1st Edition
Ambivalent Humanitarianism and Migration Control Colonial legacies and the Experiences of Migrants in Mexico
Ambivalent Humanitarianism and Migration Control explores the complex relationship between migrants and local aid organisations. These organisations have become indisputably relevant and highly regarded as allies to Northern Central American migrants trying to reach the United States. Thus, this book examines the implications of humanitarian actors in migration governance and bordering practices, which have serious and long-lasting effects on the lives of migrants.
Through an in-depth research in Mexico, this book suggests that humanitarian organisations are ambivalent institutions because they intend to help and support individuals while reinforcing social and power inequalities. It explores the narratives, roles, and practices of humanitarian workers, and, at the same time, addresses migrants’ resistance. From an interdisciplinary approach that employs critical humanitarian perspectives, post/decolonial theories, and criminological studies, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of migration governance and migrants’ agency.
A highly informative, insightful, and engaging read, Ambivalent Humanitarianism and Migration Control will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers in migration studies, border studies, sociology, and critical criminology. Given its international scope, it also will be of interest to academics, practitioners, and people in Latin America, the United States, the UK, Europe, and beyond.
Introduction 1. Migration governance, infrastructures, and agencies 2. Northern Central American migration: Colonial legacies and state policies 3. The case of casas del migrante 4. Protective missions and exclusionary practices 5. Punitive houses 6. To deter mobility or not Conclusion
Biography
Erika Herrera Rosales is a Teaching Fellow at the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick. She was awarded with an Early Career Fellowship from the Institute of Advanced Studies and has been appointed as an Associate Fellow. Her research focuses on global migration, bordering practices, and post/decolonial perspectives.
From the UN's global compacts to the frontline efforts of humanitarian organizations, this book paints a vivid picture of compassion and complexity, geopolitical entanglement and human emotions along migration routes in Mexico. A must-read for those seeking to understand the intricacies of contemporary global migration and the changing role of humanitarian actors.
Nando Sigona, Professor, Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology, University of Birmingham
This timely book provides insights into Central American migration to the USA that are rarely discussed: the challenges of crossing Mexico, the violence, the racism, and the precarity. This book is vital reading for scholars and migration organisers who want to explore critical humanitarian perspectives.
Mónica G Moreno Figueroa, Professor of Sociology, University of Cambridge
Erika Herrera Rosales work provides unprecedented insights into the workings of humanitarian spaces for people in mobility contexts in Mexico, and the ways they reproduce forms of state discipline, surveillance and control, systematically rendering suspect those who rely on their services. The book challenges the assumptions surrounding migrant shelters as benevolent, protective spaces, and raises concerns over their role amid migration enforcement in the hemisphere. An important, urgent text.
Gabriella Sanchez, Research Fellow, Georgetown University
