Paper short abstract:

For increasing numbers of African migrants it is impossible to reach Europe or to stay there. Involuntary return, without fulfilling the migration aims, forces migrants to readapt to a not always welcoming society of origin, and increases their vulnerability. On the other hand, even the experience of an unsuccessful migration can be turned into strenghts and strategies to reintegrate. The paper juxtaposes different migrant trajectories and the role experiences play in return and reintegration.

Paper long abstract:

Since the events of Ceuta and Melilla in autumn 2005 it became obvious that migration from Africa to Europe increasingly faces difficulties. A growing number of migrants are, often after long years abroad, expelled and deported to their home countries. For most migrants, the involuntary return means hardship and shattered dreams. In Mali, migration-oriented expectations of wealth and stable family income within a deteriorating economical situation led to increasing outmigration towards Europe at the very moment when European countries closed their borders.

Coming back home, returnees are not welcomed. Often families reject the returnees, often returnees are too ashamed to return with empty hands, and rather stay in the capital. They are taken for loosers, and as persons that do not fulfil the requirements of a proper man.

Nonetheless, the story about failure is not the only narrative embedding return. Growing public awareness of the difficulties in migrating to Europe led to images of migrants as heroes or survivors. Failed migrants sometimes profit from these images, and use their migration experience for reintegration into the society. Ritualised narratives about the hardships endured help strengthening the position of a returnee. Deported migrants from Europe can not directly profit from these stories, which creates two groups of failed migrants.

The paper will focus on the ways unsuccessful returnees try to handle their situation, how they use their experiences, deal with the problem of lost years and contested masculinity.