28 years after his passing, Abdelmalek Sayad still speaks to our present with striking urgency.
At a time when migration between Africa and Europe is increasingly politicized, contested, and reshaped, returning to Sayad is not an act of memory; it is an intellectual necessity.
A pioneer of thinking migration as a “total social fact,” Sayad revealed the deep entanglements between societies of departure and arrival, exposing the invisible structures, inequalities, and symbolic violence that continue to define migrant experiences today.
On May 14–15, 2026, the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Benguerir will host an international symposium that revisits and reactivates this powerful legacy. Organized by the Chair of Transitions UM6P – Institute for Advanced Studies – IAS, in partnership with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and the Border Studies Research Group مجموعة بحث دراسات الحدود, this gathering invites scholars and thinkers to critically engage with Sayad’s work in light of today’s migration dynamics.
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