Changing aspirations for voluntary mobility and immobility in times of crisis

According to Carling’s “aspiration-ability” model, the distinction between aspirations and abilities allows us to differentiate between two categories of non-migrants: people aspiring to migrate but lacking the required abilities (“involuntary non-migrants”), and people not aspiring to migrate (“voluntary non-migrants”). Discourses, perceptions, and migratory and geographical imaginations might have an impact on aspirations. We ask whether the economic crisis in Europe and its consequences on the conditions of migrants might change the aspirations of non-migrants. In times of crisis, involuntary non-migrants might become voluntary ones, considering immobility as a better alternative to migrating to Europe with uncertain working and living conditions. The EUMAGINE project investigates the impact of perceptions of human rights and democracy on the migration aspirations and decisions of 18–39-year-olds in Turkey, Morocco, Senegal and the Ukraine. The survey and in-depth interviews included questions on perceptions of life in Europe, international migration aspirations and discourses. This paper will present results of the data gathered in 4 research areas in Morocco: the Togdha Valley, the Central Plateau, Tangier and the Eastern High Atlas. More specifically, it will explore changing aspirations among non-migrants in these areas.