Leaving Europe: Emigration, aspirations and pathways of incorporation of Maghrebi French and Belgians in Montréal

When it comes to migration, Western European countries such as Belgium and France are typically described as destination countries. Yet, emigration remains an important phenomena in most of European societies. This emigration is often portrayed as somehow different from migrations ‘from the South.’ The western European migrant – sometimes referred to as ‘expat’ – is generally depicted as a dynamic individual characterized by an entrepreneurial spirit and a taste for adventure. At a time where many European societies experience both the consequences of financial and economic crisis and growing tensions about cultural and religious diversity, very few attention has been given to the relation between such structural dynamics and the emergence of emigration practices among young Europeans. This research is an attempt to explore such a relation by focusing on the migration practices of Belgians and French youngsters of Maghrebi origins leaving Europe for the Canadian city of Montréal. More precisely, the research focuses on the aspirations - defined as socially situated representations of the future – that inform the emigration practices of Maghrebi Europeans.

Building on an ethnographic field research conducted in France, Belgium and in the city of Montréal, the thesis is an exploration of migration related aspirations and their evolution at three stages of the migration process: before departure, during migration and once arrived at destination. The goal of the research is to understand the factors that inform the development of emigration aspirations among Maghrebi European people, how these aspirations are channeled during migration and how they evolve after migration. Through the focus on migrants’ aspirations, the research questions how perspectives for a desirable future are distributed both in Europe and in Montréal and how this distribution is highly dependent of one social position. The collection of biographic interviews with Maghrebi European migrants allows to understand the various representations of the future that inform the emergence of migration desires. This highlights a set of various experiences – experiences of ‘existential stuckedness’ or of ‘existential mobility’ – that evolve during the migration process. The ethnographic data also allows to explore the various pathways of incorporation that are carved out by Maghrebi Europeans in Montreal in order to sustain possibilities for a desirable future. These pathways, sometimes constitutes alternatives to the types of incorporation promoted by the Canadian and Québec authorities. In this sense, looking at how migrants think about their future and how they try to organize it also highlights forms of agency that exceed societal expectations.