In the Shadow of the Beast: Violence and Dignity Along the Central American Migrant Trail
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In the Shadow of the Beast: Violence and Dignity along the Central American Migrant Trail by John Doering-White A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Social Work and Anthropology) in the University of Michigan 2019 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Jason De León, Co-chair Professor Laura Lein, Co-Chair Professor Jorge Delva, Boston University Assistant Professor Reuben Miller, University of Chicago Professor Andrew Shryock John Doering-White [email protected] ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8484-1082 ã John Doering-White 2019 DEDICATION For Emily ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Above all, I thank the many people whose stories fill these pages, including los soldadores ciegos, el equipo chido, los que toman su leche, los cocodrilos, and los de mucho party. Most of you remain unnamed. I hope you know how grateful I am to have worked alongside you, to have been granted the honor of listening to your stories, and the responsibility to share them faithfully. Fieldwork for this project was supported by generous funding from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, The Fulbright García-Robles Fellowship Program, the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School, and the University of Michigan School of Social Work. I have been blessed with an unimaginably supportive dissertation committee. Thank you to Jason De León for teaching me a different side of antropología and the curative powers of caldo de camarón, for welcoming me into the UMP family, for your meticulous feedback, and for showing me what unapologetically inclusive, collaborative, and multidisciplinary field work can look like; to Laura Lein, for your unwavering warmth and persistent, critical encouragement, for welcoming me into your home to discuss chapter drafts, and for pushing me to carve out my own place at the intersections of anthropology and social work; to Andrew Shryock for drawing lines that I would not otherwise see; to Reuben Miller for your enthusiasm and your positivity, for reminding me what this is all about; and to Jorge Delva for supporting this project and helping me to think strategically about it from day one. Without several colleagues, this project would have been impossible. It would have also been a much lonelier process. Thank you to María Inclán, who always made time for tacos and showed me such warm hospitality whenever I passed through Mexico City; to Raul Paz “Pastrami” Pastrana, who is the truly magical one; to Amelia Frank-Vitale, who is a guiding light and someone I am lucky to call my friend; to Prash Naidu, who has gotten me through this process one Red’s Rye at a time; to Josh Stallings, the realest white boy I know; to Haeden Stewart, for making that unforgettable world cup watch party possible; to Obed García, mi hermano; to Lalo García, whose courage is unparalleled; and to Bill Lopez, my role model, who continues to be a dream of a collaborator. I am grateful to have spent time with a number of colleagues over the years who have supported the pages that follow, including, Francheska Alers, Katie Berringer, Abigail Bigham, Heather Brady, Noelle Brigden, Barry Brillantes, Allison Caine, Nick Caverly, Matthew Chin, Antonio iii Cosme, Tom Crea, Adrian Deoancã, Georgia Ennis, Nick Espitia, Krisztina Fehérváry, Rebecca Galemba, Breanne Grace, Willie Elliott, Melissa Hardesty, Drew Haxby, Doug Heckock, Cintia Huitzil, Maria Ibarra-Frayre, Berit Ingersoll-Dayton, Larry La Fountain-Stokes, Matan Kaminer, Nina Levin, Michael Jackson, Nama Khalil, Amy Krings, Sherrie Kossoudji, Howard and Patty Lamson, Jessica Lowen, Ivan Chaar Lopez, Joanne Martin, John Mathias, Patrick Meehan, Sandhya Narayanan, Nicole Novak, Cyrus O’Brien, Ronke Olawale, Alejandro Olayo-Mendez, Damani Partridge, Mary Pena, Tam Perry, Rogério Pinto, Victoria Ríos Infante, Robin Reineke, Liz Roberts, Ben Roth, Larry Root, Paige Safyer, Cristóbal Sanchez, Alex Sklyar, Yvonne Smith, Lynn Stephen, Matthew Spitzmueller, Niku Tarhechu T’arhesi, Warren Thompson, Jennifer Tucker, Levi Vonk, Wendy Vogt, Mike Wells, Lauren Whitmer, and Laura Yakas. Most of this dissertation was written at the University of Michigan Detroit Center at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Writing these chapters two blocks away from the place I began my education at Burton International on Cass was a dream. I am grateful for the laughs shared among the crew of dissertators holed up there, including Joel Batterman, Sharon Cornilessun, and Dana Kornberg. I am especially grateful to have crossed paths with James Macmillen, who is a trusted ear and the king of tea time. I am also thankful for the staff members that keep the place running, particularly Gerrard Rayford. Many others in the city kept me sane as I have shuttled between Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Mexico. Thank you to the entire Westside Industrial crew. I am especially grateful to Jonathan Aylward for linking me up with what has become my Detroit football family; for the carpool conversations on the way to games with Tunde Wey, our early fearless leader; to Joanna and Juan Carlos Dueweke- Perez—you two are models for what it means to live and work in loving community. Thank you especially to Elizabeth Daligga, my sister from other mothers, and “Momma” Karen Brown, for the ball games and the chili. I also want to show love to my Earlham family: Sara Bohall, Mark Boylan, Bo Braun, Max Crumley-Effinger, Anna Deering, Evan “Fatty” Fackler, Seth Herr, Bob Lugg, Jacob Naegeli, Sean McGuire, Adam Putnam, Hannah Reed, Lindsey Reed (and Scott), Pat Thomas, Callie Thompson, and Walker Yane. Kill Quakers, kill! Thank you to Grand Island for lessons on balance. Many of the people listed above have helped make that place what it is becoming. I appreciate all of you so much. Thank you to the Copelands, Bob “The Builder” Kleihege, and Muriel Mercer. Thank you to the herons and the bald eagles, the cedars and poplars, the perch and the deer, the sun and the moon. I was fortunate to be with my family throughout this process. Thank you to my parents, Mark White and Erica Mercer. Pop, I roll my eyes when people say I’m just like you, but it’s the biggest compliment anyone can ever give me. Ma, I am guided by your creativity, your consistency, and your love. Hug hug, pat pat, rub rub. Thank you to the Alderighi clan—Meghan, Stefano, Giovanni, and Ella—for showing us what family from afar can look like. Thank you to the Doering clan for the parties, for taking such good care of Max Dog, and for giving me a place to park the past seven years; to Charlie Doering for showing me how to work hard and have fun on deadline; to Paula Doering for your bottomless love and all the banana bread. Thank you to Evan Doering for always keeping it light. Thank you to my aunts and uncles; to Hughthir, for showing me how iv to pound a nail and the flexible way to square; to Chally Erb for teaching me to drive, to shoot, and to heal; to Beth White for teaching me to write, to move, to sit and listen; to John for teaching me that it is ok to honk your car’s horn whenever you feel like it. These pages honor the legacy of my grandparents, who laid the path I am now walking; to Alexander Mercer and Bessie Davis Mercer for your eccentricities and passions; to Hugh White, whose character follows me wherever I go in Detroit and beyond; and to Mary Chipman White, for teaching me to love deeply and politically. Finally, I owe everything to the love of my life, Emily Doering-White. All of this is for you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ii Acknowledgements iii List of Images vii Abstract ix Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Shelter Vision 44 Chapter 3: Evidencing Violence and Care in Transit 83 Chapter 4: Bullet Wounds and the Politics of Hospitality 108 Chapter 5: A Chutes and Ladders Interlude 146 Chapter 6: Fabricating Fragile Futures in the Near North 153 Chapter 7: The Afterlife of Participatory Photography 183 Chapter 8: Conclusion 212 Bibliography 236 vi LIST OF IMAGES1 Figure 1.1 A View of the tracks and the infirmary at La Casita 3 Figure 1.2 Railway guard with Uzi 5 Figure 1.3 Map of migrants shelters across Mexico, created by Medicins san 23 Frontieres Figure 2.1 Migrants watching the train pass by through a tunnel of concrete posts 47 Figure 2.2 Railway guard rides past La Casita 48 Figure 2.3 Migrants waiting for La Casita to open 56 Figure 2.4 Ever’s Tricycle 57 Figure 2.5 “Dozens organize to empty railway containers” 61 Figure 2.6 Migrants lined up for a meal at La Casita 68 Figure 2.7 Santos cutting hair at La Casita 76 Figure 2.8 Migrants dialoguing with railway guards outside La Casita 80 Figure 3.1 A baby doll photographed while conducting intake at La Casita 88 Figure 3.2 Searching through bags of donated clothing at La Casita 93 Figure 3.3 Merlin showing off his pack 99 Figure 3.4 Merlin’s Coke-can speaker 100 Figure 4.1 “Migration is not a crime; it is a right” 116 Figure 4.2 Malintzín: migrant guide, Retrieved from Facebook, August 15, 2019 118 Figure 4.3 Resting on La Casita’s concrete patio 124 Figure 4.4 Railway guards passing by La Casita 126 Figure 4.5 Gustavo out on the tracks 130 Figure 4.6 Gustavo and Raul during a break in filming 137 Figure 4.7 Gustavo at my apartment 139 Figure 5.1 Gustavo working concrete in Huixtla, Chiapas 149 Figure 6.1 Women’s work 156 Figure 6.2 Window grates on an apartment complex in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon 170 Figure 6.3 Gustavo welding at Chava’s workshop 175 Figure 6.4 Rosa cooking lunch over a fire 180 Figure 7.1 Blisters, photo by Ezequiel 189 Figure 7.2 Rolando mapping gang territories 196 Figure 7.3 Dinner with Chava, photos by Rolando 198 1 All photos by author unless noted otherwise.