Mobilités contraintes, pratiques différenciées. Tactiques de déplacement et d’installation des Syriens à Irbid (Jordanie)

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of a coercive measure applied to Syrians that prohibits the ownership and the driving of motor vehicles in Jordan, a country where travel is dominated by the private car.Based on an ethnography conducted in the city of Irbid, the paper focuses on the tactics and trade-offs established by Syrians to move around and increase their mobility capital in the city. The political constraints of mobility weigh above all on the most fragile populations. This reflection thus questions a more general dimension on access to the city and questions the effects of discriminatory measures applied to refugees. These contribute to social exclusion and restrict the appropriation of urban spaces.In the light of these mobility practices, the Cheikh Khalil bus station presents itself as a singular case study where different mobility flows and several generations of Syrian migration intersect. The identity of the neighbourhood is marked by the anchoring of a cross-border migrant community on the move, whose solidarity actions adapt to contextual changes.

Keywords

• mobility
• urban refugees
• cross-border migrants
• bus station neighbourhood
• hospitality
• Syrians