Sébastien Bachelet
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sebbachelet.bsky.social
Sébastien Bachelet
@sebbachelet.bsky.social
3.5K followers 4.7K following 74 posts
Anthropologist & migrant https://sebastienbachelet.com/crimes-of-solidarity
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sebbachelet.bsky.social
It was an honour to launch my monograph The Adventure: Violent borders, illegal migration & the uncertain quest for life in Morocco. Special thanks to Prof. Hage, Dr. Obeid & Dr Zagaria for acting as discussants. I am very humbled by their generous comments.Open access eBook: tinyurl.com/4rnand8n
Picture of the launch with Prof. Ghassan Hage, Dr. Michelle Obeid and Dr Valentina Zagaria . At a time of heightened moral panic over (illegal) migration, anthropology and ethnographic work are key to analysing and dismantling racialised and violent politics of containment that unequally distribute the ability to cross borders but also to stay and settle somewhere. Every day we seem to be reaching new and terrifying depths in the vilifying discourses and cruel practices enforcing the containment of those racialised as underserving, dangerous and undesirable. The book - The Adventure : Violent borders, illegal migration and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco - is an attempt to steer away from ubiquitous aesthetics of despair and criminality to look at how so-called ‘illegal’ young men from Western and Central Africa stuck in Morocco strive to face up to and overcome bordering practices - to retain control over their lives and mobility. In the book, I look at the notion of “the adventure” to explore how migrants cultivate fragile but necessary dispositions, skills, and relationships to navigate deadly bordering measures stretching across and beyond the Mediterranean region. The adventure was a transformative, initiatory journey, through which they could assert themselves as agents of their own destinies, despite uncertain, illegalising processes. A focus on the notion of adventure deconstructs the pervasive narratives of a “migration crisis” and a “sub-Saharan problem” in Morocco, it sheds light on the violent consequences of hostile migration policies and practices, and it provides the means to account for how migrants themselves make sense of their entrapped mobility.  The book, which is in conversation with the growing corpus of works within anthropology and other disciplines that look at migration and borders critically, is open-access
November 27, 2025 at 1:36 PM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
This Saturday in Manchester - The Group for Debates in Anthropological Theory debates the motion: Theorising the future is the future of anthropology.

[November 29th 2-6pm, Alexander Theatre, Samuel Alexander Building]

www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/social-anthr...
This Saturday The Group for Debates in Anthropological Theory debates the motion: Theorising the future is the future of anthropology. [November 29th 2-6pm, Alexander Theatre, Samuel Alexander Building.] Ghassan Hage and Rebecca Bryant (Utrecht) will be proposing the motion. Stef Jansen (Sarajevo) and Basak Sarac-Lesavre (Sciences Po) will be opposing the motion. Pizzas and drinks at Sandbar afterwards. This event is supported by the Association of Social Anthropologists and the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester.
November 25, 2025 at 8:36 AM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
Tomorrow in Manchester (5pm): book launch for my monograph "The Adventure: violent borders, illegal migration and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco” Discussants: Ghassan Hage, Michelle Obeid and Valentina Zagaria. Open access e-book : tinyurl.com/4rnand8n
book launch poster. I am delighted to invite you to a book launch for my recently published monograph “The adventure: violent borders, illegal migration and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco” (MUP). Tuesday 25th November at 5pm in the Arthur Lewis Building Boardroom (University of Manchester).
November 24, 2025 at 1:05 PM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
Upcoming book launch for my monograph "The Adventure: violent borders, illegal migration and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco” ( @manchesterup.bsky.social ). MCR 25/11 5pm @uomsoss.bsky.social @uomsoss.bsky.social more info about the book: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526177681/
book launch poster. I am delighted to invite you to a book launch for my recently published monograph “The adventure: violent borders, illegal migration and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco” (MUP). Tuesday 25th November at 5pm in the Arthur Lewis Building Boardroom (University of Manchester). Thanks to Prof. Ghassan Hage, Dr Michelle Obeid, and Dr Valentina Zagaria for agreeing to act as discussants.
November 3, 2025 at 2:01 PM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
Laurino August 2025 #tripleexposure #filmphotography
#cilento
Black and White landscape. Triple exposure. Taken in Laurino, Cilento (Italy).
September 10, 2025 at 2:05 PM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
So thrilled ! I have received the copies of my book published by ‪@manchesterup.bsky.social ! “a compelling an urgent book about life at the borders of Europe” #migration #morocco Copies available here: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526177681/ @uomsoss.bsky.social #monograph #anthropology
book cover of my monograph: "the adventure Violent borders, illegal migration, and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco" This ethnographic exploration of irregular migration from Western and Central Africa in Morocco deconstructs dehumanising narratives of a "migration crisis" and a "sub-Saharan problem" in politics of migration. The book provides an original focus on how migrants understood and experienced their entrapped mobility. The emic notion of "the adventure" at the heart of this study sheds light on a transformative, epic quest to carve out a better life and future. The book traces how young men from Western and Central Africa sought to assert themselves as agents of their own destinies, despite uncertain, illegalising processes. In steering away from aesthetics of despair and fearmongering narratives, the book brings new insights into inter-disciplinary debates (e.g. illegality, uncertainty, immobility, violence, suffering, transit, etc.). Such focus is essential to draw out the complexity and existential depth of (irregular) migrants' lives, journeys, and stories.
July 10, 2025 at 3:47 PM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
NEW BOOK - Very happy to announce that today is the publication date for my monograph: "'The Adventure': violent borders, illegal migration, and the uncertain quest for life in Morocco" An open-access copy is available here www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781...
July 8, 2025 at 9:17 AM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
Ascea April 2025 #tripleexposure #filmphotography #believeinfilm #ishootfilm #cilento #multipleexposure
Seascape in ascea (Italy). Triple exposure of some rocks in the water
May 2, 2025 at 6:27 PM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
#tripleexposure Ascea April 2025 #multipleexposure #35mm #filmphotography #cilentolento #bnw #believeinfilm
Black and white film photograph of the ascea coast in cilento. Triple exposure.
May 1, 2025 at 1:00 PM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
April 22, 2025 at 7:14 AM
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April 22, 2025 at 7:14 AM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
A comic by #Calais -based artist Loup Blaster about solidarity houses where residents welcome exiled people with dignity in defiance of deadly and racist politics of #migration. Part of a project on the criminalisation of #solidarity in France & Morocco :
sebastienbachelet.com/crimes-of-so...
April 22, 2025 at 7:12 AM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
March 12, 2025 at 11:22 AM
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March 12, 2025 at 11:21 AM
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March 12, 2025 at 11:21 AM
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March 12, 2025 at 11:21 AM
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March 12, 2025 at 11:20 AM
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March 12, 2025 at 11:20 AM
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March 12, 2025 at 11:20 AM
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March 12, 2025 at 11:20 AM
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March 12, 2025 at 11:19 AM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
Une BD de Loup Blaster sur les maisons accueillantes de Calais. #migration #calais
March 12, 2025 at 11:18 AM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
Keele - November 2024 #filmphotography #blackandwhite #tripleexposure
Film photograph made of three exposures. Black and white snowscape. Keele university campus
February 2, 2025 at 5:19 PM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
January 2025 - Casablanca #filmphotography #bnw #tripleexposure
Black and white photograph of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. Triple exposure.
January 27, 2025 at 6:49 PM
sebbachelet.bsky.social
The MADAR festival is underway in the emblematic Cinema Ritz in Casablanca. Screenings, debates and panels on migration in the Maghreb with researchers and practitioners from Europe and Africa. madar-network.org/en/
January 16, 2025 at 10:23 AM