Childhoods in Suspended Transit

This book uncovers the lived experience of migrant children in liminal and precarious border settings, as they wait to move on to their intended destination. Taking West and Central African migrants in Morocco as a case study, the book demonstrates the struggles felt by those who find themselves stranded for an extended period in ambivalent spaces of non-belonging, whilst they struggle to continue their journey towards Europe or North America. Providing a rare case study of child mobility in South-South migrations, this book advances our understanding of migrant children’s nuanced and multifaceted experiences. The book foregrounds the dynamic interplay of precariousness and need to belong, as well as the creative and fluid ways in which children’s multiple, conflicting and ambiguous forms of belonging emerge within and through various relations. The book argues that instead of anchoring an individual to one or two places, belonging should be seen as a relational, situated, chaotic and dynamic process. Throughout, the book recognises children’s agentic capacities and ingenuity in the construction of a sense of home and rootedness, and in building friendships despite facing racism and exclusion. The book will be of interest to researchers across sociology, education, anthropology, geography, childhood and migration studies.