Keywords
Chiapas
Mexican southern border
waiting nodes
Tuxtla Gutiérrez
How to Cite
Abstract
The present article seeks to examine the impact of unwanted and indefinite waiting on the transformations of migratory trajectories. In particular, we are interested in exploring agency capacity among migrants during these moments of uncertainty due to the need to wait. Some of the questions we ask are: What role does hope play in achieving the initial goal of reaching the United States? What options for maneuvering and decision-making exist amid uncertainty? How does the wear and tear of precarious conditions influence decisions regarding migration plans? How do resources such as prior information and support from social networks impact one’s capacity for agency? For this work, we draw on qualitative fieldwork conducted between 2023 and 2024 with adult migrants of various nationalities residing in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, which we identify as a new waiting node within the South and Central American migration corridor to the United States.
References
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bourdieu, Pierre, y Loïc Wacquant. 1992. An invitation to reflexive sociology. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Chetail, Vicent, y Matthias Braeunlich. 2013. «Stranded migrants: Giving a structure to a multifaceted notion». Global Migration Research Paper, 5. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2364490.
Coleman, James S. 1988. «Social capital in the creation of human capital». American Journal of Sociology 94 (1): 95-120. doi:10.1086/228943.
Collyer, Michael. 2010. «Stranded migrants and the fragmented journey». Journal of Refugee Studies 23 (3): 273-93. doi:10.1093/jrs/feq026.
Correa, Verónica, Idenilso Bortolotto y Alain Musset, eds. 2013. Geografías de la espera: Migrar, habitar y trabajar en la ciudad de Santiago, Chile 1990-2012. Santiago de Chile: Fundación Scalabrini-Uqbar Editores. https://www.academia.edu/7560350/Geograf%C3%ADas_de_la_espera_Migrar_habitar_y_trabajar_en_la_ciudad_de_Santiago_Chile_1990_2012.
Dowd, Rebecca. 2008. «Trapped in transit: The plight and human rights of stranded migrants». New Issues in Refugee Research, 156. https://www.unhcr.org/media/trapped-transit-plight-and-human-rights-stranded-migrants-rebecca-dowd.
Düvell, Franck. 2006. «Irregular migration: A global, historical and economic perspective». En Illegal immigration in Europe: Beyond control?, editado por Franck Düvell, 14-39. Londres: Palgrave Macmillan.
Emirbayer, Mustafa, y Ann Mische. 1998. «What is agency?». American Journal of Sociology 103 (4): 962-1023. doi:10.1086/231294.
Hess, Sabine. 2012. De‐naturalising transit migration: Theory and methods of an ethnographic regime analysis. Population, Space and Place 18 (4): 428-40. doi:10.1002/psp.632.
Giddens, Anthony. 1976. New rules of sociological method: A positive critique of interpretative sociologies. California: Stanford University Press.
Hess, Sabine. 2012. «De‐naturalising transit migration: Theory and methods of an ethnographic regime analysis». Population, Space and Place 18 (4): 428-40. doi:10.1002/psp.632.
Jacobsen, Christine M., y Marry-Anne Karlsen. 2021. «Introduction: Unpacking the temporalities of irregular migration». En Waiting and the temporalities of irregular migration, editado por Christine M. Jacobsen, Marry-Anne Karlsen y Shahram Khosravi, 1-18. Londres: Taylor & Francis.
Musset, Alain. 2015. «De los lugares de espera a los territorios de la espera: ¿Una nueva dimensión de la geografía social?». Documents d’Anàlisi Geogràfica 61 (2): 305-24. https://raco.cat/index.php/DocumentsAnalisi/article/view/292867/381297.
Odgers-Ortiz, Olga, Olga Lidia Olivas Hernández e Ietza Bojorquez-Chapela. 2023. «Waiting in motion: Migrants’ involvement in civil society organizations while pursuing a migration project». Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies 21 (4): 624-36. doi:10.1080/15562948.2022.2155335.
Papadopoulou-Kourkoula, Aspacia. 2008. Transit migration: The missing link between emigration and settlement. Londres: Palgrave Macmillan London.
Sewell, William H. 1992. «A theory of structure: Duality, agency, and transformation». American Journal of Sociology 98 (1): 1-29. doi:10.1086/229967.
Sheller, Mimi. 2018. Mobility justice: The politics of movement in an age of extremes. Londres: Verso Books.
Varela Huerta, Amarela. 2020. «Caravanas de migrantes y refugiados centroamericanos: Un feminismo para abrazar las fugas de quienes buscan preservar la vida». Revista de Antropología Social 29 (2): 245-55. doi:10.5209/raso.71669.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.