Notions of home and sense of belonging in the context of migration in a journey through participatory photography

Abstract

The question of where is home is especially difficult for migrants, who live in a place different than their place of origin, and particularly for undocumented migrants, who don't have any legal recognition or rights and constantly risk being detained and deported. Through participatory photography and interviews, a process we called Fotohistorias, we explored human experiences in relation to migration in the US (the North), at the US-Mexico border (the border), and in Colombia (the South). Along with a reflection on the methodology on both researchers' work and participants' empowerment, this paper reports on outcomes related to the notions of home and sense of belonging that emerged in the experiences shared by migrants in those three settings. They evidence different notions of "what is home" as well as "where do I belong," reflecting the different degrees of transience and impermanence in the everyday experiences of migrants.