In 1988, a Spanish photographer releases the picture of a Moroccan male corpse washed ashore next to his little boat on a beach in northern Morocco. This visual item is the first known image of a Maghrebi clandestine migrant who died in his attempt to reach the Spanish coast. Since the end of the 1990s, frustrated by the oftentimes distorted depictions conveyed by western satellite T.V. channels, as well as the press, Maghrebi writers and filmmakers have taken on the task of producing their own versions of clandestine migration (“h’rig” in Arabic) across the Mediterranean. Through the following films, Moroccan Yasmine Kassari’s L’Enfant endormi and Tunisian Ibrahim Letaïef’s Visa, and building from the field of border studies, my article explores the innovative approaches of these visual texts, whose primary objective is to challenge an unbridled propaganda, which fuels the discourses of conservative European politicians during electoral times. My presentation highlights the crucial methods and contributions of these filmmakers. I claim that these cinéastes take part in the ongoing debate surrounding immigration and influence it by advocating a shared right for Maghrebis to benefit from a booming Spanish economy and to become a part of the “global village.” I contend that these works offer an alternative to biased representations of h’rig by turning the mass media’s figures into personalized stories of identified bodies. This modus operandi thus allows them to humanize the tragedy while a growing number of media outlets discuss clandestine migration by means of figures and catchy headlines, as well as contribute to criminalize it altogether.

In the last seven years, a new generation of Moroccan authors who write in Castilian and Catalonian proliferated. This literature, written in Morocco by Moroccans, with Moroccan topics and characters, is developing a series of questions about the use of the language of the Other, the aesthetic practices of Western literature, and a deeply critical observation on the influence of the Western media in Morocco. The authors I refer in this fourth group are not revolutionaries who fight for a return to the beginning of history in the future; they do not represent the typical liberal discourse that mystifies national emancipation against Spain; nor are they Indigenists who deny the history after the French and Spanish invasions. They propose, instead, to reconstruct their integrity from an Eastern and Western historical framework. In this sense, they recapture the historical identity of Morocco, a history that shares some characteristics with other post-colonialist literatures—a history that is conscious of the neocolonial relations that the new world order imposes. These authors also address the prolegomena of Madrid’s M-11 bombings while, at the same time, recreate the shadows of intolerance represented by a return to the darkest days of the 15th Century Inquisition and of Franco’s dictatorship. The “threat” of terrorism is answered in literary texts that, while writing Maghribi immigrants’ lives and arrival to Spain, are inundated by the ghosts of Spain's own Muslim past. The works of Mohamed Abed al-Jabri, Abdelkebir Khatibi, Walter Mignolo and Enrique Dussel shape the theoretical frame of my paper.

Throughout 700 years history, al-Andalus has consistently enjoyed an image of a “Paradise on Earth” in spite of its continuous internal economic, social and political problems and external threats. What made it so successful in projecting an attractive cohesive image from generation to generation? This question is not about the much discussed and tangible success of the ruling class at building an economically prosperous state, but about the creation of a perception that would survive even until modern times. To answer this question we first have to understand how the Andalusian group identity was formed, what its main characteristics were, why they seemed attractive and how this information was transmitted and maintained. The “what” questions are relatively straight forward, and have been studied by generations of scholars who pointed out religion and geography as uniting factors amongst Hispanic, Arab, Berber, Jewish and Saqaliba member groups. The “why” questions are more ambiguous as they involve both individual and group interests and the interplay between them. The research for this study was conducted in 2005 in Southern Spain, the historical al-Andalus. A combination of primary and secondary sources, and historical visual artifacts were used as a basis for this analysis. Theoretical grounding for this work was developed based on several social theories. "Groupism" is a primary human behavioral pattern and represents the readiness to form groups around any observed or imagined differences in bodily or mental characteristics (Cavalli-Sforza). Groups are usually formed within affinity networks, a type of informal institutions held together by bonds of affection, belief, family loyalty and common purpose (Ringrose). Group identity is solidified as informal networks create social capital embedded in the ties between its members (Bourdieu). The Andalusian composite group identity was developed through interaction of various affinity networks in the processes of assimilation and accommodation (Piaget), and motivated by certain group needs (Maslow). According to Maslow’s hierarchy, human motivation progresses from material survival needs to higher order social and self-actualization needs, derived as a function of the overall well-being of the community. As al-Andalus’ prosperity increased, the ethnically disparate Arab, Berber, Saqaliba, Jewish, and the indigenous Hispanic Iberian groupings of the 8th century became socially integrated “Andalusians” by the 11th century. The same prosperity that defused intergroup animosities also contributed to a cultural fusion. The literary and artistic heritage that al-Andalus bequeathed posterity has been interpreted as the enduring imprint of a multicultural “Paradise on Earth.”