Title
A question that has no end: the politics of life and death in the search for disappeared migrants in Mexico
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-21-2020
Journal
Citizenship Studies
Volume
24
Issue
8
First Page
994
Last Page
1009
URL with Digital Object Identifier
https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2020.1769027
Abstract
This article explores the struggles of Central American families of disappeared migrants to maintain hope in the search for their loved ones along the migrant route in Mexico. The militarization of borders and threats from organized crime and corrupt state authorities have led to the disappearance and death of thousands of migrants in transit in Mexico. Drawing from ethnographic research conducted with the families of disappeared migrants, this article contributes to literature on migrant struggles by analyzing the Caravan of Central American Mothers of Disappeared Migrants as an example of a life-centered politics that rejects the normalization of migrant suffering and death. By searching for their disappeared loved ones, the families enact an embodied demand that migrants be treated as subjects with rights – both in life and death.
