Editorial

Migratory studies from the South do not exist ? A Latin American perspective

Editorial by Jacques Ramirez Gallegos
14 October 2024

It is commonly accepted that the greatest production of knowledge, registration of patents and investment in scientific research and technological innovation is found in the countries of the Global North, such as the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. Likewise, the official language of the main academic journals is English. 

The rules imposed by cognitive capitalism put the Global South at a disadvantage. There is an important asymmetry in the production and access to knowledge, which adds to the “brain drain”, referring to production that comes from highly qualified migrants, many of which are originally from Latin America. 
 
Very little is read and known about migration studies produced and published in Latin America. It is always surprising to read from Northern “experts in Latin America”, whose bibliographic references include only a few studies by migration experts in our region. If it has not been published in a specialized journal and in a good ranking (and of course, in English) we simply do not exist. 
 
Regional migration studies in Latin America are approaching their 100th anniversary. The pioneering work of anthropologist Manuel Gamio in Mexico, before the emergence of the transnational theoretical framework, already spoke of the importance of looking at the origin and destination of migrants and, from the second half of the 20th century, from the south of the continent, sociologist Gino Germani in Argentina explained the positive effects of migration on development and quality of life.  In other words, from the beginning there was a conceptual thinking of its own in the region that did not need to import theoretical frameworks from the North.  
 
Nowadays, from the so-called ‘first world’, the focus is on migration in the South-North direction. Like African migration to Europe, Latin American and Caribbean migration to the United States is seen as a problem and a threat to the receiving societies. Migration studies in Latin America have not only been critical of these views but many colleagues – all the way south of the Bravo River, passing through the Andes to the Patagonia - have analyzed how the contemporary migration flows are neither regular, nor orderly, nor safe, as the official discourse on migration management preaches. This is proven by recent Mexican, Central American, Venezuelan, Ecuadorian and Haitian migrations, carried out in migratory caravans in defiance of the system itself. 
 
In addition, several studies have analyzed the precarious life of the 'Latino' migrants in the host countries, either by studying access to jobs, social security, education, housing, etc. Most conclude that segregation, discrimination and exclusion are constant. This becomes more visible when analyzing certain groups of migrants (indigenous, black or Latin women), where xenophobia and machismo are accentuated, as the recent statements from former president - and current candidate - Donald Trump show, when he commented that Haitian migrants in Springfield eat pets. The issue of migration of various ethnic groups, the relationship between ethnicity, migration and exclusion, or the existence of ethnic labour enclaves in destination countries, also feeds into various studies carried out in Latin America.  
 
Thus, migration studies in the region are not only characterized as interdisciplinary, but they also highlight the socioeconomic contexts (of origin and destination), linkages, give a voice to migrants and emphasize the need to recognize migration as a right. This becomes more visible in migration policy scholars, where we have been led not only to do empirical research but also to rethink and propose concepts, such as universal citizenship, in order to give rights to migrants in any part of the world, retrieving the principle of ius domicile or residens. The emphasis on recognizing migration as a human right comes from this side. Therefore, on this side of the ocean, it is very common that migration studies end up with public policy recommendations on various topics, through Policy Briefs.  
 
In the academy of the North, especially in Europe, little is said or known about Latin American migration. A little more is known about migration in the south-north direction, but almost nothing about south-south or intraregional migration. It is thought that we are only countries of origin, but it is not commonly known that we are also countries of reception and transit: What is known about the case of Haitians who, in a migratory continuum, have transited for two decades between the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Chile and who are currently migrating by land, passing through the Darien jungle, towards Mexico and the United States? What is known about the Andean countries of the South Pacific coast, such as Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile, which are currently the main recipients of Venezuelan migration? What is known about the historical migration of Bolivians or Paraguayans to Argentina? What is known about the processes of building Andean, Mercosur or South American citizenship?
 
Little or almost nothing, although much research has been done on these topics, but the results are not published neither in the major journals or in the English language. Ergo, the migratory studies from the South do not exist...
 
Dr. Jacques Ramírez G.

Jacques Ramirez Gallegos is South American. He holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico) and is specialized in Latin American migration. He is a Professor at the University of Cuenca and guest professor at several universities in the region. Currently a researcher at CLACSO in the Project “Migrants in transit and access to health in Latin America”. His main lines of research are Migration, State and Politics(s). He is the author of several books and scientific articles. He is also a member of the Editorial Committee of the journal Comparative Migration Studies.
https://www.aacademica.org/jacques.ramirez

 
Note: text originally written in Spanish and translated for IMISCOE.

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