Learning in Transit: Crossing Borders, Waiting, and Waiting to Cross
Recent U.S. policy changes have contributed to longer waiting periods for migrant families in Mexican border cities. This study centers on four Honduran families enrolled in the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) policy, also referred to as ‘Remain in Mexico,’ while undergoing prolonged waiting peri...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-02-01
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Series: | Social Sciences |
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/2/121 |
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author | Michelle J. Bellino Maxie Gluckman |
author_facet | Michelle J. Bellino Maxie Gluckman |
author_sort | Michelle J. Bellino |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Recent U.S. policy changes have contributed to longer waiting periods for migrant families in Mexican border cities. This study centers on four Honduran families enrolled in the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) policy, also referred to as ‘Remain in Mexico,’ while undergoing prolonged waiting periods in the Mexican border town of Monterrey, Nuevo Léon. Centering on young people’s voices, we ask what they learn during this prolonged period of transit. Through ethnographic and digital participatory storytelling interviews, we illustrate how children learned about the politics of border crossing through fraught interactions with im/migration officials, prolonged periods of immobility, and evolving understandings of legality. Building on theories of ‘border thinking’ and ‘politicized funds of knowledge,’ we highlight ways that young people employed their evolving understandings of national borders and the legal contours of their transborder asylum process, while protecting themselves and their families from danger and discrimination. We argue that transit is not simply time that young people are forced to endure; rather, the experience of forced transit is constitutive of young people’s learning about state power and their evolving understanding of borders, rights, and belonging. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:14:29Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-eff85eba6631464eaa76773e29e3f2ca |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2076-0760 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:14:29Z |
publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
record_format | Article |
series | Social Sciences |
spelling | doaj.art-eff85eba6631464eaa76773e29e3f2ca2024-02-23T15:34:39ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602024-02-0113212110.3390/socsci13020121Learning in Transit: Crossing Borders, Waiting, and Waiting to CrossMichelle J. Bellino0Maxie Gluckman1Marsal Family School of Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USAInternational Research & Exchanges Board, Washington, DC 20005, USARecent U.S. policy changes have contributed to longer waiting periods for migrant families in Mexican border cities. This study centers on four Honduran families enrolled in the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) policy, also referred to as ‘Remain in Mexico,’ while undergoing prolonged waiting periods in the Mexican border town of Monterrey, Nuevo Léon. Centering on young people’s voices, we ask what they learn during this prolonged period of transit. Through ethnographic and digital participatory storytelling interviews, we illustrate how children learned about the politics of border crossing through fraught interactions with im/migration officials, prolonged periods of immobility, and evolving understandings of legality. Building on theories of ‘border thinking’ and ‘politicized funds of knowledge,’ we highlight ways that young people employed their evolving understandings of national borders and the legal contours of their transborder asylum process, while protecting themselves and their families from danger and discrimination. We argue that transit is not simply time that young people are forced to endure; rather, the experience of forced transit is constitutive of young people’s learning about state power and their evolving understanding of borders, rights, and belonging.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/2/121im/migrationimmigrant and refugee educationtransit migrationCentral Americayouthtransborder |
spellingShingle | Michelle J. Bellino Maxie Gluckman Learning in Transit: Crossing Borders, Waiting, and Waiting to Cross Social Sciences im/migration immigrant and refugee education transit migration Central America youth transborder |
title | Learning in Transit: Crossing Borders, Waiting, and Waiting to Cross |
title_full | Learning in Transit: Crossing Borders, Waiting, and Waiting to Cross |
title_fullStr | Learning in Transit: Crossing Borders, Waiting, and Waiting to Cross |
title_full_unstemmed | Learning in Transit: Crossing Borders, Waiting, and Waiting to Cross |
title_short | Learning in Transit: Crossing Borders, Waiting, and Waiting to Cross |
title_sort | learning in transit crossing borders waiting and waiting to cross |
topic | im/migration immigrant and refugee education transit migration Central America youth transborder |
url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/2/121 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT michellejbellino learningintransitcrossingborderswaitingandwaitingtocross AT maxiegluckman learningintransitcrossingborderswaitingandwaitingtocross |