Paper details
| Paper authors | Valentina Benincasa |
| In panel on | Resisting Border Violence: The Role of Civil Society, Local Actors, and Researchers |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
This paper proposes an ethnographic analysis of the humanitarian model practiced by Catholic albergues (shelters) in Puebla, central Mexico, to aid international migrants in transit as a form of humanitarianism from below. This model of aid, which brings together faith and social commitment, takes shape and consolidates itself in a specific historical and political trajectory of humanitarianism committed to aiding migrants in Mexico. This shapes the values, practices and the framework of political relations that the shelters establish with other actors. Building on this analysis, I examine the process through which the boundaries of this model are constructed – boundaries that are essential both for safeguarding its integrity against external pressure and for asserting claims regarding the state’s responsibility toward migrants. To this end, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork between 2019 and 2022 with different humanitarian actors dedicated to aiding migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Puebla.
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