Outlining border people of the frontier zone between Spain and Morocco. Empirical and methodological questions

Introduction: This work is based on a larger project that studies the identity of border people on the Ceuta/Tetouan border. The objectives include the definition of this group and the creation of an instrument to examine its process of identity construction in this scenario. Method: In the collection of data to define this population, various sources of information were used and a network of key informants was created. Regarding the second goal, three volunteers participated in a pilot test of the instrument, and four researchers in its creation and assessment. Results: For the first aim, our proposal involved grouping the distinct collectives into three categories: people who frequently cross the border; those who occasionally cross it; and people who do not cross. An autobiographical semi-structured interview and a field notebook of the interviews were created as a result of the second goal. Conclusions: This type of work requires a sensitive approach to the context under study that considers the socio-political conditions and also requires support from knowledgeable informants for the introduction of the researchers.