The Dark Nobodies: Social Defeat or Why There’s No Strength in Suffering for Sub-Saharan Survival Migrants in the Maghreb.
Peter Kirechu

Abstract
Sub-Saharan irregular migration into the Maghreb region has in the past been primarily investigated through restrictive political models that while beneficial to a political understanding of human movement, have indirectly undervalued the social experience of migration. Therefore, the objective of this paper was a rejuvenation of previous models with primacy on the social experience of different sub-Saharan groups‟ during their migration process to Northern Africa, and more specifically Morocco. Relying on primary and secondary narratives, this study evaluates the role of violent exploitation as a catalyst for conditions of „social defeat‟ amongst irregular migrants in transit and in residence in the Maghreb. By scrutinizing migrant narratives on death, sexual assault, theft, kidnapping, and other forms of violent exploitation, this paper analyzes the role of sustained exposure to violence in creating a vicious social cycle of subjugation, exploitation and defeat for irregular migrants within this region.

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