Recruiting, Protecting, Participating: African Student-Agents and Student-Activists Shaping Northern Cyprus as a Study Destination [English Version]

Abstract

Traduction de Alexandra Poméon O’Neill et Katherine Booth<br>In recent years, the literature regarding migration infrastructure has undergone significant expansion, providing a better understanding of the complexity of the mechanisms that facilitate the movement of individuals across borders. The aim of this article is to engage with this literature in order to give greater attention to the participation of migrants themselves in migration infrastructures. We analyse the involvement of certain international students in the dynamics that have been influencing the arrival in Northern Cyprus of tens of thousands of students, mainly from Sub-Saharan Africa, since the late 2000s. Two seemingly antagonistic figures coexist: on one hand, the student-agent, acting as a recruiter for the universities; on the other hand, the student-activist who opposes the mercantile excesses of recruitment. The analysis leads us to highlight what these two figures and the students that embody them have in common in terms of practices and trajectories, as well as what makes them crucial intermediaries between students, universities, and local public services.