Socioecologies & Economies of Migration is a collective of Latin American-born Canadian researchers, artists, and activists working together to examine Latin American migration to Canada.
Summer Event 2021
In August 2021, we hosted our first summer course for undergraduate and masters' students, activists, scholars, and artists interested in Latin American migrations to Canada. This event was funded by MSVU/SSHRC*.
This 4-day course was a space for sharing knowledge, developing research-action projects, and building networks across disciplines and communities. It was a multi-model, conversational, art-based learning approach facilitated by scholars, migrant justice organizers, and ARTivists.
* Mount Saint Vincent University / Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
Free
4-day
online
SUMMER
COURSE
Socioecologies
2021
& Economies
of LAtin American
Migration
core objectives
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To envision innovative methodologies and theoretical approaches to address contemporary Latin American migration to Canada.
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To analyze the relationships among indebtedness, displacement, and environmental racism in the experiences of Latin American migrants to Canada.
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To foster a network of scholars, students, activists and artists interested in advancing migration studies from a multi-modal and social justice standpoint.
Guests
DAY 1
Noe Arteaga
Noé Arteaga knows first-hand what it’s like to be a seasonal migrant worker in Canada. He’s a Canadian citizen now, but his first trip to Canada was nearly his last...
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DAY 2
PAH
Plataforma de Afectadas por la Hipoteca
"Obra Social la PAH" was created in Spain for the right to a decent home.
Learn More
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Platform for those Affected by the Morgages (PAH). Plataforma de Afectadas por la Hipoteca.
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Website in Spanish.
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SI SE PUEDE ”Seven Days At PAH Barcelona” -English
DAY 3
Paloma Villegas
Mexican born researcher and artist. Her work and teaching explores the intersection of migration, citizenship, borders, race, and gender.
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DAY 4
Rodrigo Parrini, Alix Almendra, Luisa Alquisiras, Emilio Nocedal and Samuel Rivera
Ethnography(s) as a spider's web. Ethnographic practices and collaborative interpretations in the field of Central American migration. Watch the collective’s video-essay created for our class
Watch the collective’s video-essay created for our class.
"Let us imagine an ethnography as a spiderweb. We can think of it as the common and joint work of many social and epistemic actors who engage in connected and vibrant explorations, descriptions, interpretations and writings."
Ethnography as a Spiderweb.
Ethnographic practices and collaborative interpretations in the field of Latin American migrations.
Course Outcomes
Among the interconnections and explorations that resulted from the course were:
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Course participants found it thought-provoking how the 2008 financial crisis disproportionately affected Latin American migrant families facing evictions in Spain. These conversations elicited by our guests from PAH forced course participants to consider the housing situation of Latin American migrants in Canada.
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Course participants learned about the emergent connections between environmental studies and migration studies in the context of Latin American migration to Canada. Participants found it important to recognize the crossed journeys of humans and non-humans on their migrations and discussed how this approach may enhance the category of “climate refugee.”
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The final art piece that resulted from our collaboration was facilitated and edited by Melanie Schambach.
Collaborative Art Piece
In viewing this artwork we created together, we encourage you to take time to ponder on these three questions:
1. If this artwork had a voice, what would it say about socioecologies and economies of Latin American migration?
2. What is this artwork telling you about yourself? and
3. If this artwork was created in the future and travelled back to us now, what is it revealing as a call for action for all peoples and the planet in terms of migration?
Organizers
Columba
González-Duarte
Gloria
Pérez-Rivera
Melanie
Schambach
Eloy
Rivas-Sánchez
Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology & Anthropology of Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax NS. She holds a Ph.D. in sociocultural anthropology at the University of Toronto with a joint degree at the School of Environment. Her research interests are related to monarch butterfly tri-national conservation dynamics exploring the connections between NAFTA’s agri-food industry, labour migration, and monarch decline.
Gloria C. Pérez-Rivera is a PhD Candidate in Anthropology at Vanderbilt University, and incoming SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Her research examines financialization as a set of debt and credit relations that shapes the work and labour relations of socio-economically marginalized groups.
Through social art, Melanie Schambach invites the public to challenge the narratives of identity, belonging, and social change through participatory painting. As an Artivist Melanie acts against injustice and oppression by raising social and environmental awareness through creative expression.
Assistant Professor of Sociology at Athabasca University (Alberta, Canada) and Adjunct Research Professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada).
Eloy Rivas-Sánchez holds a PhD in Sociology with Specialization in Political Economy from Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada). He has 10 years of research experience on transnational migration, including temporary and undocumented migration to Canada, with emphasis on labour, deportability and health.
Research Assistants
Renaj’
Forbes
Ana
Julia
Renaj' holds a BscH in Biology and Psychology from Acadia University (Wolfville, Canada).
He is a 3rd-year student at Mount Saint Vincent University where he majors in Sociology & Anthropology and minors in Philosophy.
He is originally from the Bahamas and immigrated to Canada in 2006 to study.
Renaj’brings a mix of tech savvy-ness and an upbeat attitude to foster student engagement.
He is our social media person!
Ana Julia is a 2nd year student at Mount Saint Vincent University (Halifax, Canada) where she majors in Psychology and minors in Neuroscience. She was born and raised in Brazil, and will soon immigrate to Canada to continue her studies in-person at the Mount. Ana will be volunteering to mainly help students with unresolved questions related to the course content.
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