And What About Children?: Representations of Infant Migration in Latino/a Cinema
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13136/2281-4582/2021.i17.977Keywords:
Immigration, Children, US-Mexico Border, Latino/a, CinemaAbstract
The conceptualization of the border as a living, fresh wound has become the foundation of numerous studies that have described and tackled the issue of immigration from myriad perspectives: social, economic, cultural, and political, among others. Similarly, this ‘herida abierta’ has been the focus of diverse written, visual, and aural representations, in artistic manifestations of all kinds. In particular, in the case of Latino/a cinema, the act of migrating has been exposed in movies such as El Norte and/or Sin Nombre, among others. However, as noted by Katharine M. Donato Vanderbilt and Blake Sisk, “although studies point to children and young adults in the Mexico-US migration process, most do not focus on children’s experiences per se” (2015, 61). Following this line of thought, this essay intends to explore the way immigration (understood as a process which involves a point of departure, a journey, and the arrival and settlement of migrants) is represented in Latino/a cinema, paying special attention to the way children are affected by it. The essay will look at several audiovisual texts, ranging from the documentary film Which Way Home, to movies such as Under the Same Moon and Entre Nos.
References
Achotegui, Joseba. “Ulysses Syndrome.” https://josebaachotegui.com/en/ulysses-syndrome-joseba-achotegui. Last visited 19/05/2021.
Acuña, Rudolfo. Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.
Agamben, Giorgio. Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. Trans. Daniel Heller-Roazen. Redwood City: Stanford University Press, 1998.
Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera. The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1987.
Auchter, Jessica. “Border Monuments: Memory, Counter-Memory, and (B)Ordering Practices Along the US-Mexico Border.” Review of International Studies 39 (2013): 291-311.
Camissa, Rebecca. Which Way Home. 2009.
Cantú, Francisco. The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border. London: Penguin, 2018.
Casey, Edward S. and Mary M. Watkins. Up Against the Wall: Re-imagining the U.S.-Mexico Border. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014.
Chávez, Sergio R. Border Lives: Fronterizos, Transnational Migrants, and Commuters in Tijuana. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Debry, Joana. “U.S. Immigration Policy and Family Separation: The Consequences for Children’s Well-Being.” Social Science & Medicine 132 (2015): 245-251.
Dettlaff, Alan J., Ilze Earner and Susan D. Phillips. “Latino Children of Immigrants in the Child Welfare System: Prevalence, Characteristics, and Risk.” Children and Youth Services Review 31 (2009): 775-783.
Dominguez Villegas, Rodrigo. “Central American Migrants and ‘La Bestia’: The Route, Dangers, and Government Responses.” Migration Policy Institute 10 September 2014. www.migrationpolicy.org/article/central-american-migrants-and-“la-bestia”-route-dangers-and-government-responses. Last visited 26/03/2021.
Donato Vanderbilt, Katharine M. and Blake Sisk. “Children’s Migration to the United States from Mexico and Central America: Evidence from the Mexican and Latin American Migration Projects.” Journal on Migration and Human Security 3.1 (2015): 58-79.
Donato Vanderbilt, Katharine M. and Samantha L. Perez. “Crossing the Mexico-U.S. Border: Illegality and Children’s Migration to the United States.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 3.4 (2017): 116-135.
Dunn, Timothy J. The Militarization of The U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978-1992: Low-Intensity Conflict Doctrine Comes Home. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996.
Fox, Claire. The Fence and The River: Culture and Politics at The U.S.-Mexico Border. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999.
Fukunaga, Cari J. Sin Nombre. 2009.
Ganster, Paul and David E. Lorey. The U.S.-Mexican Border Today: Conflict and Cooperation in Historical Perspective. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
Gómez-Peña, Guillermo. The New World Border: Prophecies, Poems & Loqueras for the End of the Century. San Francisco: City Lights Publishers, 1996.
Gulbas, Lauren E. and Luis H. Zayas. “Exploring the Effects of U.S. Immigration Enforcement on the Well-being of Citizen Children in Mexican Immigrant Families.” Journal of the Social Sciences 3.4. (2017): 53-69.
Gulbas Lauren E., et al. “Deportation Experiences and Depression among U.S. Citizen-Children with Undocumented Mexican Parents.” Child: Care, Health and Development 42.2 (2015): 220-230.
Herrera, Juan Felipe. Exiles of Desire. Houston: Árte Público Press, 1985.
Herrera, Yuri. Signs Preceding the End of the World. Sheffield: And Other Stories, 2015.
Lamorte, Gloria and Paula Mendoza. Entre Nos. 2009.
Leen, Catherine. “Deracination and Acculturation: The Border in Chicano Film Practice.” Cine y cultura cinematográfica 1 (2002): 87-95.
Maciel, David R. “Hollywood Views Mexican Immigration.” Voices of Mexico 33 (October-December 1995): 23-28.
Maciel, David R. and María Herrera-Sobek. Culture Across Borders: Mexican Immigration & Popular Culture. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1998.
Martínez, Rafael A. “Transformative Borders in Cinema: Evolving Concepts of Migrant Crossings.” Working Paper Series no 1. University of New Mexico.
Mora, Pat. Borders. Houston: Árte Público Press, 1986.
Nava, Gregory. El Norte. 1983.
Nichols, Bill. Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991.
Noriega, Chon, edited by. Chicanos and Film: Essays on Chicano Representation and Resistance. New York: Garland Publishing, 1992.
Paredes, Américo. Folklore and Culture on the Texas-Mexican Border. Texas: University of Austin Press, 1993.
Partida, Jorge. “The Effects of Immigration on Children in the Mexican-American Community.” Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal 13.3 (June 1996): 241-254.
Passel, Jeffrey S. and D’Vera Cohn. “A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States.” Pew Hispanic Center April 2009. https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2009/04/14/a-portrait-of-unauthorized-immigrants-in-the-united-states/. Last visited 26/03/2021.
Preston, Julia. “Not Child’s Play: Closely Watched Train Hoppers.” New York Times 24 August 2009. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/arts/television/24migrant.html. Last visited 19/05/2021.
Riggen, Patricia. Misma Luna. (Under the Same Moon). 2007.
Rings, Guido. “Identity and Otherness in Contemporary Chicano Cinema—An Introduction.” iMex. México Interdisciplinario/Interdisciplinary Mexico 1.2 (Summer 2012): 4-11.
Saldívar, José David. Border Matter: Remapping American Cultural Studies. Oakland: University of California Press, 1997.
Saldívar-Hull, Sonia. Feminism on the Border: Chicana Gender Politics and Literature. Oakland: University of California Press, 2000.
Sánchez, Erika L. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2017.
Secure Fence Act. H.R. 6061 (2006). http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-109hr6061enr/pdf/BILLS-109hr6061enr.pdf. Last visited 26/03/2021.
Shannon, Sheila M. and Kathy Escamilla. “Mexican Immigrants in U.S. Schools: Targets of Symbolic Violence.” Educational Policy 13.3 (July 1997): 347-370.
Solis, Octavio. Retablos Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border. San Francisco: City Lights Publishers, 2018.
St-Georges, Charles. “Mexicanidad As Race, Gender, And Neoliberal Ideology in Patricia Riggen’s La Misma Luna/Under the Same Moon (2008).” The Latin Americanist 62.1 (March 2018): 80-98.
Torres, Nicole I. Walls of Indifference: Immigration and the Militarization of the US-Mexico Border. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers, 2014.
Urrea, Luis Alberto. The Devil’s Highway: A True Story. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2004.
Young, Robert. Alambrista!. 1977.
Zamora, Javier. Unaccompanied. Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press, 2018.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Amaia Ibarraran Bigalondo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Iperstoria is an Open Access journal.- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 BY-NC License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of their work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. We require authors to inform us of any instances of re-publication.
