Africans in Spain?

Lately, I have been doing a lot of research on Spain and its vast culture. One of the things I am looking forward to the most is seeing the different groups of people within the country and how they intermingle with one another. I am especially interested in understanding the cultural dynamics of Spain’s growing African diaspora.

For those of you who may not know me, I am a graduate student in Communication. As a graduate student, my initial research interests centered on the African-American identity. Specifically, how the media and other social forces can help shape that identity for African-Americans and others who come in contact with them.

In 2009, I had the pleasure of traveling on a study abroad to Costa Rica. During that trip, my classmates and I studied the constructs of race and interracial relations throughout the country. After spending time with Costa Rica’s Afro-Latino population in Puerto Viejo, my research interests took a slight turn.

The more and more I sat and talked with the Afro-Latino women of Puerto Viejo, I came to realize that many of the issues I faced as a Black woman in the United States were many of the same issues these women saw 20,000 miles away. We sat for hours, during informal interviews and forums, talking about many of the issues I sit and talk to my girlfriends about at home (i.e. interracial dating, light skin vs. dark skin, the media’s portrayal of stereotypes of black women, etc.). After that trip, my preverbal light bulb went off and I became interested in the shared identities of “Black” women all over the world.

During my time in Spain, I want to formally explore this phenomenon within the Afro-European identity. In all, I want to understand how the issues that affect Afro-European women compare and contrast to that of the African-American female experience.

Few people realize how many individuals of African decent actually live in Spain. The Instituto Nacional de Estadistica (2010), INE, estimates that in 2009 there were over one million people living in Spain of African decent (men = 675,327; women = 366,797). In 2007, Castilla La Mancaha (the region of Spain I will be living in) had a population of over 4,000 individuals who immigrated to Spain from African (INE, 2008). These numbers are continually growing as 1000’s of sub-Saharan Africans struggle to enter into the country illegally each day (British Broadcasting System, 2003; British Broadcasting System, 2005; Matlack & Tarzian, 2007; Temelett, 2006; Winter, 2005).

I know, I know. The last thing that you would think of when hearing Spain is Africans. Even I did not consider how large of an Afro-European population there is in Spain.

Some of you may be wondering how are Africans getting into Spain and why are they there?

Spain currently owns two territories within the continent of Africa that border Morocco near the Mediterranean ocean: Ceuta and Melilla. These border towns have been the catalyst for Africans throughout the sub-Saharan region of Africa to illegally enter into Spain (British Broadcasting System, 2003; Matlack & Tarzian, 2007; Tremlett, 2006; Winter, 2005). In fact, illegal immigration from Africa has become such an issue that two barb wired fences have been placed on the borders between Ceuta/ Melilla and Morocco. Officials are building a third fence (Woolls, 2005).


Still thousands manage to infiltrate Spain’s borders despite the possibility of death and being caught by authorities. In 2003, 550 Africans were captured while sailing in rubber boats to Spain and the Canary islands in one day (British Broadcasting System, 2003). Also, in 2005, five people were crushed to death after a large mass of people tried to cross the fence that separates Melilla from Morocco all at once (British Broadcasting System, 2005).

Amazingly, death and capture are the risk that many face once they actually make it to the border. Thousands die each year traveling through the Sub-Saharan desert to even make it to Morocco’s borderland (Winter, 2005).

Africa’s extreme poverty and constant war have been the driving force for thousands to make the dangerous trek to the European “promise land” (Richburg, 2001; Tremlett, 2006; Winter, 2005). Richburg (2001) argues that because Spain is the closest port of entry for Africa and has the least stringent immigration laws of Europe, Spain has become a hot spot for many Africans hoping to make it to other countries within Europe. “The continent (Europe) is rapidly moving toward its goal of having no internal borders. The Scandinavian countries became part of Western Europe's passport-free zone this month; Spain is already part of it. That means that once illegal immigrants make it into Spain, they can easily move to France, the Netherlands, Britain or wherever there might be work ( Richburg, 2001, p.2)”

Yet for many of the fortunate Africans who are able to enter into Spain, life as a Spanish immigrant is hard. For the past six years, a growing number of African immigrants have been the target of hate crimes and discrimination. According to Carol Matlack and Tarzian (2007) “a deadly 2004 train bombing in Madrid, blamed on a Moroccan-led terrorist group, underscored the risk of Islamic extremism” and has caused alarm in Spanish citizens, causing “scattered incidents of anti-immigrant violence (p. 2).”

In 2008, African immigrants began a revenge riot in Roquetas de Mar when a 28-year old Senegalese immigrant was killed after trying to break up an argument between Roman Gypsies and Senegalese immigrants (British Broadcasting System, 2008). Since this incident, more and more Afro-Europeans have faced discrimination within the country of Spain and throughout Europe.

While I’m very interested in all of these dynamics from a theoretical standpoint, all of the Spanish/African tension I’ve been reading about leads me to wonder: How will each group view me? What will my assumed identity be? Will the Europeans think that I’m African and treat me as such or will my Texan accent come through and signify me as a separate class of other? Will the Afro-Europeans see me as one of their own, or will I be just another spoiled American? And in all of this, I can’t help but wonder how I will I see myself?

I guess only time will tell….

Luego my Loves,
Mitzi