ABSTRACT

Transboundary waters serve critical bordering functions and are often obstacles for migrants transiting throughout the globe. This article focuses on migrant encounters with Mesoamerican river-borders, as highlighted in recent media images of river crossings – from individuals to migrant caravans – that show how people use waterbodies to evade state capture. Analysing widely circulated images of migrant death at the Rio Grande (US–Mexico) and the caravan spectacle at the Suchiate River (Mexico-Guatemala), I attend to contemporary migrations taking place at the intersection of securitisation, border-making, and ecology. Reflecting on historical events such as the Río Sumpul Massacre in El Salvador, recent Central American caravan migrations across Mexico-Guatemala, to the widely circulated river death of migrants Óscar and Valeria Martínez Ramírez in mid-2019, I consider the environmental relations, cultural practices, and social forms that emerge around river-borders. I highlight ongoing processes of terraforming that are shaping borderland biomes and that are subsequently disrupting boundary dynamics linked to popular mobility, informal economies, and ecosystem health. Juxtaposing migrant sociality at river-borders with contemporary border-formation, I show how migrant movement is discouraged and repelled in service of sealing borders through the making of ecologies of control.

摘要

跨界水域起着至关重要的边界作用，并经常成为移民在全球范围内过境的障碍。本文重点关注移民与中美洲河流沿岸的遭遇，正如最近媒体从个人到移民大篷车的过河图片所强调的那样，这些图片显示了人们如何利用水体逃避国家捕获。通过分析广为流传的里奥格兰德州（美国-墨西哥）移民死亡和苏契亚特河（墨西哥-危地马拉）的大篷车景象，我观察了当代发生在资产证券化，边境制作和生态交汇处的移民。回顾历史事件，例如萨尔瓦多的里奥·桑普尔（RíoSumpul）大屠杀，中美洲大篷车最近在墨西哥-危地马拉的迁徙，对于2019年中期Óscar和ValeriaMartínezRamírez移民在河流中广泛流传的死亡，我考虑了沿河边界周围出现的环境关系，文化习俗和社会形式。我强调了正在进行的地形形成过程，这些过程正在塑造边境生物群落，并随后破坏了与民众流动性，非正规经济和生态系统健康相关的边界动力。我将移民社会与具有现代边界形式的河岸并置在一起，我展示了如何通过建立控制生态系统来阻止和排斥移民运动，以密封边界。我强调了正在进行的地形形成过程，这些过程正在塑造边境生物群落，并随后破坏了与民众流动性，非正规经济和生态系统健康相关的边界动力。我将移民社会与具有现代边界形式的河岸并置在一起，我展示了如何通过建立控制生态系统来阻止和排斥移民运动，以密封边界。我强调了正在进行的地形形成过程，这些过程正在塑造边境生物群落，并随后破坏了与民众流动性，非正规经济和生态系统健康相关的边界动力。我将移民社会与具有现代边界形式的河岸并置在一起，我展示了如何通过建立控制生态系统来阻止和排斥移民运动，以密封边界。