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“Qu’importe le prix !” : Migration and Agency in Aminata Pagni’s Impossible de rester

Impossible de rester (2019), Aminata Pagni’s debut novel, traces the journey of Aram, a young Ivorian who, after the death of her father, sets out in search of a new life in Morocco, where she resides as an irregular migrant for five years. Pagni was inspired by her experiences as a legal expert and specialist of migrants’ rights. In the novel, Pagni emphasizes both the emotions and the harsh realities of the migrant experience, particularly focusing on the root causes and conditions of migrants’ precarity. Additionally, Pagni highlights how migrants navigate and respond to this insecurity. The analysis begins by examining Aram’s experiences in Côte-d’Ivoire, and the role that gender and social class play in the precarious conditions that lead to her migration. The analysis then moves to the study of the extent to which the insecurity she experiences as an irregular migrant in Morocco is determined by gender and racial perceptions, and by local and global structures and forces. The essay demonstrates how Aram responds to the institutional, legal, and socio-economic limitations imposed on her by being self-reliant, by practicing care, by being mobile, and by exercising her right to pursue a better life regardless of the risk and cost.