French retirees living in Morocco

Where in Morocco do French retirees settle? What type of lifestyle do they choose? How much or how little contact do they have with Moroccans?

For a study of North-to-South (rather than South-to-North) migration, social geography researchers Jordan Pinel and Brenda Le Bigot conducted two qualitative surveys with French retirees living in the Moroccan region of Souss-Massa (Agadir and Tiznit), with retirees who winter there four to six months of the year, and retirees living there all year round. 

Migration research is usually interested in movements from global South to Northern countries by people in pursuit of employment or education; fewer studies focus on migration in the opposite direction, from north to south. In the latter type, people move in search of certain amenities, especially pleasant climates and lower living costs—a type of move sometimes called “lifestyle migration.” In the case of French retirees, this type of migration may be considered part of the continuous post-colonial relations between France and Morocco, and it offers an opportunity to probe the ambivalent figure of the tourist-migrant and the privileged status such migrants may enjoy within local contexts. 

French retirees living in the region of Agadir have diverse social characteristics and profiles. In general, however, they are distinctly more often from the lower middle class than in other, more attractive regions of Morocco (in 1960 in the region under study, an earthquake destroyed a considerable part of the area’s heritage sites, including its medina.) The French retirees questioned cite the pleasant climate and lower cost of living, the relatively common use of French, fiscal conditions, seaside living and spectacular landscapes, and Moroccan culture as the main attractions of this destination. Most of them, whether living in a camping car or a gated community, had already been to Morocco earlier in their lives as tourists. 

Due to French retirees’ advantageous position within both social and racial hierarchies, they can choose to live either among themselves in an arrangement resembling the gated community or in spaces where at least some Moroccans live. 

The surveys found that few of them are friends with Moroccans; their main interactions with the local population tend to involve commercial transactions and possible domestic workers, for example. 

French retirees construct their daily living spaces through the enactment of practices and customs, thereby materially and symbolically appropriating those spaces. In general they continue their French ways of life even in the migration context. In some cases they are interested in spaces both outside tourist centers and different from those Moroccans go to. Their body-related and consumer norms tend to be more European (scantier beach clothing, access to charcuterie and alcohol). They may experience disappointment when their initial expectations about life in Morocco are not met, specifically when they have difficulty making Moroccan friends, or when conflicts occur within a group of French between those more open and those less open to the presence of Moroccans in the spaces they socialize in. 

Source : Jordan Pinel, Brenda Le Bigot, Retraité·es français·es au Maroc : des spatialités privilégiées ?, Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, vol. 39, n°4, 2023, p. 219-251 [FR]

Online: October 2024