Foregrounding (im)mobility to engage with experiences of human displacement, this study seeks to disrupt and mark a change of emphasis in current debates about migration in literary and cultural studies. It engages with Laila Lalami's Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (2005) and explores the novel's representation of Morocco-Europe migration, the journeys between what Badiou aptly defines as 'the pleasures of wealth and the desires of the poor' (2008). Through reading the stories of Murad and

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... lima -the two characters in the novel who fail to make it into Europethis paper draws on anthropological studies of contemporary migration and examines the ways in which failure and (im)mobility stimulate fruitful transformations. It explores the complexities at the heart of migratory projects and the role that both mobility and immobility play in shaping the characters' lives, and problematizes understandings of migration which privilege mobility and border-crossing. A focus on immobility reveals cultural and social processes which would otherwise remain obscured by an increased focus on narratives of mobility; through an insight into experiences of displacement beyond mere movement, this paper identifies acts of resistance, empowerment and agency activated by what Carling calls forced, 'involuntary immobility ' (2002).