Paper short abstract:

European migration policies led to a rising number of deportees in Mali. Against the narrative of successful migration, the deportee is taken personally responsible for failure. This camouflages the political reasons for failed migrants and dealing with the difficulties for migration to Europe.

Paper long abstract:

In Mali, migration is seen as part of the career of young men, and conceptualised as circular, ending with a successful return and the life as a respected member in the home community. The European migration management leads to increasing difficulties to realise this migration pathway. Deportees arrive at the borders and the airport, and new migration is increasingly difficult, but the society is not prepared to cope with this new situation.

Failed migrants, among them especially those who had been returned forcefully by European or Maghreb countries, are accused personally of having failed, sometimes are rejected by their families, or feel to ashamed to return to their home town.

Analysing the inability of public discourse to cope with the growing number of failed migrants, this paper addresses among a number of reasons:

• The important notion of success, related to the honour of a person and the name of its family, in Mali.

• The strong view that migration to Europe (compared to the much more frequent migration within the region) is per se successful and a dichotomisation between success and failure of returnees resulting from this view

These discursive elements are strongly encouraged by transnational discourses on migration and development, which also address the successful migrant (and his/her money). This, apart from a difficult economic reintegration, turns the return of failed migrants to Mali into a task almost as difficult as the migration to Europe, and is at the heart of the constant trigger to remigrate again.

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