Migration, Youth, and Nationhood: Reproducing the Racial State in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Authors

Maria V. Barbero, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Global and Sociocultural Studies

First Advisor's Name

Percy C. Hintzen

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Jorge Duany

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Third Advisor's Name

Vrushali Patil

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Ana María Bidegain

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Keywords

Migration, Youth, Racial State, Argentina, Latin America, South-South Migration

Date of Defense

5-8-2019

Abstract

This dissertation examines the nexus among migration, youth and the state in the south-south migratory context of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Drawing from documentary, ethnographic, interview, and archival data, it unpacks a series of contradicting realities that shape migrant youth’s experiences of protection, mobility, and belonging in Argentina despite progressive immigration policies. Specifically, it looks at 1) uneven state responses to the international movement of young people, 2) everyday exclusionary geographies that serve to criminalize young migrants, and 3) moral panics about youth migration that challenge the existence of progressive policies and make evident the historically-rooted racial structures of belonging that undergird contemporary immigration policy, discourse, and practice. By unpacking deep contradictions between the official narratives and policies of the Argentine state, and its everyday practices and discourses, this dissertation intervenes in multiple scholarly debates pertinent both to the Latin American region and countries of the global north, arguing that securitized narratives about immigration function to sustain the racial state.

Identifier

FIDC007706

Recommended Citation

Barbero, Maria V., "Migration, Youth, and Nationhood: Reproducing the Racial State in Buenos Aires, Argentina" (2019). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4278.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4278