Stephanie Schütze and Ximena Alba Villalever are organizing the Workshop "Migración y Violencia en México" at LASA 2020 Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico from May 13 to 16, 2020.

Workshop description:

Historically, Mexico has been a transit country for migrants from a wide variety of backgrounds seeking to reach the United States. In recent years, political, economic or climatic instability in the countries of origin, the strengthening of border control between Mexico and the United States (and the southern Mexican border), and the fragile situation in the transit country have exposed migrants to various forms of violence. On the one hand, they face structural violence that limits their access to basic rights such as water, food security or decent work, as well as their personal safety. In addition, the rise of organized crime groups and gangs in countries of origin, transit and settlement has led to an increase in violence against migrants. Women, in particular, are confronted with sexual and gender-based violence at various levels: from trafficking networks to the imminent threat of rape along the way. Finally, people in transit also face institutional violence represented by both the lack of action to ratify their safety and the use of excessive force to prevent or counteract the entry of migrants into Mexican and/or US territory.
Faced with these crossroads, in this workshop we seek to discuss the panorama of migration through Mexico in its intertwining with different forms of violence and to clarify the ways in which it could be addressed from the academy.

Participants:

• María Dolores Paris Pombo (Colef)
• Martha Rojas Wiesener (EcoSur)
• Oscar Calderón (Puebla)
• Xóchitl Bada (UIC)
• Andreas Feldmann (UIC)
• Ximena Alba Villalever (FU)
• Stephanie Schütze (FU)
• Bruno Miranda (CRIM)