Sans-papiers: Self-censored social identities of farm workers in southern France
Résumé
In recent years, the notion of sans-papiers (undocumented migrants) has become popular both in
the media and in the vernacular to designate foreign people living on French or European territory
without a residence permit (Morice, 2008a). However, they do have documents, which they
regularly submit to government offices, and others which they just as frequently receive, such as
acknowledgements of residence card applications, requests for supplemental applications,
refusals to regularize,1 denials to the right of asylum and notifications of obligation to leave the
country. Consequently, the concept of ‘clandestine worker’ points to the ambiguity of these
foreign workers’ fate: not hunted down as true traffickers because they work, but never admitted
within the so-called host society, and still regarded as deviant by the law; this is the ambivalence I
want to address. The chapter investigates the subjectivity of the individuals who live with this
paradox daily. Even though the foreign workers’ situation is often analysed,2 the way they
internalize their status and the way that it structures their relationships with others remains
relatively under-studied. I therefore address one of the internal boundaries of French society
(Fassin, 2010) by highlighting the lived experiences of a stigmatized group: the sans-papiers, the
migrants whose full recognition is denied by the state. I particularly aim to understand how these
migrants, day after day, internalize this legal categorization as a part of their social identity,
which in turn defines all their social relations.
Domaines
Sociologie
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Loading...