present the literature from anthropology, cultural studies,
and other social sciences that provides the background and foundation for this research
and the lens through which I will describe and analyze my data. In the first part of this
review, I will discuss the anthropological research on nationalism, which is a
necessary foundation for understanding the various dynamics of the immigrant
experience. Additionally, I will discuss literature on identity theory as it relates to
immigration. I will then present transnational theory and examine alternatives to a
national identity that relate to the focus population of this research. Finally, I will
explore theories addressing how space is used to reinforce nationalism and also how
space is able to move us beyond national boundaries to other experiences of identity
and belonging.
Immigration and Nationalism
According to Benedict Anderson (1991), a nation is "an imagined political
community" (6). It is imagined, in part, because a nation is so large that most
members of the nation will not know or even meet the other members. It is also
imagined because by highlighting particular ethnic foods, clothing styles, and
traditions, and weaving them together into a story, a nation-state can "invent" its own
history. The members of the nation, imagining a coherent and unified community,
1

then develop a powerful belief in the naturalness of the nation. The ideology of
nationalism is a modern phenomenon which promotes the myth that throughout
history "each nation-state contained within it a single people defined by their
residence in a common territory, their undivided loyalty to a common government,
and their shared cultural heritage" (Glick Schiller et al. 1995:50).
One of the most powerful ways the nation functions in the lives of its members
is through producing "a system of cultural representation" for all who live within the
nation (Hall 1992:292). According to Hall, the structures of power within the nation
promote cultural standards through the national language, educational system, and
other state-run apparatuses. National standards are enforced and reproduced in mass
by the nation-state, not through physical boundaries on a map but through cultural
boundaries. "The cultural inscription of state power and other forms of regulation that
define the different modalities of belonging" create a standard against which members
of the nation-state can measure themselves and others (Ong 2004:157).
National Identity
National identities can only exist "in relation to others; the very idea of the
nation presupposes that there are other nations, or at least other peoples, who are not
members of the nation" (Ericksen 2002:110). Through "convincing the popular
masses that it really does represent them as a cultural unit," the nation-state becomes a
powerful source of identity for its citizens (Eriksen 2002:101). The State, with its
power to create feelings of belonging and to validate one ethnic group or national
identity over others, greatly impacts the lives of immigrants. A national ideology

produces the category of 'foreigner' when it implies that crossing the boundaries of a
nation-state is akin to leaving one's 'natural' place and identity.
The anthropological perspective on nationalism and identity is important for
unmasking the power of the nation-state. The state imposes various ideas about what
it means to be a citizen and to belong to the nation-state, enforcing the idea that
immigrants do not and cannot really belong unless they conform entirely to the social,
religious, and political norms of their host society. Immigrants must then respond to
the criteria for belonging given by the state through submission or resistance or some
combination of the two. Ong (2004) refers this as "cultural citizenship" which is "a
dual process of self-making and being-made within webs of power linked to the
nation-state and civil society" (157). Studies on immigration need to consider the way
governments, utilizing the power of a national identity, influence the lives of
immigrants.
The Post-Modern Shift and the Power of the Nation-State
In the 1990s, many theorists studying nationalism began to focus on the effects
of globalization on national identity. Post-modern theory argued that society was
being "dislocated by forces outside itself' (Hall 1992:278), with immigration as one of
the major processes threatening the once seemingly-stable link between nation and
identity (Appadurai 1996). Some theorists predicted the end, or at least a great
weakening, of the power of the nation-state and a decline in the importance of a
national identity. Arjun Appadurai (1996) observed that the increase in migrations,
along with the instant flow of electronic media, created "diasporic public spheres"
which "confound theories that depend on the continued salience of the nation-state as
3

the key arbiter of important social changes" (4). What he was essentially saying was
that as more and more people crossed borders, especially national borders, and as
nationals came into contact with these "others" coming to their land, the ideas of an
unchanging nation and national identity were no longer clear and certain.
However, a national identity still continues to have incredible power and
influence on citizens of the nation-state and on other individuals living within the
borders of the state. According to Eriksen (2002), even with alternatives, people have
clung to a national identity because it "offers security and perceived stability at a time
when life-worlds are fragmented and people are being uprooted" (105). Although
post-modern theory was helpful in pointing to the ways that national identity is
negotiable or flexible, it incorrectly predicted the demise of the nation-state. "Neither
the progress of modern 'rationality' nor the shape-shifting of postmodernism's
celebration of infinite difference have undermined the power of ethnicity and national
identity to move people and to shape their lives" (Jenkins 2002:117). In my research,
as I will discuss later, I found that nationalisms greatly influenced the lives of the
North African women I came to know but did not entirely define them.
Identity/Identities
Identity is not new to anthropological research. However, the move from
modernity to post-modernity brought about a more conscious awareness of, and
concern for, exploring identity as postmodern theorists sought to make sense of a
world they viewed as fragmented and coming apart at the seams. After some
discussion about national identity, several questions still remain: What exactly is
identity? How is it formed? Can a person have more than one identity? If so, what
4

does that look like and how is it to be studied? It is the purpose of this section to
examine identity theory within anthropology, especially as it relates to the subjects of
my research. I will then highlight the various alternatives to a national identity that
are most central for the North African women involved with El Puerto.
Peek (2005) offers a concise summary of identity theory noting various areas
of interest and debate:
Identity results from internal subjective perceptions, self-reflection, and
external characterizations. Contrary to earlier understandings of identity as
fixed and immutable, today identity is more often considered an evolving
process of "becoming" rather than simply "being".... Individual identity can
shift over time, due to personal experiences and larger social changes. [217]
Peek draws attention to the complexity of identity and shows how scholars are moving
away from the earlier concepts of essentialism that fed the power of nationalism.
However, she also shows that identity is complex. It is not easily defined. Identity
shifts and changes and may be influenced by individual experiences and the larger
social structure.
Linger (2004) also discusses identity, and he contrasts, in more detail, the
opposing opinions on identity theory within the social sciences. According to Linger,
the question of identity is, at its heart, a question about meaning. Any theory of
identity begins with an assumption about where meaning comes from and how it is
processed. He asks, "Are meanings, above all identities, fixed or dynamic, symbolic
or psychological, public or personal?" (Linger 2004). In other words, does each
person have one mostly stable identity, or are there many identities which may change
over time? Is a concept of the self something arising from cultural symbols,

"readable" from without by social scientists, or is it something formed by personal

psychological processes and influenced by subjective experiences?
Linger's questions illustrate the two poles in the debate on identity:
representational, or external, and experiential, or internal. In the representational
approach, "meaning is at root a public phenomenon, produced through the circulation
of symbolic carriers amenable to interpretive analysis" (Linger 2004). This is the
assumption underlying nationalism and a national identity. It claims that each person
has one identity, or one main identity, that is an inherent part of who he is from birth
to death. This concept is sometimes referred to as an essentialist, or primordial, view,
and it is how immigrants come to be seen as naturally connected to one nation-state
and are displaced to the country in which they now reside. On the other side of the
debate, the experiential approach seeks to "move persons into the orbit, or even to the
center, of studies of identity" by placing a greater emphasis on an individual
understanding of meaning and identity (Linger 2004). On this side of the debate,
identity is multiple and negotiable. It is multiple in that one person may have many
aspects of his social, cultural, religious, or familial world with which he identifies. It
is negotiable in that each person, to varying degrees, uses or claims different identities
to fit his situation or needs. This experiential concept of identity is the one that I will
emphasize and explore here.
Arjun Appadurai (1996) has argued that increased transnational migration has
led to a variety of "identities" among which people may choose. It is important to ask
how multiple identities are formed as immigrants move from their place of birth and
negotiate life in another nation where they do not fit in with the idea of "us." People

may apply various identity markers to themselves, but they are also labeled from
without. It is a fact that not all identity labels are chosen by the individuals who bear
them. Even anthropologists are guilty of contributing to the forceful application of
identities. Malkki (1992) reminds us, "That many people (scholars included) see
identity through this lens of essentialism is a cultural and political fact to be
recognized" (37). David Haines (2007), looking at how recent refugees in the United
States perceive their ethnicity asks, "Who do migrants think they are and according to
whose identity categories do they make that formulation? . . . Those questions are also
central to an understanding of precisely what frameworks of identity are offered to
migrantsand often imposed on themby American society" (285). The same
dynamics are present in Europe, and specifically in Spain, as immigrants are labeled
extranjeros, or foreigners, even in official government documents. There are many
other external labels applied to various immigrant groups, but that label alone,
especially coming from official sources, reveals how immigrants are perceived and
even how they think of themselves as outsiders within Spain.
However, even if the ability to fix official identities is limited, as many
scholars have shown, identity can be negotiated or used by the individual, whether
consciously or as a reaction to external forces. Liisa Malkki (1992), in her
ethnographic work with refugees, notices how the individuals in her study "suggest
that identity is always mobile and processual, partly self-construction, partly
categorization by others, partly a condition, a status, a label, a weapon, a shield, a fund
of memories, et cetera. It is a creolized aggregate composed through bricolage" (37).
Erickson (2002) notes that "Personal identities are intimately linked with political
7

processes and that social identities, for example as Danes or Europeans, are not given
once and for all, but are negotiated" (3). He explores the idea of "multiple loyalties"
noting, for example, how women can unite across ethnicities and "their gender identity
will situationally overrule the ethnic identity" (170). By asserting one area of
identification over another, each individual can express the identity that is most
helpful in a given situation.
Brubaker and Cooper (2000) argue that using identity as an analytical category
is insufficient, since it has proved difficult, if not impossible, to clearly define. Instead
they argue for alternative terms that might reduce some of the ambiguity of the
umbrella term of "identity." However, I have used the term in this thesis not because I
have found a precise definition, but because I believe there is value in the struggle to
explore, understand, and define the term. Even if identity is an uncertain term,
avoiding its use is not productive or beneficial, because it is clear that identity, and
everything that falls within the idea, is significant in everyday life and in scholarship.
When considering an individual who is a mother, a sister, a daughter, an immigrant, a
Muslim, a friend, et cetera, an open and complex term seems the most appropriate for
exploring the way these identities intermingle in one life. However, the critiques
offered by Brubaker and Cooper raise some ideas that should be considered. In
particular, I find their suggestion of the term "identification" useful, in that it clearly
points to identity as a process.
For the purposes of this research, it will be assumed that identity is subjective
and experiential and therefore a very personal process. At the same time, there are
limits on the identity process, most obviously the political and cultural environment in
8

which identities and meanings are imposed on individuals as well as the depth of a
person's own self-reflection and acceptance of certain labels. With this understanding
of identity as the foundation, it will also be assumed that identity is multiple and that it
changes, evolves, and is used or negotiated depending on one's circumstances,
experiences, and disposition. When using the terms identity, identities, and even
identification in this thesis, it implies all of the above.
Transnational Identities
Since the 1990s, but more so in the last decade, studies on immigration within
anthropology have made use of the term transnational in an attempt to describe and
understand the phenomena of border crossing and the fact that immigrants are closely
interconnected with their home country despite great geographical distances. Much of
the anthropological work in this area has been focused on the mostly public political,
economic, or religious transnational movements (Argun 2003; Gupta 1992; Hefner
1998; Kastoryano 2002; Van der Veer 2001), with a few notable exceptions
emphasizing some individualized accounts of transnational processes (Ong 2004;
White 1997; Malkki 1992). Glick Schiller et al. (1995) have noted that many
anthropologists studying transnational immigrants have focused more on "abstract
cultural flows or representations" (49). More ethnographic research is needed,
however, to better understand individual experiences of immigrants as they create and
negotiate identities that are not nationally or politically focused.
In order to study dynamic transnational processes and identities,
anthropologists need various approaches for capturing this motion and ways of
expressing the process of identification. One approach is to focus on the borders
9

(Gupta and Ferguson 1992), or boundaries (Hannerz 1997), where people meet. Other
methods attempt to capture the motion through recording what Appadurai calls
"'process' geographies" (1999:232). Along the same lines, White (1997) refers to
studying the "processual identity" that occurs as immigrants negotiate the many
images of self they encounter in their journey from one place to another. A
fascinating article by Gupta (2002) uniquely suggests comparing the experience of
transnational migration to the spiritual concept of reincarnation. He states that the
process of immigrating may cause "radical transformations of the self' (175). His
focus on the journey and the "wanderings of a seeker" may be overly sentimental for
most in anthropology, but it takes a bold step toward rethinking representation of the
immigrant experience and perhaps away from an anthropology centered in the West.
Pnina Werbner (2002) argues that a diaspora community is best analyzed "in
all its dialogical and heterogeneous complexity" (5). Through her ethnographic
research with the Pakistani Muslim diaspora in Britain, Werbner concludes that
specific social situations and inter-community dialogues allow us to "grasp the
contingency of culture and identity as they are negotiated through ongoing moral,
aesthetic, and political disagreements and discordant discourses" (7). Her emphasis on
specific social situations is essential for this research. However, I would add to her
argument that "It is the task of an anthropology of the present to explore the cultural
conditions of not just disjuncture and difference, but also of conjuncture and
convergence" (Silverstein 2005:377). Schein (2000), studying the Miao in China,
affirms this focus and encourages writing "away from culture as static, timeless, and
bounded, and toward it as produced, contingent, and deployable" (12). My research
10

investigates not only the difficulties that North African women experience through
immigration, but also the ways that they work within the community of El Puerto to
create something positive and productive.
Religion
Religion is one of the major sources of identity, other than nationality,
available to North African transnational immigrants living in Spain. Unfortunately,
"Very few studies of recent immigration and ethnicity say anything about religion,"
leaving a hole in the research (Peek 2005:217 n. 3). As international immigration
brings into question the centrality of a national identity, it is important to understand
the role of transnational religion and identity, especially in research on Muslim
immigrants moving to "Christian" countries in the west. "Transnational Islam" in
academic literature often refers to the interaction of official religious institutions or the
exchange of theological ideas across borders (Bowen 2004). This understanding of
transnational religion misses the processes of identity shaping that occur when
individuals move across borders. For many, as is the case for the North African
women represented in this thesis, Islam is a matter of personal faith in God. At the
same time, immigration to Europe causes a confrontation of world views that are
positioned in conflict with one another. With both sides reacting to the perceived
threat to their national identity, a religious identity is claimed with renewed fervor.
This conflict often leads to a repositioning of Islam as one of the primary sources of
identity for North African immigrants.
Peek (2005) states that "The formation of a religious identity is a dynamic and
ongoing process and that religious identity itself is not a static phenomenon" (236).
11

For Muslim immigrants, "the confrontation with another society and the changing
circumstances of their everyday lives exacerbate their thoughts and reflections about
themselves, their roots and their cultural habits" (Salih 2003:12). Although a few
scholars have noted that immigration may cause a weakening of a religious identity,
most cases of research among Muslim immigrants in Europe point to an increased
significance of religion. For the North African Muslim women represented in this
thesis, the process of immigration has been the catalyst for intensifying their
identification with Islam as a way to separate themselves from Spanish society.
One of the factors contributing to a reinforcement or repositioning of the
significance of Islam in the lives of Muslim immigrants in Europe is their
categorization as "other" by European society and policies. In Europe, a Muslim
identity is positioned in opposition to European society and values. Although Muslims
in Europe are varied in terms of nation of origin and style of or level of practice of
Islam, "In the eyes of the hosts, these disparate groups share an essentialized negative
identity as dangerous strangers" (Zolberg and Woon 1999:6). One of the focal points
of these attitudes casting Muslims as dangerous, or at the very least unable or
unwilling to assimilate, that most affects women is the hijab, or veil. In Europe, the
veil has become the most visible symbol of Islam and is at the center of highly
publicized political debates.
Being cast as naturally unfit for European society and feeling as if they do not
belong, many Muslims in Europe emphasize their Islamic identity. Salih (2003) notes
that for Muslims in Europe, "Islam, in various forms, is increasingly proposed and
constructed as the alternative to assimilation and cultural homogenization" (24). For
12

Muslim women, in part due to the European focus on the veil, the hijab has taken on
new significance through immigration and has been repositioned as "the" symbol in
Islam of a woman's religious commitment and identity. Additionally, the lifestyle
Muslims observe in Spain, with women dressing provocatively in public and the
consumption of alcohol and pork which are forbidden with Islam, reinforces the belief
that Muslim and European values are naturally opposed and increases the desire to set
oneself apart from European society in a visible way.
Gender
Gender is another source of transnational identification for the immigrants in
this study. "Transnationalism is not a neutral space. Gender intervenes in
differentiating and shaping projects, desires and practices" (Salih 2003:62). Scholars
note that the issue of gender has been missing or limited in most research on
immigration and transnationalism. While many past studies have focused on a
statistical analysis of male and female immigration, several recent studies have
explored the dynamics of "gendered identities within transnational social fields"
(Pessar and Mahler 2001:24). Piper (2006) argues that "Gender analysis . . . should
not be limited to statistics broken down by sex, but [should] raise awareness about
broader social factors that influence women's and men's roles, and their access to
resources, facilities, and services" (140). One of the significant themes to emerge in
the literature on gender and migration that is relevant to North Africans in Spain is the
issue of how women are represented within various structures of power.
Both men and women who immigrate are subject to regulation by the power
hierarchies both in their country of origin and in their country of settlement, but their
13

experiences of subjectivity are distinct. In their country of origin, North African

women are often confined to the "sphere of reproductive and care activities" which
continues into their experience as transnational migrants (Salih 2003:48). Although
women may work outside of the home both in Morocco and in Spain, their primary
role is to care for the home and children. Ruba Salih (2003), through her ethnographic
fieldwork with Moroccan immigrant women in Italy, notes that the Moroccan women
she met were expected to move between Morocco and Italy to care for their parents
and children. In this role, they sustained transnational ties to homes both in Morocco
and in Italy resulting in a "sense of rupture" as they attempted "to maintain
membership in both countries, despite belonging ultimately to neither" (77).
From the European side, North African women are only given access to certain
domains of European society which reinforce their positioning in the role of
reproduction and care. Domestic work is one of the few areas of employment
available to North African immigrant women in Europe. They are often seen by
politicians and policy makers primarily as vehicles for replenishing the labor force,
working as caretakers and cleaners while Spanish women leave the home to work in
professional positions (Salih 2003). Even if women are not employed in this way,
their position as caretakers in the North African community may limit their contact
with Spanish society in ways that reinforce this role. According to Salih (2003),
Moroccan women in Italy:
are often socially and culturally marginalized. Their interactions with Italian
society take place through their jobs as domestics, through their children's
schools and, in a few cases through their neighbors. Yet by and large, the
domains where Moroccan women 'meet' Italian society are essentially the
14

local state institutions and their multicultural policies, and the bureaucracy and
apparatus that regulate their lives as migrants. [17]
Her argument about the influence of national policies limiting the jobs available to
Moroccan women and their restricted interactions with Italian society are true for
North Africans in Spain as well.
Another major theme in the recent literature on gender and immigration is how
women are often "viewed as cultural icons by both home and host cultures" (Bauer
2000:193). Similar to the way Ong (2004) described the racialized cultural
inscription of citizenship on the bodies of immigrants, "cultural borders seem to be
inscribed on the very bodies of women" (Bauer 2000:193). This is especially true for
Muslim immigrant women. The veil cannot be disconnected from its symbolic
association with the head of a Muslim woman. Salih (2003) notes that debates about
Muslim immigrant issues center not only on what women wear but extend to other
issues involving women such as the education of children and the continuing of
cultural traditions. However, she draws attention to the imbalance of power stating
that these discussions are almost always led by men, both within the immigrant
community and among politicians in the country of settlement. Women are not
powerless, but they are often unable to utilize their power in official ways because
they are excluded from contributing to these discussions.
For women, gender is a significant factor in their immigration experience. The
North African women in this thesis, especially when viewed alongside their Muslim
identities, are limited by the ways they have been subjectified in their home country
and by the society and government of Spain. However, it does not have to be a choice
15

"between total constructionism and total voluntarism, between the Foucauldian

discursively constructed (and subjected) subject, or the free agent of Western fantasy"
(Ortner 1996:11). A woman's gender does limit her life experiences and her power to
direct her life, but it also gives her a unique way of engaging with the power
constructs that surround her. As a mother, she greatly influences the lives of her
children and future generations. Additionally, she may be able to gain access to
governmental resources and programs for her family and children which may not be
offered to male immigrants giving her a unique position within the home. These are
just a few examples of the ways women exercise power even within the hierarchical
structures that limit them. However, as others have noted, further research is needed
to better understand the many unofficial dynamics of agency and gender in
transnational migration.
Space and Identity
Recently scholars have been exploring theories about the use of space and the
meaning produced there to better understand transnational or other-than-national
identities. The power of nationalism, as previously shown, is that it ideologically links
a person to a specific geographical location. Space is officially divided, as on a map,
with a clear demarcation of boundaries (at least that is how nation-states portray the
situation even if in reality there are contested boundaries across the globe). This sense
of connection to a nation becomes a strong force of identification for immigrants and
for those they encounter, as "ideas of 'us' and 'them' come to be deeply felt and
mapped onto places such as nations" (Gupta 1992:76). Even in anthropological
research, immigrant identities have been represented through various metaphors that
16

often serve to reinforce nationalistic ideas of belonging and "otherness." An

awareness of this dynamic in everyday life and in research is necessary in order to
challenge "the fixed association between identity, culture and place" (76).
Liisa Malkki (1992), through her research with Hutu communities from
Burundi living in refugee camps in Tanzania, unmasks how nationalisms have
naturalized the idea of people being connected to actual geographical locations in
everyday discourse. Visually, maps project the image of national borders as neat and
natural. In language, the same idea is expressed in phrases such as "the whole
country" and "my homeland." She gives several examples of concepts linking people
to nation-states through botanical metaphors of roots and rootedness. Arjun
Appadurai points to the "deeply metaphysical and moral dimensions" of these
metaphors (Malkki 1992:29). "Natives are not only persons who are from certain
places, and belong to those places, but they are also those who are somehow
incarcerated, or confined, in those places . . . thought to be ideally adapted to their
environments" (29). If this concept is accepted, immigrants are unable to adapt to the
nation where they now reside. Continuing along those lines, immigrants may even
pose a threat, whether real or imagined, to the sovereignty and power of the nationstate. Therefore, a productive area of research is in understanding how spaces, other
than nation-states, create meaning and a place of belonging.
Scholarly sources attempting to understand identity beyond the nation have
still used words and metaphors that perpetuate and strengthen the myth of the
naturalness of a national identity. Images that portray immigrants as nomads, people
without a homeland, displaced, liminal, or between cultures (Coutin 2005; Kastoryano
17

2002; Lie 2002; also see Silverstein 2005) begin with the assumption that crossing a
national border moves an immigrant out of his natural place of belonging. Even terms
attempting to be more inclusive and less essentialist, such as diasporic communities or
hybrid identities (Clifford 1994; Hannerz 1997), may still imply that an immigrant's
identity is somehow disrupted or incomplete after moving from his natural
environment. This does not mean that these descriptions should be discarded.
Metaphors are useful because they help bring globalization "down to earth" to "help
show its human face" (Hannerz 1997:15). However, they are limited and often do not
accurately account for the point of view of the research subject. As Ulf Hannerz
(1997) humorously notes, "When you take an intellectual ride on a metaphor, it is
important that you know where to get o f f ' (6).
With increased connections across the borders of nation-states, especially
because of immigration, space has become "reterritorialized in a way that does not
conform to the experience of space that characterized the era of high modernity"
(Gupta and Ferguson 1992:9). The focus is no longer on attempting to fit immigrants
into a national framework and identity which limits a vision of the depth and
complexity of their lives and experiences. Studying how space has been used to
divide or connect people into groups sheds light on how cultural difference is
produced and how immigrants are framed in the social life of the nation-state through
nationally focused political rhetoric and immigration policies. It also reveals how
identities can reach beyond or between national boundaries to create transnational
spaces of belonging.

18

CHAPTER 2
RESEARCH DESIGN
Setting and Focus Population
Spain's Immigrant Population
Spain's immigrant community has grown significantly since joining the
European Community in 1985, with a sharp increase in foreign immigration starting in
the mid-1990s. "In January 2006 there were 3,884,573 foreigners in Spain, which
represented an 8.75% of the total population" up from 1.37% in 1996 (Isusi 2007).
Official figures do not include Spain's undocumented population, which was
estimated to be between 200 thousand and 1.2 million prior to the 2005 amnesty.
North Africans are the largest immigrant group in Spain (although they are recently
being overtaken by Ecuadoreans), with Moroccans and Algerians accounting for more
than 20 percent of the total foreign population (see Figure 1). The immigrant
population in Spain is concentrated in three areas: Madrid, the capital, and in cities
and provinces along the Mediterranean coast, and in the Southern region (Izquierdo
2004). This research was conducted in a large city in Spain among North African
immigrants whom I met through our mutual participation in a social service
organization called El Puerto.

19

FIGURE 1. Percentage of immigrants living in Spain by nation of origin. Source:

Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs Statistical Yearbook of Foreigners, 2004.

Immigrants at El Puerto
I focused this research on first-generation North African immigrant women
attending events and classes at El Puerto. I concentrated on a small group of
participants due, in part, to the short time available for research and, in part, to gain a
deeper and more personal understanding of a few individuals' experiences. Although
Moroccans and Algerians make up the majority of those attending events and utilizing
services offered at El Puerto, throughout my time volunteering there I met a wide
variety of immigrants attending classes, including women, men, and children from all
parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe as well. Additionally, since all of the
20

staff and most of the volunteers are also immigrants, El Puerto forms a uniquely
transnational community.
The El Puerto Social Services Organization
El Puerto began in the mid-1990s when a group of volunteers from several
Christian churches in Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon visited Spain to serve the growing
North African immigrant population. They felt uniquely able to serve this group of
immigrants because of the ease of travel to Spain and the shared language of spoken
Arabic. After seeing the need for support among the North African's they met on this
initial visit, one couple, Omar and Bana, decided to return to Spain to investigate the
possibility of more substantial service and involvement with this immigrant
community. They began by volunteering with already established organizations
working with drug addicts and other marginal groups among the North Africans. Over
time, some of the immigrants living in their neighborhood approached them for
language lessons for their children. They realized this was an area of need within the
immigrant community and began to shift their focus to a different "slice" of the
immigrant community. After offering classes out of their home for about a year, a
local Christian church offered them a room in their community building. Shortly after,
another couple arrived to assist with and expand the services they were offering. El
Puerto was officially recognized as a religious social services organization by the
government of Spain in 1998.
Today, the staff has expanded to seven permanent members and the
organization is assisted throughout the year by numerous volunteers from across
Europe, North America, and the Middle East. The services offered by El Puerto, at
21

three different community centers, include Spanish language classes, computer

classes, internet cafe nights, and many social events aimed at developing a sense of
community and giving language students a place to practice their skills. Also,
depending on the special knowledge and abilities of volunteers, El Puerto offers shortterm classes that are of interest to the community. For instance, while I was
conducting this research, a nurse from the United States visited El Puerto to volunteer
her time and offered a women's health seminar. Additionally, the El Puerto staff offer
weekly children's programs, with games, crafts, and lessons to teach and encourage
moral living (honesty, sharing, etc.). Unofficially, El Puerto staff and volunteers also
provide both practical and emotional support to immigrants, often filling the role of
the extended family the immigrants left behind. For example, some immigrants keep
copies of their official documents at the El Puerto center in case they misplace them.
This was extremely important for one man I met who had lost his passport and needed
copies of his documents to renew it. I also observed El Puerto staff assisting
immigrants with doctor's calls and visits as well as other practical matters.
The El Puerto Centers
El Puerto offers social services in three community centers (creatively
designated here with the pseudonyms Center 1, Center 2, and Center 3) run by seven
permanent staff members and numerous short-term volunteers. Center 1 is located in
the heart of the city, in one of several neighborhoods with a high concentration of
North African immigrants. This center has been operating since 1998. Most of the
immigrants attending classes at Center 1 are Moroccan or Algerian women, although
both men and women attend social events and use the center during the internet cafe
22

hours. Center 2 is in a large suburb of the city. This center began in 2001 in a
temporary location, with the El Puerto staff commuting there from the city center
carrying several laptop computers in order to offer language and computer classes.
Today, Center 2 has a permanent location and has become more established in the
community. The immigrants involved in Center 2 were always largely Moroccan and
Algerian; however, recent changes in the demographics of the city have resulted in a
growing group of Sub-Saharan African immigrants in attendance. Although I will
briefly discuss the mixing of North African and Sub-Saharan Africans at Center 2 in
chapter 6, the dynamics of this mixing are outside the main focus of this research;
however, it would be an interesting and fruitful area for future research. Center 3
recently opened in another suburb. This center recently began on a trial basis at the
invitation of a pastor who had met a group of North African immigrants interested in
services such as those offered by El Puerto. After the trial period, the response from
the local immigrant community was positive, and at the time of this writing, Center 3
has become a permanent part of El Puerto. Most of the immigrants attending classes
in Center 3 are Moroccan. This center has a large group of immigrant children
attending activities and events, similar to Center 2, while the adult class attendance is
smaller compared with the other two centers.
Methods
I began my research with approximately one month of participant-observation
in order to familiarize myself with the community. I worked with El Puerto as a
volunteer teaching Spanish classes four times a week to groups of ten to 20
immigrants at a time. I taught two women's Spanish classes in Centers 1 and 2
23

consistently throughout the summer, which gave me the opportunity to connect with
the women in those classes on a regular basis. By the end of the summer, I was also
leading classes at Center 3. In addition, I assisted El Puerto staff with other services
as needed. With other El Puerto volunteers, I planned several social and community
events on Friday and Saturday evenings, including internet cafe nights, music
performances, dinners, and game nights.
Along with these organized events, informal social interactions occurred daily
at the El Puerto centers before and after classes. Throughout this time I had many
opportunities to observe and interact with the immigrants who came to the El Puerto
centers for classes and events. Due to the fact that the El Puerto centers and staff are
well-known and trusted by the participants and because I already knew some of the
women from a previous summer spent working with El Puerto, I was able to establish
a sufficient level of rapport with individuals whom I could later interview before the
month of participant-observation was complete.
The daily structured and non-structured encounters with the immigrant
community at El Puerto provided an ideal setting for an opportunistic sampling of the
community in order to identify and recruit individuals for open-ended interviewing.
As I spent time with both men and women at the three different centers, our informal
conversations often led them to reflect on their experiences and their community. A
particularly salient aspect of El Puerto is the fact that most people there, including the
staff and volunteers, are "foreigners" in Spain. Therefore, conversations naturally lead
to discussing where one is from and to reflecting on life in Spain. The impact of the
transnational nature of El Puerto will be explored in greater detail later, but it is
24

important to note here that this was a significant factor contributing to my ability to
conduct very productive initial research.
In my first week or two at El Puerto, while observing another volunteer
teacher, I learned a useful teaching method which also became invaluable as a strategy
for forming my research. She asked the women in her class about various aspects of
their lives in Spain and as the women shared about work or shopping or a family
situation, she helped them with vocabulary and grammar. Not long after observing
this teacher, I was helping at Center 2 when I was asked to fill in last minute for that
evening's teacher. Since I had not prepared a lesson, I used the method I had observed
earlier. I began by asking the women to tell me about their lives, adjusting the
questions to the speakers' levels of ability. As they spoke about daily life, their past,
or their desires for the future, I was able to begin learning about life in Spain for the
North African women in my classes. This refined my research focus and enabled me
to form connections with the women as we openly discussed life from their point of
view.
Through these classes and conversations, I began to recruit research
participants for interviewing. As I shared about my life and studies with the women I
met, they often asked about my motivations for coming to Spain to help them. I tried
to be completely honest and told them that part of the reason I returned to work with
El Puerto was to conduct research. If the conversation continued, I briefly explained
the nature of my research and, if they expressed interest or if we already had a wellestablished relationship, I would ask if they were willing to participate. I explained
that I would like to interview them and that it would be recorded. Most of the women
25

I asked readily agreed to participate, so we arranged to meet at the time and location of
their choice. If an interpreter was needed, I also coordinated the meeting with the
interpreter's schedule.
I formally interviewed seven North African women and two members of the El
Puerto staff. Four of the women I interviewed had immigrated to Spain within three
years of the interview. The two youngest women I interviewed, ages 18 and 19, came
to Spain approximately eight years before the time of the interview. And one of the
women had lived in Spain for more than 15 years. All of the women came from
Morocco. Three of the women were married, three were single, and one was divorced.
The two staff members I interviewed both moved from countries in the Middle East
and had each lived in Spain for five or more years. Four of the seven interviews were
conducted using an English to Arabic interpreter. The three women who had lived in
Spain the longest were interviewed by me in Spanish without the need for an
interpreter. Throughout this thesis, all of their quotes have been translated to English,
either by an Arabic interpreter at the time of the interview, or by me if the interview
was conducted in Spanish. The two El Puerto staff members were interviewed in
English.
I interviewed the seven North African women with a semi-structured but openended interview guide (see Appendix A). The questions were written in both English
and Spanish, as was the consent form, and verbal translations were given to women
who primarily spoke Arabic. The women were chosen based on my relationship with
them and their willingness and ability to participate. This was not a random selection,
and these research findings do not represent the whole of the North African female
26

immigrant population in Spain. This small, qualitative study is meant to shed light on
the individual experiences of a few women which will contribute to a deeper
understanding of the variety of dreams, realities, and needs within this community.
Ethical Considerations
All participants were notified in the written consent form (which I also went
over with them verbally) that while I did not anticipate any threat to their dignity,
reputation, rights, and physical or psychological welfare, they might experience some
emotional discomfort. Some of my participants did cry while we spoke, and I tried to
be sensitive to their needs by assuring them that they were not required in any way to
answer questions that made them feel uncomfortable. I found that most of the women
I spoke with were very willing to share their experiences, including even the painful
ones. I believe this was primarily because they trusted me and also because they
wanted others to know about the difficulties they encountered as immigrants in Spain.
Beyond considering the welfare of the participants during the actual research, I
have taken the steps outlined below to protect the identity of my research subjects and
ensure confidentiality. First, I have used pseudonyms for all individuals mentioned in
my field notes and have altered minor details about their lives. While in Spain, I
recorded the interviews with a digital recorder. The recorder stayed in my possession,
and as soon as possible, after I returned home, I downloaded the interview onto my
computer. After that, I created a digital file which was saved onto a compact disc.
The CD was coded with a number and the original interview file was deleted. I
maintained pseudonyms and number codes in a password-protected Excel spreadsheet.

27

Finally, I have taken steps to protect the identity of the organization El Puerto
and of the individuals involved in serving and working there. The name of the
organization, El Puerto, is a pseudonym. I will also not mention the specific city
where they are located in Spain, although I can say it is in one of the major areas with
a large immigrant population. Each of these cities has its own unique characteristics
that should be considered in future studies for a more thorough understanding of the
specific situations in which the immigrants live, but that topic goes beyond the scope
of this thesis. Additionally, I have changed some of the basic details of the structure
of the organization. None of these changes compromise the clear rendering of how El
Puerto operates, but they do further aid in protecting the organization and its
individuals.
Data Collection and Analysis
As stated in the methods section and as consistent with ethnographic research
methods, the majority of my data was collected through participant-observation and
open-ended interviewing. Throughout my time of participant-observation, I recorded
field notes on paper while in the field and then transferred them to a Microsoft Word
document when I returned home each evening. In my notes, I identified individuals
with numbers and then converted those numbers to pseudonyms as I began to know
and recognize the women as regular participants.
An initial analysis of data began after a few weeks of participant-observation.
I reviewed my field notes, identified some of the themes that emerged from my
preliminary observations and conversations, and incorporated this information into the
open-ended interviews. These steps were taken to ensure that I identified events and
28

issues that were important to the immigrants from their own point of view. At the
same time, recognizing that each individual has her own unique perspective, I allowed
space in each interview for individuals to convey their distinct views on immigration
and life in Spain or to express feelings and thoughts that emerged during the course of
the interview.
In order to triangulate the data, each interview was initially analyzed for
significant or recurring themes and issues. This data was then compared and analyzed
in reference to the themes and patterns that emerged in the participant-observation
field notes. All the data was then organized according to the salient patterns and
themes that emerged. Attention was also given to significant immigrant experiences
falling outside of these patterns to ensure that the women were not categorized as one
homogenous community but were seen as individuals interacting in unique ways
within the El Puerto community.
Glick-Schiller (2005) has argued that "most transnational migration
researchers have tended to generalize their findings to the entire migrating population"
(53). I agree with her assessment and seek to be aware of this bias in my own
research. This thesis attempts to focus on individuals. I will examine ethnicity to the
extent that it influences each woman's process of identification with being part of the
North African community, but I will also focus on the "non-ethnic forms of settlement
and transnational connections" that are formed at El Puerto (53). While I will refer to
North African women in my research, I do not make the claim that my findings apply
to the entire population. I hope to instead bring to the forefront the individual women
and their experiences and to present El Puerto as a transnational community.
29

CHAPTER 3
SPAIN AND IMMIGRATION
In order to understand North African immigration in Spain, it is helpful to
explore Spain's history and particularly its interactions with North Africa and Islam.
The mixing of the North African Muslim world and the Christian Spanish world is
often seen as a modern phenomenon brought about by the recent immigration of North
Africans into Spain. However, their histories have been intertwined for more than a
thousand years, and these cultures and religions have greatly influenced each other
throughout that time. Their impact on each other has been debated but some recent
scholarship is focusing on the enduring significance of the historical interactions
between Spain and North Africa that still exist today. This impact is not only seen in
terms of architecture and language, but perhaps also in the social attitudes influencing
the merging of immigrants into society and affecting the formation of state policies
towards immigration.
Islamic Spain
In 711 AD, the Muslim (also known as Moorish) army crossed over from
Northern Africa and conquered the Visigoth Kingdom, gaining control over most of
the Iberian Peninsula. There are mixed ideas about what Muslim Spain was like, but it
is generally agreed that the first 300 years of Islamic rule on the peninsula were
successful and society flourished. After a short time of success, the Muslim
30

government began a slow decline. By the 11th century, the Caliphate, or Muslim-led
government, was severely weakened by factional strife. During this time, there
remained a few Christian strongholds in the north of Spain, and as the Muslim
government weakened, the Christians in the North gradually unified and began to reconquer the peninsula (Pavlovic and Hanks 2006). However, even as Islamic rule
began to deteriorate in later years, cultural production such as art, architecture, and
science continued to prosper (Nelson 1979).
Spain After the Re-conquest
By 1492, the re-conquest officially ended with the taking of Granada and the
establishment of the Kingdom of Spain following a marriage uniting the Kingdoms of
Castile and Aragon (British Broadcasting Corporation 2009). Spain quickly emerged
as one of the most substantial colonial powers, gaining territories in the Americas,
throughout Europe, and in parts of North Africa. However, just as quickly as it rose
to power, Spain began its decline losing most of its territories through a series of wars
with Europe and with its colonies. Nevertheless, Spain maintained some colonial
involvement in North Africa. Even today, the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melia
are officially part of the Kingdom of Spain while being physically located in Morocco.
In the 1978 constitution, both territories were declared official provinces and given
representation in the Spanish Parliament. However, "despite their incorporation into
Spain's political system, Morocco continues to claim sovereignty over both areas, and
this represents a simmering source of tension between the two neighbors" (Pavlovic
and Hanks 2006:63). Most of the residents of these cities are Muslim and do not
speak Spanish as their first language.
31

Civil War and Franco's Spain

In 1931, Spain established its second republic. However, Spain's society had
become increasingly divided and unstable. "By the 1930s, the country was ripe for
civil war" (Pavlovic and Hanks 2006:41). In 1936, General Francisco Franco led a
revolt against the Spanish government. After three years of devastating civil war,
Franco quickly established himself as dictator and would remain in power until his
death in 1975. Spain's economy stabilized under Franco, but its society suffered
greatly. Franco cut Spain off from the rest of the world, silencing voices of dissent
and forcefully subduing Spain's ethnic minorities. Additionally, many Spanish
citizens in the years of discontent prior to civil war and during the Franco regime
moved to other countries, including North Africa (Perez 2003).
The New Spain and the European Union
Following Franco's death, King Juan Carlos I brought about many social,
political, and economic reforms. "By 1986, the Spanish economy had improved to
such an extent that Spain was allowed to join the European Economic Community
(EEC), the forerunner to today's European Union (EU)" (Pavlovic and Hanks
2006:43). Politically, however, modern Spain is still divided in many ways. There are
three major languages spoken in Spain today besides Castilian Spanish, and these
languages represent powerful ethnic groups struggling for various degrees of
autonomy, in part, as a reaction to the discrimination they experienced under Franco.
Additionally, there are less politically powerful minority groups, such as the Gypsies,
adding to the diversity within Spanish society. Despite these internal divisions, in the

32

past two or three decades the government of Spain has worked unify the nation in
response to increased foreign immigration.
Immigration Policies in Contemporary Spain
Spain is considered a new country of immigration despite its history of crosscultural interaction. "Immigration became part of the Spanish government's agenda in
1985," and in the 1990s it became one of the major political concerns of the country
(Perez 2003). Before Spain joined the European Community it did not have any
official policies regulating immigration. Since joining the European Community,
Spain has been slow to develop effective policies for limiting immigration. Due to its
weak policies and its geographical location near North Africa, Spain has often been
seen as Europe's back door, with immigrants from all of Africa gaining entrance to
Europe through Spain. Additionally, Ceuta and Melilla, Spain's territories in North
Africa, have been major transit points for illegal migrants from all over Africa. "The
Spanish zone delimits the boundary between those nations that are members of the
European community and those north and sub-Saharan African nations that are not"
(Crain 1999:24). As a major entry point for immigration to Europe, Spain plays a key
role in the European Union with regards to immigration.
Legislation
In 1985, with pressure from the rest of the European Community (EC) and in
the shadow of Spain's official entrance into the EC, Spain passed its first legislation
on immigration. The Ley de Extranjeria, or the Law on the Rights and Freedoms of
Foreigners in Spain, was designed to deal with immigration as a temporary
phenomenon. "Immigrants were broadly conceptualized, first and foremost, as
33

workers who required regulation by the Ministry of Labor" (Perez 2003). In 1996, an
amendment to the law focused on immigrants' rights and filled in several details
which had not been addressed in the narrow 1985 law:
These rights included access to education, equality, legal counsel, and an
interpreter when dealing with authorities. It strengthened the power of the
regional governments to protect the rights of immigrant minors and formally
established a quota system for temporary workers. Finally, the amendment
established a permanent resident category and formally included family
reunification within its framework. [Perez 2003]
In 2000 and 2001, Spain's legislation on immigration shifted focus from
viewing immigration as a temporary issue to be controlled to accepting it as a
permanent element to be regulated. Specifically, these laws focused on the integration
of immigrants into Spanish society. In 2001, the Plan Greco was passed. This
multiyear initiative continued Spain's efforts at integration and attempted to align
Spain's policies with the broader policies of the European Union (Perez 2003).
Regularizations
Spain has had a series of regularization programs. These are similar to the
amnesty programs that are offered at times in the United States, which offer illegal
immigrants a path to legalization within the country if they fulfill certain requirements.
The first regularization program in Spain was offered in 1986, shortly after the first
immigration law was enacted. "The harsh policies introduced under the 1985 law left
large numbers of immigrants without the proper documentation to reside and work in
Spain" (Perez 2003). The 1986 regularization program was meant to correct some of
the problems created by the quick enactment of the law; however, in light of the harsh
legislation, most immigrants in Spain did not trust the government. As a result few
34

applied, and only half, about 23 thousand, immigrants were legalized. The 1991
regularization saw a much greater number of applicants granted legal status but was
still considered unsuccessful, since more than half of those approved fell back into
illegal status within three years (Perez 2003). "Additional regularization programs
have taken place in 1996, 2000, and 2001 to compensate for ineffective and restrictive
admissions policies" (Perez 2003).
According to a 2007 report by the Council of Europe on regularization
programs, Spain's most recent regularization program, enacted in 2005, granted legal
status to more than 570 thousand immigrants (Greenway 2007). This program is not
without criticism, since there is currently no unified European position on the use and
effectiveness of regularization programs; however, it has been more widely accepted
than regularizations of the past, especially by the European community. One reason is
that the program was tied to employment. Employers were required to petition on
behalf of the immigrant, proving that the immigrant had a guaranteed work contract
for at least six months. If approved, the immigrant would receive a one-year work
permit with the opportunity to apply for a two-year permit and eventually a more
permanent status if all requirements were met (Greenway 2007).
One interesting aspect of European immigration that surfaced through reading
the 2007 report was the attitude toward African immigration versus immigration from
other nations:
It should in this context be noted that of those regularised, over 33% worked in
domestic service, in part explaining the high level of public support for the
programme as many families had the possibility of regularising their situation
both as employers and employees. It should also be pointed out that the
majority of irregular migrants came from South American countries with
35

whom Spanish citizens share a common language and traditional affinity. The
next largest group of persons came from central and eastern Europe, with only
a relatively small group coming from sub-Saharan Africa. The picture of Spain
regularising large number of highly visible boat people from Africa may be the
image in the minds of Spain's European neighbours, but it is not the reality of
the situation in Spain. [Greenway 2007:11 emphasis added]
It is revealing that the presenter of this report felt the need to ensure other members of
the Council of Europe that Spain had a large group of immigrants from South America
and was not just opening its doors to African immigrants. The implication seems to be
that North African immigrants are somehow less desirable from a European
perspective. Yet in spite of this assurance, thirteen percent of the applicants approved
in the 2005 regularization were from Morocco (Arango 2005).

36

CHAPTER4
THE DREAM: A BETTER FUTURE
North Africans moving to Spain are classified as "economic immigrants." The
International Organization for Migration (IOM), an inter-governmental organization
working on migration research, policy, and assistance, provides this description on
their website: "an 'economic immigrant' is a person leaving his or her habitual place
of residence to settle outside his or her country of origin in order to improve his or her
quality of life" (2009). While it is accurate to say that North African women
immigrate to Spain for a better life and future, the term it implies a selfishness that is
not present in the motives of the North African immigrants represented in this
research. They are seeking security and opportunities for themselves and for their
families that are not available to them in their home countries. Additionally, North
African women's immigration is embedded in gender hierarchies and their choice to
immigrate is attached, in some way, to a decision to immigrate made by their male
family members. Through exploring their individual experiences we can see common
themes in the women's motives for pursuing life in Spain which they all share. In this
chapter I will highlight these similarities and will explore how the desire for security,
more than merely improving their economic situation, is at the heart of their dreams of
life in Spain.

37

Motivation
Just Coming to Visit
All of the women I interviewed, without exception, said they never dreamed of
or planned to immigrate to Spain. Most were interested in visiting Europe, but they
did not plan to move permanently. They each expressed contentment with the life
they left in Morocco and their memories were basically positive. Fatima, a young
married woman at Center 2 who had lived in Spain for almost two years, stated, "I had
gold in Morocco; I had everything I needed. My life was fine" (Taped interview
06/18/06). Amina and Zohra, sisters involved at Center 1, also shared that they were
content with their lives in Morocco. Amina owned and ran an internet cafe with her
husband before coming to Spain four months earlier; and Zohra, who had lived in
Spain for several years with her husband and three children, previously worked in an
office in Morocco. Zohra states, "I was working as an administrator in a company,
and my husband worked in an electrical company . . . so we really both had good jobs
but we wanted to change our life for the better" (Taped interview 07/14/06). When I
asked about her life in Morocco, Hannah said, "I did not have at all an idea to
immigrate. I was living with my family and I was happy . . . I had my plans for my
life in Morocco" (Taped interview 07/15/06). She came alone more than a year before
I met her planning to spend just a few months visiting her brothers who were working
in Spain. Hannah's real desire was to visit France even more than Spain because of
the pictures she had seen in the fashion magazines she read growing up in Morocco.
Prior to conducting any interviews, most of the women at El Puerto shared that
they were comfortable and content living in Morocco or Algeria before immigrating. I
38

began to wonder why so many North Africans came to Spain and stayed. Amina and
Zohra both presented their stories of staying and living in Spain as impulsive decisions
or as afterthoughts. Zohra came first. Her father had been living in Spain about 15
years since he left their home to look for work. Zohra says that she and her husband
"didn't plan it much. We just came for a visit and then decided to stay" (Taped
interview 07/14/06). Amina and her husband travelled to Spain a few years later "for
a short visit" with her parents and sister. She says, "After twenty days here,
everything was beautiful and wonderful." She and her husband returned to Morocco
and decided, "That's it; we're going to leave our lives in Morocco and come here to
work" (Taped interview 07/08/06).
Although Fatima thought about visiting her sister in Spain, she did not think
about immigrating until she met a young man in Morocco and they decided to marry.
He wanted to move to Spain for a better paying job with an electrical company. After
they were married, she followed him to Spain. For Fatima, love and life's
circumstances were her catalyst for moving to and remaining in Spain. Latifa, the
oldest woman I interviewed at age 39, also moved to Spain because of her marriage to
a Spanish man who, at the time of their engagement, was living in Morocco.
Hannah planned to visit her father and older brothers who were working in
Spain. She tried to get a short-term tourist visa, but it was denied. In order to
facilitate her visit and to satisfy the legal requirements, her brothers began looking for
a temporary work contract for her. At the time she thought, "Even if they find me
work, I could work just maybe for a month so I can get money and buy nice things and
then come back". However, the process of getting temporary work was more complex
39

than Hannah realized, and once she came and started working, she felt obligated to
stay. "I always remember how much my brother went throughso many things he
had to do for me to have the contractand I said, I'm grateful for that. So I decided
to stay and just try" (Taped interview 07/15/06).
Leila and Nora both came to Spain when they were still children. Neither had the
opportunity to express their desire to move or to stay. When Leila, age 18, was very
young, her fathers left Morocco to find better paying work in Spain. He typically
returned each summer for a month to visit his family, sending money and gifts
throughout the year while they were apart. After about a decade of living apart, he
brought his wife and children to Spain to join him. Speaking of her move Leila said,
"My dad, since he came just one month each year, that isn't enough to be with a
father. So my father thought we should come all together to be with him" (Taped
interview 07/20/06). Leila and her siblings moved with her mother to join her father
in Spain when she was about eleven years old. Nora's story parallels Leila's in every
way except one. When she was ten, Nora's mother left her and her siblings with
relatives and went ahead of the children to join her husband in Spain. One or two
years later, after the children's legal paperwork was arranged, they were reunited. At
the time of our interview, Nora was 19 years old.
Gender Issues
Although each of the women I interviewed had different specific
circumstances propelling her immigration, it is interesting to note that one common
thread connecting each of their stories is the association of their immigration to a man,
either a husband, father, or brother. Salih (2003) states that "Both migration and
40

transnationalism are gendered processes . . . the conditions for moving transnationally

are not always available to women, or are limited or framed within a set of normative
and cultural gendered rules" both in their country of migration and in their country of
origin (27). Although issues surrounding women and migration are not homogenous,
women do experience common forms of discrimination and are similarly limited in
their social and political access to power and mobility because they are women.
On the other hand, women are not "passive followers of their husbands" with
no agency of their own (Salih 2003:37). Those I interviewed, except for the two who
were young children when they moved, were not without some power to decide their
future. They each made a decision to immigrate in association with, but independent
from, the men in their lives. For example, Fatima was not forced to marry her
husband and could have chosen someone else after she and her parents learned that he
planned to move to Spain. Many of the other women lived in Morocco for years
before they chose to join their husbands, fathers, or brothers. Additionally, some
statistics point to a growing number of North African women immigrating
independent of men in parts of Spain (Hassan 2009; Winkler 2005). One young
woman, Farah, who I met at Center 1, came as a single woman and had lived in Spain
four years without family in order to work and send money home to her parents. It is
clear that although, in international migration, women are seen as dependent on men,
they are able to "challenge and defy these dominant representations by, in some cases,
migrating alone or refusing to comply with dominant representations" (Salih 2003:11).

41

A Better Future
A pattern emerged as I evaluated the women's interview responses and spoke
with other women in classes. Zohra's quote from the beginning of the previous
section points to the overarching reason the women I met came to Spain. She said,
"We wanted to change our life for the better" (Taped interview 07/14/06). Each of the
women I interviewed, and most of the women I spoke with through classes and events
at El Puerto, expressed this same motivation. They came with a desire to improve the
quality of their lives. They imagined a better future in Spain. Later in her interview,
Zohra summarized the elements of a better life in Spain stating, "It's cleaner here.
Health care is better here. And education for the children" (Taped interview
07/14/06). Most of the women mentioned those specific advantages of life in Spain in
addition to the availability of better paying jobs.
Infrastructure and Health Care
When asked about why she came to Spain, Amina said, "Here the positive
things, for example, here the organization is better and, for example, transportation,
and the clean houses and clean streets and shops. All these are good things, positive
things which make life easier" (Taped interview 07/08/06). Leila, one of the younger
girls who spent her teenage years in Spain, expressed the same ideas. When I asked
Leila what she liked the most about Spain and what she liked the most about Morocco,
she referred, without being more specific, to the "political situation." She then went
on to discuss the medical system saying, "In Morocco we want to live well. But if you
go, for example, to a hospital you will find they say 'you have to wait more' or 'fill
out these p a p e r s ' . . . if someone is very i l l . . . Here it's the opposite. If someone is
42

really ill, well, they understand what to do" (Taped interview 07/20/06). I believe
Leila and many other young North Africans living in Spain have heard their parents
and others from the North African community express these ideas about the medical
system and have internalized these thoughts as their own. As a young girl of ten or 11
when she left Morocco, she would not have had the opportunity to observe and
evaluate the political and medical situation there. However, these are the common
themes that can be heard in almost any circle of North Africans in Spain.
Fatima also mentioned health care and societal organization as reasons why
Spain is appealing. Then she went on to comment about the insecurity that exists due
to government corruption. Most North Africans in Spain, in my experience and
according to staff at El Puerto, avoid talking directly about negative aspects of their
home government. It is implied when they mention "a better health care system" or
"more opportunity" or "the organization in Spain," but it is rarely stated explicitly.
However, Fatima was rare in her open criticism of Morocco. She questioned, "Why
do the people like to live here even though it's more expensive? Because even though
the prices are higher and maybe they don't make quite as much, but the thing about
here is there's a good law" (Taped interview 06/18/06). Fatima continued, sharing
that she and her father were asked to bribe the government official in Morocco who
was issuing her passport and visa to come to Spain. Her father, a devout Muslim and
man of strong moral courage, refused to pay the bribe and eventually helped her obtain
the passport legally. Fatima said, "Here you go to the government office and maybe
take a ticket for your turn and they serve you. In Morocco they go, 'Oh, come back
tomorrow.' You might be really busy; they don't care. Or you can pay them in order
43

to get your turn" (Taped interview 06/18/06). She noted that this is one of the reasons
that even wealthy people in Morocco move to Spain.
Job Opportunities for Now and the Future
Along with a more stable infrastructure and a less corrupt government, the
women I met immigrated to Spain for the security of consistent employment, either for
themselves or because the men in their lives were seeking job opportunities. Leila
shared that her dad moved when she was just a young girl because "in Morocco there
isn't good work. Even though he worked he couldn't earn enough" (Taped interview
07/20/06). Wendy, one of the El Puerto staff originally from the United Kingdom,
explained that many North Africans are motivated to immigrate because the
employment they find in Spain benefits not only the immigrant and their immediate
family, but also their extended family back home. "If they're sending home 50 Euros
a month, it's a lot of Moroccan currency . . . No matter if they're illegal or what kind
of work it is, they're still achieving and still sending money back" (Taped Interview
07/23/06).
Fatima's husband also moved to Spain because he could not earn enough in
Morocco. She observed the lack of job opportunities in Morocco even for those with
an education and proper training:
In Morocco, even if you've gotten a high degree, for example, I know someone
who trained to be a judge, but they're sitting at home because they can't get a
job . . . there are people that live in France and their children study to be a
pharmacist and later they get a position as a pharmacist. Even Moroccans can
study to be a doctor and they can find a job. [Taped interview 06/18/06]
Her perception was that living in Europe would not only offer higher pay but also
more employment opportunities and rewards for hard work.
44

For many of the women, the dreams of education and employment in Europe
extend to the next generation. Their hope is that life will be better and more secure for
their children, or future children, and full of opportunities not available to most in
Morocco. Zohra shared:
When I was back home, I saw that people who are very wealthy, well-off, their
children, after they've reached to the University, they send them to Europe to
finish the University. Living there [in Morocco], I would neverjust working
as a normal, average classI would never be able to do that for my children.
So I decided to sacrifice and to come here so the children would have this
opportunity just to be here. [Taped interview 07/14/06]
Zohra sacrificed her own reasonable comfort in Morocco to give her children the
chance at a European education, something available only to the very wealthy in North
Africa.
Security
The common thread that weaves through each aspect of these dreams about a
better life in Spain is a desire for security. This security is more than financial. The
women I spoke with had homes, jobs, and their basic needs met before immigrating.
In fact, as the next section will show, many of the women felt they gave up a lot to
come to Spain. Omar, the head of El Puerto, shared from his experience of serving
North African immigrants in Spain for almost 20 years that most of them are not
coming for financial gain. "It's a very costly trip," says Omar, explaining that the
entire family actually invests a great deal financially to send one or two family
members to Spain. He estimates that it takes about 30 months worth of a typical
salary in Morocco to send one immigrant to Spain. According to Omar, "People come
because they say, 'We don't see any f u t u r e ' . . . The corruption and the status quo for
45

many, many years in North Africa makes people think there will not be any
opportunity in the future . . . So they're trying to run away from this vagueness"
(Taped Interview 07/24/06). These women came seeking a better future which, for
them, means one where they and their families are secure. This security includes the
overall structure of society: a government that provides stability and opportunity,
assurance that health and social needs will be met, the possibility of a better job and
pay, and the hope and belief that, in Europe, the next generation of their family will be
able to fully realize this dream of a better future.

46

CHAPTER 5
THE REALITY: TOTALLY DIFFERENT
Regret
"The only advice I would give to any immigrants is to really rethink many
times before making the decision to come . . . I feel that I made the wrong decision
now. Maybe in the future our lives will be better, but at the moment I regret it"
(Taped interview 07/14/06). This is what Zohra shared when I asked if she had
anything else she would like to say at the end of our interview. Omar, director of El
Puerto, stated that feelings of regret are universal among North African immigrants.
"One thing that's common, young or old, is that they did not expect that life would be
like this here. It is surprising how tough things are. All of them agree on this" (Taped
interview 07/24/06). As Gupta and Ferguson (1992) have noted, "Important tensions
may arise when places that have been imagined from a distance must become lived
spaces" (11). However, it is in the tension between their dreams and realities that
identity can be seen as an object of reflection.
In his ethnography, Linger (2001) observed the unique responses of individual
Japanese-Brazilians to various aspects of life in Japan. He argued that "In these
instances, one's heightened sense of dislocation arouses reflective consciousness" or a
reworking of one's sense of self (14). The North African Muslim women I met
encountered aspects of life in Spain that emphasized their foreignness, caused them to
47

feel entirely "other," and encouraged a greater self-reflection. It is also important to

be aware that my questions to them and our encounter, and also their interactions and
conversations with other foreigners in Spain at El Puerto classes and events, might
have initiated a more conscious process of self-reflection. As the North African
women I spoke with reflected on the challenges they faced living in Spain, such as
time pressures, especially from work, feelings of isolation, and their struggle to
practice Islam, they expressed intense regret, and sometimes despair. In this chapter, I
will show how at the intersection of their dreams and realities, the women are in the
process of negotiating and reformulating their identities as women, as foreigners, and
as Muslims in Spain.
Unprepared
One factor making reality especially harsh for North African immigrants in
Europe is the fact that most immigrants come totally unprepared for what they will
experience. This is due, in a large part, to the impression of life in Spain given to
North Africans by immigrants who return each summer for a visit. Almost without
exception, North African immigrants who are in Spain legally return home during the
month of August to visit family. They return with gifts for their family and other
material possessions that display their success in Spain. As discussed previously, their
entire family may have sacrificed a great deal to send them to Spain, so there is a
pressure to hide their burdens and the negative elements of life in Spain. Zohra shared
that immigrants visiting for the summer "go back usually with cars, wearing nice
clothes, so they give that impression . . . They don't say the truth" (Taped interview
07/14/06). Similarly, Fatima explained that potential immigrants are attracted by the
48

new cars and gifts without understanding the challenges they will face. "They see him
and they say, 'Wow, he's doing well. I want to go too.' They didn't understand how
hard he had to work to get that car . . . They don't know that he may even have bought
some of that stuff on c r e d i t . . . They have this desire to just go" (Taped interview
06/18/06). As the women shared their great regret in immigrating, they emphasized
that they never expected the challenges they have faced living in Spain. Even those
who said they knew it would be difficult did not expect it would be so difficult.
Isolation
A strong national ideology in the host society is another major factor
contributing to the harsh reality experienced by North African women in Spain. As
Jenkins (2002) notes, it does not matter if a national or ethnic identity is fundamental
and natural but that "people, in many situations, fervently believe this to be so and
behave accordingly" (127). North Africans in Spain are considered foreigners. Even
those who have lived in Spain for ten or twenty years are still not able to attain
citizenship and are considered extranjeros (foreigners) by the government and by
Spanish society. This experience of being a foreigner is strongly felt in the everyday
lives of North African women as they experience discrimination leading to feelings of
isolation and loneliness. Faced with these external labels, immigrants must decide
how they will identify themselves. Most of them have claimed the label of foreigner
and cling to their identity as Moroccan or Algerian with no desire to become Spanish.
Yet as transnational migrants, the reality of their life is that they are caught between
these two "homes." While maintaining their national identity may provide some sense
of connection, "The dual belonging allowed by transnationalism is also the cause of a
49

sense of rupture and discontinuity for women" leading "to deeper anxieties on where
home is and where one is supposed to build a future" (78-79).
Hannah shared about the isolation she felt after coming to Spain. She said one
of the most difficult things she had to accept about living in Spain was taking care of
herself. Even though her brothers provided for of her basic needs, she had difficulty
getting around and meeting people due to the language gap and because of the
discrimination she felt. "I felt insecure because I was alone . . . I was really feeling
lonely, and everywhere I went I felt like such as a foreigner." Whenever Hannah met
other Moroccan women in Spain she felt momentarily comforted, but her experience
as a foreigner created a "sense of rupture" so that she felt as if she had nowhere to
belong. "I lost all ideas of going back to make a project in Morocco . . . I can't go
back and I'm not really happy here . . . I feel stuck. So I'm just living but I don't
know where I am going" (Taped interview 07/15/06).
Work
In Morocco, Amina ran a cafe and locutorio (coffee shop and internet cafe)
with her husband. In Spain, she worked 8 to 9 hours each day at a factory assembling
electronics. On top of the hours of work, she spent several hours on the train traveling
to the factory which was located outside of town. She estimated that she spent up to
thirteen hours away from home each work day. In addition, the work itself was
difficult. She had to work quickly assembling small electronic pieces in order to reach
the day's quota leaving her hands in pain. Her sister Zohra, who worked in the same
company, said that in Morocco she was able to rest and relax more with her family,
but "Aqui, a trabajar, a trabajar...

El tiempo corre y hay que trabajar " (Here, you

50

have to work, you have to work . . . Time runs by and you have to work) (Field notes
06/14/09).
In interviews, and especially in classroom conversations about daily life,
women at El Puerto consistently conveyed that the stress of work was one of the major
reasons they felt such regret about coming to Spain. They did not realize that the type
of work available to them in Spain would be so difficult and time-consuming. Much
of the work offered to North African women, particularly those who choose to wear a
Muslim head-covering, is physically challenging. Several of the women worked on
assembly lines in factories. Others worked cleaning homes or sewing clothes for a
large company. One of the women I met spent 8 hours a day bent over a sink washing
dishes at a restaurant, and another worked repairing roads. More than one of the
women, essentially those without legal papers, worked cleaning up construction sites.
On top of the pressure and stress of long, difficult work hours, many of the
women experienced emotional burdens from work since they were often in positions
with low social status. It is this element that contributes the most to a shift in their
identity. There is a dissonance between the way the women saw themselves in
Morocco and their experience in Spain of being subjectified as foreigners and lowerclass citizens (or non-citizens). In response, North African women must reposition
themselves or refigure their sense of identity. Zohra shared, "It's very hard for me to
be working in an office [in Morocco], and now I have to do manual hand work. It's
very, very difficult. It's very hard for me." She later told me how this step down in
her work situation has greatly affected her emotions. "I don't feel happy here. I feel
inferior. When I was in Morocco . . . I had my position in society. Hereit's not the
51

fault of anybody; nobody is treating me badbut I don't feel as well; my selfperception, that's the hard thing here" (Taped interview 07/14/06).
Hannah was also working in an office situation in Morocco, but in her time in
Spain she had worked as a nanny, a housekeeper, in a print shop, and on a factory
assembly line. She felt that working in these positions of low social standing caused
her to lose her passion and creativity. Hannah was perhaps the most self-reflective
woman I met. She had thought a lot about how her experiences in Spain had affected
her identity and her idea of who she was as an individual. She said, "Before, when I
was back in Morocco . . . it was easy to receive and be creative. But from my hard
experiences, I became less emotional... I'm changed. I'm not as relaxed as I used to
be" (Taped interview 07/15/06). She once dreamed of being a writer but felt that she
had changed so much, lost so much of her creativity and passion, that her dream
became impossible.
Uneven Responses
At the same time, each woman's internalization of work experiences and other
difficulties in Spain were unique. Fatima often surprised me as I came to know her
better. During our interview, she shared that working in Spain was something positive
in her life despite the challenges. "If I was in Morocco, I would just be doing
something like working in the house. I wouldn't be learning something like sewing . .
. I wouldn't have had the same opportunity, but now, even though I'm not rich, I still
have a lot of opportunity . . . It's better for me here" (Taped interview 06/18/06).
Where others felt stress and regret, Fatima saw opportunity. This was in stark contrast
to my conversations and experiences with, Hadija, another young woman involved at
52

Center 2. One evening she asked about my research. I explained that I wanted to
learn about immigrants' experiences of life in Spain. She told me, "My life is the
same as anyone else's life here . . . I work, I don't like anything in Spain, and I want to
go back" (Field notes 06/29/06). Hadija mentioned more than once her
disappointment with life in Spain and her desire to return to her home in Algeria.
In my field notes I reflected that Fatima and Hadija, from an outside
perspective, seemed very similar. They were about the same age, married without
kids, had lived in Spain for about the same amount of time, and seemed to have had
similar experiences with learning the language and working. Both also spoke fondly
of their families and, in particular, with great admiration about their fathers who had
given them a great deal of support. Yet their responses to the realities they have
experienced as immigrants in Spain were vastly different.
Pessar and Mahler (2003) suggest two internal dimensions affecting a
woman's response to the challenges of immigration and the limited agency she
experiences:
First, we view agency as affected not only by extra-personal factors but also by
quintessentially individual characteristics such as initiative. Thus, two people
may hail from equally (dis)advantageous social locations but oneowing to
her own resourcefulnesswill exert more influence than the other. And second
. . . the imagination... Much of what people actually do transnationally is
foregrounded by imaging, planning and strategizing. [Pessar and Mahler
2003:817]
These ideas merit consideration, not only for how a woman is able to overcome
limitations in access to power but for how she responds to all of the difficult realities
she must face as an immigrant. Perhaps Fatima, who had a lot of initiative, was more
able to see challenges as opportunities. Maybe she expected life in Spain to be foil
53

and exciting and that caused her to see harsh realities in a better light. She might have
imagined a difficult life and therefore better prepared herself to cope with what she
encountered. However, exploring those dynamics goes beyond the limitations of this
research. My goal here is not to understand fully why Fatima and Hadija had such a
different response to life in Spain but just to note that each woman goes through a
unique process of reflection and self-understanding in the gap between the life she
imagined and the life she is living.
North African: The Muslim Other
Although Europe is secular, it is embedded in a Christian history that still
shapes many aspects of life and politics today. Zolberg and Woon (1999) have noted,
"Despite Europe's sociological secularizationindicated by low rates of religious
practiceall European countries retain Christianity as a major component of their
identity," which then influences how they react to another major religion entering the
country in mass (19). Public events associated with the presence of Muslims in
Europe, such as Turkey's bid to join the EU, the headscarf affair in France, and the
2004 Madrid train bombing by Muslim terrorists, seem to threaten national and
European unity and identity. These cases are well covered in international media
often with polarizing results. "In different ways, these public debates contributed to
the problematization of the bond between European and Muslim identities" (Gole
2006:13). According to Auslander (2000), "The last decades in Europe have seen an
escalation of tension, conflict, and violence articulated in religious terms . . . religious
differences have been cited as the reason for the wearing and the tearing of the social

54

fabric, as well as for the increasing fragility of citizens' belief in national solidarity"
(283).
In Spain as well as other European countries today, it seems that religious and
national identities are fusing, and the boundaries of each of these identities are not
clear. "Religious" conflict between the Christian West and the Muslim world is cited
as a reason for a weakening of "national" solidarity. Given today's political
environment, the situation of Muslims immigrating to the West causes both national
and religious identities to become objects of reflection. In Spain, immigrants from
North Africa are not just immigrants; they are Muslim immigrants. Both in Spanish
society and within the North African immigrant community, there exists a powerful
"North African equals Muslim" narrative. As Spanish society emphasizes the
religious identity of North African immigrants, the immigrants themselves must come
face to face with their identity as Muslims.
El Puerto's director, Omar, explained that for Spanish people, North African
immigrants "are not individuals. They represent something bigger. People say, 'You
are Muslim and you represent all that the Muslim has done in different places.'" He
went on to point out the discrimination many North Africans encounter in Spain due to
their religious identity. "They are stereotyping North Africans. For example, if you
say 'Moro,' what comes to mind? They will say, 'lazy, thief, sexist,' and so on,
violent things like that" (Taped interview 07/24/06). He used the word, Moro, or
Moor, which historically was the term used for the Muslims who invaded the Iberian
Peninsula and ruled for almost eight hundred years. Today, the term is often used in a
derogatory sense to refer to North African immigrants in Spain.
55

According to Van der Veer (2001), "Migrant communities tend to become

conservative in religious and social matters. They would do so to retain an identity
under the pressures of assimilation" (9). It is the "perceived breakdown of boundaries,
a loss of identity" that contributes to reinforcing a religious identity (Gole 2006:12).
In our interview, Omar argued that this merging of national and religious identities is
confusing and challenging for North African immigrants:
They never thought they would be in this place. They never thought they
would be attached to what someone like Bin Laden has done . . . people keep
saying to them, 'you and us,' and they are trying to find 'who are we?' and
'what do we belong to?' And the only thing they find is Islam. So in a sense,
with their need to belong, the only thing open for them is Islam. [Taped
interview 7/24/06]
Although Europe has a Christian history, in practice it is very secular. So, for
Muslim immigrants in Europe seeking to strengthen their religious identity, "The issue
of conduct has gained ever greater importance" (Jonker 2000:318, emphasis added).
In Spain, for example, women dress quite provocatively, public displays of affection
are the norm, drugs and alcohol are common, and the pursuit of pleasure above all else
appears to be a societal standard. Obviously there are many exceptions, but those are
the assumptions one might make about urban Spanish society after just one ride on
public transportation on a weekend night. If a Muslim woman desires to strictly
practice her religion, she must behave in a way that seems the opposite of Spanish
society, causing her to feel that Islam is incompatible with European life. Because a
Muslim identity is intimately connected to a Moroccan identity, especially in Spain, it
is almost as if for a North African woman to accept a Spanish identity, in any way, she
would have to accept Spanish morals and therefore compromise her Muslim identity.
56

And since Islam, for the women I knew at El Puerto, was such a matter of the heart,
accepting a Spanish identity would be too great a compromise.
The Veil
One of the most obvious ways women in Spain maintain their Islamic identity
is to wear the hijab, or panuelo (scarf in Arabic and Spanish). The North African
head-covering is a scarf that is wrapped around the head and neck, framing a woman's
face and concealing all of her hair. Although it does not cover the face, Englishspeakers use the word "veil" for hijab. Before discussing the significance of wearing
the veil, I want to acknowledge an issue raised by Abu-Lughod (2002) about the
tendency in the West to regard the veil as a symbol that defines and limits a Muslim
woman instead of seeing it as part of her practice of faith:
First, we need to work against the reductive interpretation of veiling as the
quintessential sign of women's unfreedom, even if we object to state
imposition of this form, as in Iran or with the Taliban... Second, we must
take care not to reduce the diverse situations and attitudes of millions of
Muslim women to a single item of clothing. [Abu-Lughod 2002:786]
I would like to emphasize that the North African Muslim women I met made a choice
to wear the veil as an expression of their devotion to God. However, their choice to
wear the veil is also intimately linked with the socio-political situation in which they
are living and is tied to their desire to make it clear that they are identifying with
something other than Spanish culture.
The hijab is a visible symbol of "otherness" in Spain and wearing the veil
often makes finding work more difficult and increases discrimination. Amina said,
"Sometimes I go out into the neighborhood and I just see in the eyes of the people next
to me, and you know, the veil, the way they look at me, I know that they don't accept
57

me" (Taped interview 07/08/06). Yet, at least half of the women I spoke with began
wearing the veil after moving to Spain. When I asked the women why they wore the
hijab, they all said that it was their choice as a symbol of their devotion to God.
Although Fatima admitted that part of her motivation for wearing the veil after moving
to Spain was seeing other women wearing the veil. "I saw the people in my family
that were here and my friends and everyone was wearing it, so I wore it" (Taped
interview 06/18/06).
It is significant that although a majority of the women emphasized that a
committed heart was the most important part of their faith, they were willing to let go
of some of their other religious customs. In Spain, Amina was no longer able to fulfill
all of her religious obligations, such as praying five times a day or regularly attending
a local mosque, due to her work schedule. She said this happened, "not because my
heart is changing but because of circumstances . . . in my heart I am still very faithful."
Yet, she would not allow work or any other experience in Spain to interfere with
wearing the hijab. "If they give me a wonderful job with lots of money, for this I
would not do it [remove the veil]" (Taped interview 07/08/06).
There is a tendency in the west to focus on the veil as a symbol of oppression
or to perceive it as a woman's unwillingness to assimilate to western culture (Ozyurt
2009; Salih 2003). Nevertheless, Salih (2003) notes that for many of the Muslim
women she knew in Italy, the encounter with these limiting representations of their
religious identity through immigration has been the catalyst for the increased emphasis
on the veil as the primary expression of their commitment to Islam. "The hijab is
significantly a central topic among Muslim migrant women. This is due to the fact
58

that migrant women's representations of themselves and their choices are also deeply
informed by the ways they feel they are perceived and represented by Italians" (107).
For the women in this research the veil, more than any other religious practice,
allowed them to assert their Muslim identity in response to the secular practices of
Spain and the stereotypes Spanish society placed on them. Wearing the veil was a
response to "their need to make this difference and identity visible" (115).
Different Perspectives on National and Religious Identity
Three of the women I interviewed had unique circumstances influencing their
national and religious identities. Exploring their perspectives is important to better
understand the diverse processes of change and identification for North African
immigrants in Spain. Leila and Nora both spent their teenage years in Spain, attending
Spanish schools and interacting with Spanish peers. As a result, they did not
encounter the same language and social barriers as most of the other women I
interacted with at El Puerto. Moreover, they each moved as a result of decisions made
by their parents, so they did not carry the burden of regret over the choice to move to
Spain that is so common with the other women considered in this thesis. Both Leila
and Nora had very positive feelings about their lives in Spain and saw their future
there. We might confidently assume that they would see themselves as Spanish or
perhaps a hyphenated Moroccan-Spanish. Yet through our interviews and
conversations, I found that they still strongly identified with being Moroccan and
rejected a Spanish identity.
While Leila loves visiting Morocco, she sees her future in Spain. She said, "If
I go to Morocco for a month of vacation, I really want to return here [to Spain]"
59

(Taped interview 07/20/06). However, when I asked her if she felt that she was
becoming a little bit Spanish, she quickly responded that she was not. Nora also
affirmed that while she loves Morocco, she prefers to live in Spain. I expected Nora,
more than Leila, to comfortably claim at least a partial Spanish identity. Nora works
in a popular Spanish clothing store, goes out with Spanish friends, and has chosen not
to wear the veil. Amir and Wendy, the main leaders at Center 2 where Nora and her
family were involved, shared that Nora seemed to fit in well with the Spanish
community and was often criticized by other North Africans for being too Spanish.
However, when I asked Nora to compare life in Morocco with life in Spain she said,
"Well, the way Spanish people live is one way, not like us." She saw the two
identities as opposed and identified herself as Moroccan. This was reinforced at the
end of our interview. As we read the consent form, I explained that through my
research I wanted to understand what North Africans think about who they are now
that they are living in Spain. She immediately responded saying, "I'm Moroccan, but
I live in Spain. I'm a Moroccan. I'm not going to change to become Spanish . . . I'm
just a Moroccan who lives in Spain" (Taped interview 07/11/06).
As I evaluated their interviews and my field notes, I began to see how the
"North African equals Muslim" narrative mentioned above influenced Leila and Nora.
Since both of them were young, single, and spent time with Spanish friends, I asked if
they thought might marry a Spanish man. They both responded with a tentative
maybe but continued emphasizing that their future husbands should be Moroccan
because it was essential that they each marry a Muslim. Even Nora, who said that she
was an "in-between Muslim" or a "modern Muslim," shared that Islam was very

60

important to her and the most significant factor in deciding who she would marry.
Leila and Nora might be able to embrace being both Muslim and Spanish, or at least
Moroccan-Spanish, if they could separate their North African and Muslim identities.
Instead, if seems that they believe giving up being Moroccan in any way means
rejecting their Muslim identity and heritage.
Latifa also has a unique perspective stemming from her dual Moroccan and
Spanish identities. She came to Spain following her marriage to a Spanish man. They
are now divorced, but through her marriage she was able to gain Spanish citizenship.
At the time of our interview, she had spent almost half of her life in Morocco and half
of her life in Spain. In our conversations and in the interview, she reaffirmed many
times that she was not an immigrant because she had Spanish citizenship. She told
me, "No soy inmigrante. Tengo nacionalidad Espahola...

No soy como los otros"

(I'm not an immigrant. I have Spanish nationality . . . I'm not like the others) (Field
notes 07/2/06). There was some truth to her statement. Her Spanish citizenship did
set her apart from all of the other women I knew at El Puerto. Also, she raised her son
in Spain and spoke Spanish fluently. Additionally, and perhaps most important for
understanding the connection between national and religious identities, she was a
Christian, having decided to convert to Christianity from Islam following a dream she
had about Mohammed and Christ. Although more research in this area is needed, I
would argue that she more easily embraced her Spanish identity because her
Moroccan identity was not attached to Islam. The other side of this is how her
Spanish identity was received by Spanish society. Even though she was a citizen and
did not wear the veil, she still faced discrimination, especially in the area of work.
61

While this may, in part, have been due to class, education, or personality issues, Latifa
struggled to find any kind of employment even with citizenship and sufficient
language skills. At the time of our interview, she was working temporarily for the
highway repair system.
Struggling with Hope
Through the challenges of regret, isolation, discrimination, and difficult
circumstances, the women I met struggled to maintain a sense of hope. This struggle
was most clear in two different areas. The first area was in the way the women spoke
about Spanish people. As I reviewed my field notes and interviews, I began to note
how often the women at El Puerto stated that "people are people," as in, there are good
and bad people everywhere. They understood, and seemed to find comfort in the fact
that not all Spanish people were bad. Often the sentiment of "people are people" was
expressed in the same breath as a comment on discrimination or feelings of not
belonging in Spain. Right after Amina told me how she knew Spanish people did not
accept her because she wore the veil she said, "But at the same time, everywhere,
there are people who are nice and people who are not nice" (Taped interview 07/8/06).
This attitude was often repeated in classroom conversations about the challenges of
life in Spain. In one of my first conversations with Farah, a young woman I knew
from my previous summer at El Puerto, she told me about spending time with Spanish
friends. I asked her about having Spanish friends or North African friends and she
said "buena gente son buena gente" (good people are good people) wherever you are
in the world (Field notes 06/1/06).

62

The second area where I saw the women reaching for hope was in their
struggle to accept their future in Spain. The majority felt regret about immigrating to
Spain but admitted that their future was in Spain and worked to make the best of it.
Hannah told me, "All the Moroccans I know, young or old, they all say, 'I regret the
decision that I came.' So I say to them, 'So you're going to go now?' And they say,
'no'. So all of them, they regret it, but nobody goes back." Hannah tried to accept her
life saying, "I always try to be hopeful. We are here now. We have to look for a
better future" (Taped interview 07/15/06). Some, like Miriam, a middle-age woman
from Algeria with grown children attending evening classes at Center 2, have accepted
that their future is in Spain because their children are in Spain. Zohra also knew she
would stay in Spain because of her young children. She admitted that it was difficult
for her to accept this reality and told me that she tried not to think about the future or
the past. By focusing on her children and on the present moment, she was beginning
to accept her life in Spain. One place where all of the women I met have found hope
is at El Puerto. As they have struggled with the realities of life as North African
Muslims in Spain, they have created, along with the international staff and volunteers
at El Puerto, a place of belonging.

63

CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION: EL PUERTO AS A TRANSNATIONAL SPACE
Kearney (1995) calls for focusing research on "transnational spaces," or the
places of intersection where the movements of individuals within a community meet
and interact (553). Thinking about how space is used transnationally is ideal for
reconceptualizing the place of immigrants within society. It allows us to observe not
only how meaningful places are created by immigrants but also how the interactions
there work to transform identities. Gupta (1992) defines transnational as "the
structures of feeling that bind people to geographical units larger or smaller than
nations or that crosscut national boundaries" (64). I would expand that definition to
include any space, not just geographical, that represents something for which people
may develop an allegiance. For the immigrants in my research, their lives are limited
by the ideologies, policies, and allegiances of two nations, yet their transnational ties
and the feelings that bind them extend beyond any nation-state to include something as
large as a world religion and as small as the office of a community organization.
Doreen Massey (2001) has argued that ideologies such as nationalism "have
been attempts to fix the meaning of particular spaces, to enclose them, endow them
with fixed identities and to claim them for one's own" (4). She argues that to move
beyond this limited view, we need to see how "place" is formed through social
interrelations in spaces across time. "A 'place' is formed out of the particular set of
64

social relations which interact at a particular location" (168). Therefore, the creation
of meaning in any given place is a dynamic process specific to that location, and the
identities formed in that space are continually being produced through interactions
over time. By focusing on the individual lives passing through the transnational social
space of the El Puerto community centers, we can see how a place is created where
North African women are able to negotiate and explore identities that extend beyond
the nation. At El Puerto, difference is emphasized, but since difference is a shared
feature of all participants, it is not rejected as "otherness" the way it is in Spanish
society. In addition, focusing on the social space created at El Puerto highlights how
transnational groups can foster understanding beyond national, racial, and religious
lines which typically divide.
Similarity and Difference
Richard Jenkins (2002) notes that "Similarity and difference are the
touchstones of human social identity . . . that provide us with a functioning, if
somewhat imprecise, orientation to the social environment that we must daily
navigate" (117). Recognizing similarities and differences is a significant part of the
process of identification. Emphasizing similarities in various situations enables
immigrants to seek out connections with others beyond nationality. "Those that I
differ from at one level, I can share something with at the next" (122). However, it
was not just similarities that united everyone at El Puerto. At El Puerto, difference
was not hidden. In fact, just the opposite; it was often an object of reflection and
discussion. The North African women at El Puerto, along with the staff, volunteers,
and other students, created a community which was unified by difference. There was
65

a "culture of belonging" within the social space of El Puerto that provided a freedom
to express difference. It also offered a space for engaging with and crossing identity
boundaries that typically lead to division, such as nationality, race, and religion.
Crossing Boundaries
One way the community of El Puerto worked to create a culture of belonging
was in the area of nationality. One evening, about two weeks after I began my
research, I was talking with two women at Center 1 after Spanish class. We were in
the main sola (room) of the center where there were computers for community use and
where we gathered after classes most evenings for tea and cookies. One of the women
asked me if I was Spanish. I told her that I was from California, in the United States,
and compared its location to Indiana where Mary, one of El Puerto's permanent staff
members, had lived. She then mentioned that another staff member was from
Lebanon and noted that the volunteer who taught her class that evening was from
Peru. She laughed as she looked around the room and said, "Todos somos extranjeros
aqui" (We're all foreigners here) (Field notes 06/15/06). Throughout the summer, this
conversation replayed many times. At El Puerto, a shared sense of marginality as
foreigners in Spain helped to organize and unify the group. The social space of El
Puerto offered an escape from the boundaries of "cultural citizenship" prescribed by
the Spanish state and society. What was marked as "difference" in Spanish society
became a location for similarity. Nationality, in a sense, was emphasized at El Puerto,
but it did not define the borders of belonging or not belonging.
Beyond differences in nationality, I observed racial boundaries being crossed.
At Center 2 in particular, there was a growing number of sub Saharan Africans
66

attending classes. In general, there is a significant amount of conflict and

discrimination between these two groups of immigrants, with North Africans often
considering themselves superior to "black Africans." However, in my field notes
throughout the summer, I noted that the expected tension between the two groups
rarely, if ever, surfaced in my Spanish classes. A few weeks after I had been teaching
Spanish at Center 2, a young woman from Mali, whom I referred to as "Mali" in my
field notes, came to class accompanied by her brother who had been attending the
men's Spanish class. Mali had recently arrived in Spain and spoke only her native
language, but she stayed and repeated Spanish words as she was able. At the end of
our class that evening, the North African women gathered around her, asking
questions in various languages trying to communicate with her. Each week, the North
African women included her in our lessons as much as possible, offering smiles and
nods of understanding even when she was unable to respond to their questions. From
my point of view, they welcomed her with as much warmth and enthusiasm as they
welcomed me. Although I know tension still existed outside of El Puerto between
these groups, within El Puerto I saw how the women worked to cross the racial and
language barriers that could easily have been points of division. Future research in
this area, considering the dynamics of racial boundaries from the point of view of both
North African and sub-Saharan African women, would be beneficial.
Given the political climate surrounding Islam in the West today, one of the
most significant boundaries being crossed at El Puerto, was that of religion. Although
it has already been noted that the North African women I met at El Puerto increased
their commitment to Islam as a way of resisting cultural assimilation into Spanish
67

society, El Puerto offered a social space that was distinct from the social world they
encountered in Spain, so the same dynamic of resistance was not present there. The
permanent staff and most of the volunteers at El Puerto were Christians. All of the
women I met who regularly attended classes and events at El Puerto knew that they
were Christians. However, since the staff was committed to keeping classes and
events free from proselytization, the Muslim women felt welcome and free to be
themselves. They told me that at El Puerto they felt happy and secure. They were
respected and given freedom to express their Islamic identity without discrimination.
Both sides of the religious divide, the Christian staff and volunteers and the
North African Muslim participants, actively worked to cross the boundary of religious
difference. This was seen most clearly in the attitudes of openness they expressed.
Omar, El Puerto's director, considered it a privilege that the Muslim immigrants they
met, over time, grew to trust the El Puerto staff and accepted them as friends despite
their association with Christianity. All the staff and volunteers honored this trusting
relationship and never asked the women to compromise their Muslim identity in any
way. This same attitude of openness existed among the Muslim immigrants as well.
Bana, Omar's wife, shared with me a meaningful conversation she had with one of the
older women at Center 1. She and this woman were cleaning up after class one
evening, washing the dishes they used for serving cookies and tea. Bana told me,
"Out of nowhere this woman said to me, 'My whole life I've been told that Christians
are bad people. But I come to the center here and you treat me better than even my
family does'" (Field notes 07/14/06). This woman was willing to lay down ideas of

68

religious difference that she had carried her whole life in order to re-imagine her view
of Muslim and Christian identities.
A Bridge
In addition to providing an alternative social space where North African
women could escape the ideas of belonging and not belonging prescribed by Spanish
society, El Puerto served as a bridge linking North African women in Spain to Spanish
society. One key element placing El Puerto in this position was the unique
combination of staff and volunteers at El Puerto. Most of the permanent staff at El
Puerto came from Arabic speaking countries. Several women told me they had visited
other Spanish classes offered at the ajuntamiento (government office) or at another
community organization. Omar and Amir estimated that there were more than eighty
different government or social service organizations in the city and surrounding areas
that offered classes and services to immigrants. However, the women attending El
Puerto told me that the presence of Arabic speakers was a significant factor in their
choosing to attend El Puerto over the other organizations. Although all Arabic
speaking cultures are not the same, they are perhaps more similar to each other than
they are to Spanish culture. At least that was the point of view of the North African
women. When Hannah first came to El Puerto, she was pleasantly surprised when she
was greeted in Arabic. She said, "In my opinionmaybe it's different for other
peoplebut my opinion is that it was important for us to start studying with
somebody who speaks Arabic . . . I feel like they understand, like half of the situation
is understanding my culture and then they are introducing the other culture to me"

69

(Taped interview 07/15/06). The El Puerto staff was able to bridge not only the
language gap by teaching Spanish, but they were able to bridge a cultural gap as well.
A Place of Hope
For the other North African women I met, especially those with a greater sense
of regret about moving to Spain, El Puerto is a place of hope. During one of the
evening classes at Center 1,1 sat in on a class being taught by another volunteer. She
asked the women to share about their activities that day. Eventually it was Sara's turn.
In her sixties, Sara spoke Spanish fluently since she had been living in Spain with her
husband for almost twenty years. She came to Spanish class not to learn the language
but to socialize. This was the first of three weeks of intensive language classes we
were offering four nights a week. She shared with the group that she was so happy to
see such a large group of women gathering for classes. She said that coming there and
seeing everyone "lifted away the bad things that had happened during the day and
lifted her spirits" (Field notes 07/15/06).
When Hannah first came to El Puerto, besides being surprised by the Arabic
speaking staff, she was drawn by the warm welcome. She had come with a friend, and
after they left they said to each other, "Wow, this is what we were looking for. This is
the place." Through her interactions with other Arabic speakers and immigrants, she
found "a place where I started to feel again the security that I had very much missed
when I first came [to Spain]" (Taped interview 07/15/06). Amina also shared that she
felt a sense security at El Puerto, and it gave her hope to continue living in Spain. She
visited another place where Spanish classes were offered, but she did not feel the same

70

sense of welcome and belonging as at El Puerto. "From all my heart the truth is this
[El Puerto] is the only thing that has given me hope and patience to be staying here."
Through conversations and interactions at El Puerto across national, racial, and
religious boundaries, the staff, volunteers and immigrants have created a place of
belonging, security, and hope.

71

APPENDIX
INTERVIEW GUIDE

72

INTERVIEW GUIDE
1. Tell me a little about yourself - your family, where you grew up, what you did
before you moved here to Spain. Please remember not to mention names or other
details that you may want to remain confidential.
2. Could you please tell me about your decision to migrate to Spain? Why did you
choose to come? How did you make arrangements to come? Describe your
journey.
3. Tell me what life was like when you first came? Did you start looking for work?
Did anyone help you? Describe your first few months.
4. Take me through a typical week for you, step by step. (How do you spend your
time? Who do you interact with?)
5. How were you first introduced to El Puerto? What classes or events do you attend?
Do you do anything else through your involvement with El Puerto?
6. Why are you involved with El Puerto? What does El Puerto mean to you? Are
you involved with any other organizations like El Puerto?
7. Are others in the community involved with El Puerto? Why do you think they are
involved?
8. What are the greatest challenges you face as a North African living in Spain?
9. What did you expect when you moved to Spain? Has life here met your
expectations? Explain.
10. Do you plan to stay in Spain or return? Why? What do you see for your future
here?
11. What impact, both positive and negative, has moving to Spain had on your life?
12. Where do you see yourself a year from now? And in five years?
13. Let's sort back through the main points - what do you think is the most
important? Are there any questions you didn't expect? Are there any I didn't ask
that you think are important or would be helpful to understand your experiences?
Any questions for me?

73

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