La frontière nord du Mexique est une sorte d’aimant qui attire d’immenses migrations humaines. Bien que cette «arrière-mur » entre les deux pays soit l’une des plus longues, dangereuses et traversées du monde, elle est aussi l’une des plus « poreuses » et de plus filmées. La problématique de cette recherche se pose sur la façon dont la frontièreentre le Mexique et les États-Unis est construite, filmiquement parlant, dans un corpus précis de films. Les travaux proposés sont : Los que se quedan (Juan C. Rulfo et Carlos Hargerman, 2008), Norteado (Rigoberto Pérezcano, 2009),également la production étasunienne, A better life (Christian Weitz, 2011). Ma recherche se fonde sur l’hypothèse selon laquelle la trilogie représente la frontière en trois étapes ou facettes de la frontière. D’un point de vue physique ougéographique, dans Los que se quedan la frontière est bien lointaine, elle est vue depuis le Sud. En revanche, dans Norteado la frontière commence à « s’approcher», jusqu'à sa traversée. Tandis que, dans A better life, la frontière estvue depuis le Nord. Le spectateur « construira » la frontière à travers un voyage migratoire, en trois degrés, trois faces et trois films. La focalisation de Los que se quedan se centre sur les témoins plutôt que sur la frontière comme espace. Norteado, se focalise sur deux aspects : la frontière comme un espace ressenti par le personnage en transit. A better life met l’accent sur les ressentiments du protagoniste face à la frontière. / The border between Mexico and the United States is known for being one of the largest, busiest and most dangerous in the world. This "barrier-wall" is not only one of the most extensive, dangerous and crossed in the world, but it is also one of the most "porous" and the most filmed. This doctoral thesis focuses on the representation of that real and imaginary border in cinema. The purpose is to study what elements are used, which ones are reoccurring and how they are related in a corpus of three films whose constants are: the trip, the wait and the failure or success of crossing the border. The corpus is framed in Those Who Remind (Los que se quedan, Juan Rulfo y Carlos C. Hargerman, 2008), Norteado (Rigoberto Pérezcano, 2009), and A Better Life (Christian Weitz, 2011). Together these movies make a kind of a circle where the border, the journey and the crossing are rewritten. Our research is founded on the hypothesis that the trilogy represents the frontier in three stages or facets. From a physical or geographical point of view, in Los que se quedan, the border is perceived as a faraway place, it is seen from the “South”. In Norteado, the border gets closer until the immigrant crosses it. Meanwhile, in A better Lifethe borderline is situated far from the geographical line: In the “North”. The trilogy shows the movement of the border through the immigrant figure, in a trip which is performed in three moments. The spectator “constructs” the border through a migratory journey in three degrees, three faces and in three films. The concentration of Los que se quedan is on the characters rather than on the frontier as a space. Norteado focuses on two aspects: the border as a geographical place and what the character feels in transit. A better Life emphasizes on how the characters feel in front of the border.

Is it possible to conceive of migrants as active stakeholders of migration and asylum policies rather than passive objects of political and humanitarian intervention? In the public discourse on migration, migrants' voices are largely ignored and their political future in the reception country is often that of ascribed muteness and disenfranchisement. Yet, migrants have a voice, a history, a context, and therefore, potential aspirations to a political existence. In this dissertation, I propose an empirical study of the migratory journeys that occurred during what has been known as "the summer of migration," which described the incoming of migrants via the Aegean Sea and through the Western Balkans to Germany and the rest of Northern Europe. Based on field observations in initial reception centers for asylum seekers in Hamburg and semi-structured interviews with fifteen participants from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who came to Germany between 2015 and 2016, this dissertation proposes an analytical framework that provides a critical approach to the migration management regime and migrants migratory journey narratives. The claim of this dissertation is double. First it argues that it is analytically necessary to systematize the production of immanent knowledge about migrants' journeys through their own subjectivities. Such a perspective enables a deeper understanding of the impact of human mobility on state sovereignty, borderscapes and the workings of the migration management regime. Second, it is equally necessary to politically contribute to the normalization of integrating migrants' voices in the public debate and discourse to address oppressive practices of migration management and control. / Ph. D. / Is it possible to conceive of migrants as active stakeholders of migration and asylum policies rather than passive objects of political and humanitarian intervention? In the public discourse on migration, migrants’ voices are largely ignored and their political future in the reception country is often that of ascribed muteness and disenfranchisement. Yet, migrants have a voice, a history, a context, and therefore, potential aspirations to a political existence. In this dissertation, I propose an empirical study of the migratory journeys that occurred during what has been known as “the summer of migration,” which described the incoming of migrants via the Aegean Sea and through the Western Balkans to Germany and the rest of Northern Europe. Based on field observations in initial reception centers for asylum seekers in Hamburg and semi-structured interviews with fifteen participants from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who came to Germany between 2015 and 2016, this dissertation proposes an analytical framework that provides a critical approach to the migration management regime and migrants migratory journey narratives. The claim of this dissertation is double. First it argues that it is analytically necessary to systematize the production of immanent knowledge about migrants’ journeys through their own subjectivities. Such a perspective enables a deeper understanding of the impact of human mobility on state sovereignty, borderscapes and the workings of the migration management regime. Second, it is equally necessary to politically contribute to the normalization of integrating migrants’ voices in the public debate and discourse to address oppressive practices of migration management and control.