Empowerment in the context of international migration: The case of women and gender non-conforming people in Mexico
| Dates: | 24 November 2023 |
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| Times: | 14:00 - 15:30 |
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| What is it: | Lecture |
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| Organiser: | Global Development Institute |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, External researchers, Alumni, Current University students, General public |
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Join the Global Development Institute for a lecture and Photovoice exhibition presenting some of the creations of the research project collaborators
Migration brings with it new opportunities and constraints that can accelerate or stifle processes of empowerment. People on the move, transiting spaces and systems of oppression, face inequalities, but they also resist and negotiate based on compounding factors at multiple levels. I explore how intersecting factors at the individual, interpersonal and institutional level reinforce or weaken marginalisation, influencing migrants’ capacity to expand their ability to make strategic life choices—empowerment. I look at these dynamics by exploring the case of Latin American and Caribbean refugees and other survival migrants who mostly identify themselves as women. My situated exploration was undertaken in three Mexican cities: Tapachula, bordering Guatemala, Tijuana, bordering the USA and in the capital. I used photovoice, surveys, in-depth interviews, and I continue to maintain contact with my interlocutors over social media. To approach participants, I collaborated with nine civil society organisations (three per city). My ongoing analysis considers psychosocial aspects shaping decision-making, gendered expressions and identities, discrimination, restrictive migration policies in the Americas, forced immobility, strategies of resistance, organised collective actions and support to achieve common goals.
About the speaker:
Abril Rios (she/her/ella) is a DPhil student in Migration Studies at the University of Oxford. She is interested in the intersections of migration, gendered relations, power, and agency. She prioritises perspectives that move away from discourses centred on vulnerabilities to instead acknowledge the agentic capabilities of migrants within structures. Abril is a psychologist specialising in social and cultural psychology and gender studies and holds a master’s degree in Migration and Intercultural Relations. She has more than seven years of experience working in the development sector on issues related to migration and entrepreneurship in Mexico and East African countries. As a consultant, Abril also supports a World Bank and UNHCR research program on displacement, poverty, and development in Kenya.
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