Burning at Europe's Borders: An Ethnography on the African Migrant Experience in Morocco draws a close lens on our global migrant and refugee crisis and the world's largest population of migrants and refuges. The author examines the process of "the burning" among those who have fled violent conflict and extreme poverty across the African continent and now find themselves trapped under brutal conditions at Europe's southernmost borders in North Africa.
"Hrig, " the Arabic term for "illegal immigration, " translates to "burning." It signifies migrants' physical burning of identification papers, in order to avoid repatriation if arrested on their long journeys north, but also the symbolic burning of their past lives in hopes of reaching a better future on European
shores.