Entanglements of care while “de paso” (in transit)

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Abstract

Based on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork in a migrant and refugee shelter in southern Mexico, this paper seeks to approach care from a critical perspective. Approaching care while de paso as a particular carescape, I explore: (1) how being de paso shapes social spaces of care, creating provisional sites where actors engage in care practices and creatively transform spaces to respond to emergent needs; (2) particular care interactions and encounters and how these help understand and approach the experiences of those in transit; and (3) how care is potentially both a social process of protection but also of exclusion. Throughout the paper I reflect on the impacts of ethnographic fieldwork while de paso and the (im)possibilities and complexities of incorporating care into the practice of fieldwork.

Author

• Isabel Gil-Everaert, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)