Migrant reterritorializations through body and its expressions

Abstract

Migration challenges the relation between identity-building process and territory. Space has traditionally been observed as backdrop of social relations and practices, but a constructivist perspective leads the analysis to observe the practices producing space and territory. That space expresses itself on different territorialities. Some practices of migrant population produce territory on the bodies, so, the body becomes territory. This reflection expands the knowledge of migration and its spatial expression. The present text is based on ethnographical fieldwork on migrant beauty salons and barber shops in Santiago downtown. Considering these empirical observations, the text discusses multiple ways to produce space through the identity-building processes.