Making Absence Visible: The Caravan of Central American Mothers in Search of Disappeared Migrants

The touring model employed by the Caravan of Central American Mothers in search of disappeared migrants in transit through Mexico creates processes of political empowerment for poor, indigenous peasant women who have no previous experience as activists and human rights defenders. Interviews and part...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Latin American perspectives 2017-09, Vol.44 (5), p.108-126
Main Authors: Hernández, Raúl Diego Rivera, Breña, Mariana Ortega
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activism
Activists
Alliances
Civil rights
Cultural capital
Disappearance of persons
Empowerment
Grief
Group identity
Human rights
Identity
Migrants
Mothers
Networks
Participant observation
Politics
Securitization
Transformation
Transnationalism
Transportation
Visibility
Vulnerability
Women
Womens rights
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Summary:The touring model employed by the Caravan of Central American Mothers in search of disappeared migrants in transit through Mexico creates processes of political empowerment for poor, indigenous peasant women who have no previous experience as activists and human rights defenders. Interviews and participant observation with members and organizers of the ninth caravan (held in December 2013) reveal three key moments that anchor the mothers' transformation into political subjects and human rights activists: the creation of a collective identity based on maternal activism, theforging of an alliance with transnational human rights networks, and the emergence of a budding politics of visibility based on public acts of grieving that candidly lament the vulnerability of migrants caught in the drug war and border securitization across the hemisphere. El modelo itinerante de la Caravana de Madres Centroamericanas en busca de migrantes desaparecidos en tránsito por México genera procesos de empoderamiento político de mujeres pobres, indígenas, campesinas y sin experiencia como activistas y defensoras de derechos humanos. Entrevistas y observación participante con integrantes y organizadores de la novena Caravana (diciembre 2013) identifican tres momentos claves para entender la transformación de las madres en sujetos políticos y luchadoras sociales por la defensa de los derechos migrantes: la conformación de una identidad colectiva basada en el activismo maternal, la alianza con redes transnacionales de promoción y defensa de los derechos humanos, y la emergencia de una política de la visibilidad a partir de acciones de duelo público en respuesta a la vulnerabilidad de los migrantes en el contexto de la narcoguerra y la política hemisférica de securitización de fronteras.
ISSN:0094-582X
1552-678X
DOI:10.1177/0094582X17706905