Externalization through ‘awareness-raising’: the border spectacle of EU migration information campaigns in Niger

Abstract

This paper explores the externalization process of the European Union’s (EU) borders by focusing on one of its least documented aspects: the funding of migration information campaigns (MICs) aiming to deter ‘potential migrants’ from attempting to enter the EU irregularly. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews conducted with the actors involved in these campaigns, it analyses the implementation of 11 EU-funded MICs in Niger in light of the theory of the ‘Border Spectacle’ originally developed by Nicholas De Genova. In doing so, it contributes to enriching the use of this theory by identifying new types of spectators and new figures of the ‘illegalized’ migrant that emerge from the spectacularization of EU border externalization in Niger. First, the performance of migration deterrence through MICs is broken down into two distinct acts targeting different categories of ‘potential migrants’ in the country. Second, the analysis of the discourses conveyed by MICs highlights that they rely on a two-sided narrative of risks and opportunities, which creates a border spectacle of migrant victimization and stigmatization. In conclusion, it is argued that this spectacle conceals the political causes of the risks increasingly faced by sub-Saharan migrants en route to North Africa and Europe, and delegitimizes those who continue to leave in spite of them.

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