Migration, borders and identity in the latin american context

Abstract

In concert with more localized analyses of border regions, the Border Studies field has contributed to our understanding of how mobility affects identity. The distinction between cultural and identification boundaries has proved relevant for analyzing the identity processes that arise in border interactions typically marked by ambiguity and contradiction. However, the current migratory context is defined by dehumanizing social and political inequalities. This poses a conceptual challenge to understanding the subjectivities produced by the current policies of border control that dehumanize the immigrant and mobile person. This chapter reflects on the conceptual and empirical relationship between migration, borders, and identity in a current climate characterized by global connections and nation-states’ increasing border control over human mobility. It also analyzes the symbolic dimension of state border control and its consequences for constituting identities.