Award Information
Migration-induced traumatic injury and impairment define critical yet neglected experiences of many migrants of Central American origins who traverse Mexico's borders not once, but twice, on perilous journeys from Honduras, Guatemala, and elsewhere to the U.S. Although fatalities are now documented with care by numerous human rights groups, many more migrants endure the devastating and long-term consequences of traumatic injuries, including amputations and paralysis, and accompanying psychological distress. This project asks, how do injury and impairment among Latino migrants at various stages along well-worn migratory routes shape embodied experiences of disability among a neglected yet growing category of migrants bound for the U.S.? Of special concern is how traumatic injury alters, impedes, or derails the migrant experience and reshapes subjectivity. How, too, do such experiences enrich current understandings of the geopolitics of impairment, risk, and the ethics of care in the context of transnational migrations?