“Balladur Visa” or “Visa of Death”? Questioning ‘Migration’ to Europe via the Comoros Archipelago

• Main Author: Rémi Armand TCHOKOTHE
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Oradea, Research Centre on Identity and Migration Studies-RCIMI 2018-11-01
• Series: Journal of Identity and Migration Studies
• Subjects: Balladur visa; critical geography; the Wretched of the Sea; neocolonial balkanisation; anger writing; Nassur Attoumani; Soeuf Elbadawi; literary identity
• Online Access: http://www.e-migration.ro/jims/Vol12_No2_2018/JIMS_Vol12_No2_2018_pp_60_80_TCHOKOTHE.pdf
• ISSN: 1843-5610; 1843-5610

This article throws light on migration from Africa to Europe which happens on African soil. The Comoros Archipelago comprises Anjouan, Grande Comore, Mohéli and Mayotte, which has been part of France since 1975, and since January 1st 2014, an ultra-peripheral region of the European Union. This explains measures like the introduction, in 1995, of the Balladur Visa, which is commonly called “Visa de la mort” [Visa of Death] for inhabitants of the other three Islands. The privileged status of Mayotte has caused massive risky ‘migration’, which on the one hand is considered ‘illegal’ while on the other hand, is also regarded as ‘internal’ movement, given the historical ties among the peoples of the Archipelago. Constructing an argument from the works of two ‘francographe’ writers; Nassur Attoumani from Mayotte, and Soeuf Elbadawi from the Grande Comore; this paper challenges discourses on migration crisis and creates a venue for the visibility of critical texts by authors outside the main circuits of literary legitimation. Also, the analysis explores fertile points of dialogue between the economy of literature, history and sociopolitical geography by emphasizing the ambiguous relationship between Mayotte and Europe, while delving into conjectures on critical geography in order to understand an essential human concern: identity.