No venimos de turistas: Central Americans’ tales of migration through Mexico

• In Event: Pa’l norte

Abstract

This paper argues that the current Central American crisis lies within a historical continuum that marks Central American bodies as disposable and violable. I situate the words of Central American migrants not just as narrations of personal experiences but also as theorizations on the racialization of Central Americans vis-à-vis Mexicans. Further, the stories shared illustrate nuanced understandings of questions of citizenship, illegality, and vulnerability. The nation of Mexico represents an entire zone of permissible violence on the bodies of Central American transmigrants. Migrant storytelling shines a light on questions of heteropatriarchal racist state and extra-judicial violence in Mexico. I contend that the enforcement of draconian anti-immigrant laws and sentiment in Mexico is vital to the coherence of Mexico as a modern nation-state. The expansion of surveillance and militaristic technologies in Mexico with the financial and operational aid of the United States is disastrous for many Central American migrants. The tragic consequences of this collusion is made possible by a long-standing discursive construction of Central American bodies as inferior ‘others’ in Mexican nationalist discourses. Central American migrant narratives help us understand this othering and how it amplifies vulnerability. Ultimately, when Central American migrants share their experiences they are also sharing valuable ways of knowing how power operates in and on the bodies of people. Their lives push scholars to remember that these questions of migration, violence, and crisis go beyond theoretical abstractions and remind us of the urgency of our moment.

Author

• Alejandro Villalpando, University of California, Riverside