Lives in Transit: Trauma and Resilience at African Borders – a talk by Soukaina Aouaki
Monday, March 2, 2026 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
- In-person event
- 2420R, Azrieli Theatre, Carleton University
- 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6
- Cost: Free
- Contact
- Migration and Diaspora Studies program, MDS@carleton.ca, 613-520-3858
This talk reflects on my research journey from women’s and gender studies into the field of migration and diaspora studies. In fact, it began with an interest in how gender shapes social dynamics and later led me to look at migration from a gendered lens. Indeed, diaspora, in some contexts, involves a process of double oppression. Women experience multiple forms of marginalization not only through gendered hierarchies, which, as Simone de Beauvoir noted, relegate them to the status of second-class citizens, but also through their status as migrants. For they are often perceived as outsiders or the so-called ‘alien other’ within host societies. Therefore, this understanding opened the way for me to ask broader questions about the movement of bodies across borders. It also raised questions about how memories and traumas accompany them on their journeys. In this context, I have undertaken research exploring how migrants’ encounters with borders embody both trauma and resilience. In this regard, this talk seeks to investigate the digital sphere by exploring how African border crossings serve as sites of trauma and reservoirs of memory. It also attempts to unveil digital media and transnational narratives to see how these borders are remembered, narrated, and questioned. To do so, particular emphasis will be placed on border crossings in three contexts: Morocco, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. Indeed, the talk seeks to compare and contrast migration experiences through documentary and visual material. The analysis shows that African border crossings are more than mere places to cross; they are spaces where trauma is inscribed, resilience is challenged, and hope persists. Borderlands, to put it in Anzaldúa’s sense, shape collective memories and shared wounds, and produce narratives of lived experiences of migration.
Dr. Soukaina Aouaki is a researcher in English and Cultural Studies. She served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Hassan II University in in Casablanca, Morocco. Her research interests include diaspora and migration studies, border studies, gender, and postcolonial studies. She has participated in numerous conferences and study days at both the national and international levels.