Enacting trust: contract, law and informal economic relationships in a Spanish border enclave in Morocco

Small and removed from the Spanish mainland, the Enclave of Ceuta has always depended on flows of goods and labour out of the Moroccan hinterland, with individuals from different ethnic and religious groups forming informal, flexible and personal economic bonds based on mutual ‘confianza’ (trust). Since its entry into the European Union in 1986,the Spanish government has erected a border-wall around the enclave, and introduced new migration policies branding many informal workers within its borders as a threat to Spanish society. Based on my preliminary months of research, this paper compares the Ceutancontext with other research recently conducted on the topics of migration and borders in the Mediterranean region. It brings into focus key theoretical issues and assumptions that constantly emerge in such literature, particularly regarding the role of ‘a-cultural’ personal ties between migrants and locals in undermining State categories and ideology. This paper observes how the Ceutan case encourages us to expand our focuses and consequently problematise our understanding of crucial concepts such as ‘trust’ and ‘integration’.