Living at the margins of the State: Ecuadorian irregular migrants in Amsterdam and Madrid
Two driving forces have sustained and fostered this research work: the curiosity about the phenomenon of irregular migration, that is emblematic of the contradictions and complexities of the age of globalization and then, the dissatisfaction with most of the available explanations. My curiosity was...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2016 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) |
| Repositorio: | Docta Complutense |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/26739 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/26739 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | 343.343.6(043.2) Inmigrantes clandestinos Illegal aliens Inmigrantes y refugiados 5902.15 Política Social |
| Sumario: | Two driving forces have sustained and fostered this research work: the curiosity about the phenomenon of irregular migration, that is emblematic of the contradictions and complexities of the age of globalization and then, the dissatisfaction with most of the available explanations. My curiosity was not so much aroused by the scenes of the overcrowded boats trying to cross the Mediterranean or of the people jumping over the fences in Tijuana, in order to achieve their “American dream”. After all, a great deal of human history has been about people trying to overcome barriers, no matter whether they are geographical or political, in order to improve their living conditions. What really intrigued me was on the other side of those barriers. Why were the rich states that cried against the “invasion”, with all their armies, resources and technologies, still unable to stop these hordes of miserable people? Was it possible that after four centuries of adjustments and rethinking, the epitome of modern politics had not yet been able to solve the most elemental problem, that of populations coming and going? How could irregular migrants live, work and fulfil their dreams within societies that, at least in principle, refused their presence? Irregular migration appeared to me as a captivating phenomenon because it evidenced the incongruence between the idea of states as the all-embracing, all-mighty controllers of socio-political interactions, and a much more complex and thriving reality made up of conflicts, ambivalences and uncertainty. Reflecting and researching on irregular migration, from this point of view, seems to me not simply a way to elucidate the particular aspects of a specific social phenomenon, but rather to reveal a viewpoint from which to observe the structure and dynamics of contemporary society as a whole. A preliminary review of the literature on irregular migration provided me with a large number of different, often contrasting, answers. Depending on the point of view, scholars and researchers had explained the phenomenon as the results of disparate causes, such as: the weaknesses of states, the ability of migrants, the interests of capitalists, the support of criminal networks, etc. As I proceeded in the exploration, I found myself in the paradoxical situation of becoming more and more fascinated by the new approach I found, and, at the same time, more frustrated by the incongruence of the complex puzzle that was emerging. Furthermore, it appeared that each 12 theorization effort usually emerged from the analysis of a particular national case. Thus, for instance, if in a certain place, the role of efficient smuggler networks had been crucial, irregular migration had to be explained everywhere as the result of smuggler networks. Besides, since the studied cases were rather limited, these monocausal, undifferentiated explanations were proposed without a solid empirical control base. What seemed to be missing, then, was a broader and more systematic work of comparison, in other words, one that made it possible to assess similarities and differences between different cases and therefore to offer material for the development of a more general and sophisticated understanding of irregular migration... |
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