ABSTRACT

Based on personal narratives collected in Sicily with refugees and asylum seekers, this article aims at uncovering the gendered vulnerabilities of young Sub-Saharan African men transiting to and through Libya. Overall, participants’ narratives construct the journey to Libya as a landscape of gendered opportunities to perform competent manhood. This suggests the existence of a common masculine discourse regulating the interactions among travellers and with smugglers in this arena. Here, the illegal dimension of crossing is presented as a site where participants must prove their ‘value’ as ‘men’. This discourse offers legitimation to dangerous smuggling practices and violence enacted by the illegality industry. Within this rigid understanding of masculinity, migrant men’s vulnerability in Libya can be understood as the product of situated masculine and racial hierarchies; between migrants and smugglers/armed groups and among migrants. These gendered vulnerabilities are exacerbated by conditions of fractured mobility, the situation of travelling alone, the proliferation of weapons associated with the post-Gaddafi scenario and gendered/racialised patterns of incorporation in the Libyan illegal economy. Ultimately, due to this continuum of gendered violence, participants are ‘forced’ to embark on the sea crossing towards European shores.

摘要

根据在西西里岛收集到的与难民和寻求庇护者的个人叙述，本文旨在揭示年轻的撒哈拉以南非洲男性在前往和途经利比亚时的性别脆弱性。总体而言，参与者的叙述将利比亚之旅构建为展现有能力的男子气概的性别机会景观。这表明存在一种共同的男性话语来规范旅行者之间以及在这个舞台上与走私者之间的互动。在这里，穿越的非法维度被呈现为参与者必须证明他们作为“男人”的“价值”的场所。这种话语为非法行业制定的危险走私行为和暴力行为提供了合法性。在这种对男子气概的僵化理解中，利比亚移民男性的脆弱性可以理解为男性和种族等级制度的产物；移民和走私者/武装团体之间以及移民之间。流动性断裂、独自旅行的情况、与后卡扎菲情景相关的武器扩散以及在利比亚非法经济中的性别/种族化模式，加剧了这些性别脆弱性。最终，由于这种性别暴力的连续性，参与者“被迫”踏上通往欧洲海岸的海路。与后卡扎菲情景相关的武器扩散以及利比亚非法经济中的性别/种族化模式。最终，由于这种性别暴力的连续性，参与者“被迫”踏上通往欧洲海岸的海路。与后卡扎菲情景相关的武器扩散以及利比亚非法经济中的性别/种族化模式。最终，由于这种性别暴力的连续性，参与者“被迫”踏上通往欧洲海岸的海路。