Counter-mapping migration: irregular migrants’ stories through cognitive mapping

Abstract

Map-making has played a crucial role in the politics of bordering and ordering. Irregular migrants challenge these politics of confinement on a regular basis; despite this, or perhaps precisely because of it, their stories are hidden in state-centric discourses. Through a counter-mapping approach, this paper focuses on our understanding of how irregular migrants experience their journey. Specifically, an analysis of cognitive maps created by Central American irregular migrants in transit through Mexico on their journey to the US is presented. The strength of this approach is that it highlights the scenarios and practices veiled by the macronarratives of the securitisation of migration. At the same time, it underscores the fact that for irregular transmigrants border control is widespread through their entire journey, thus challenging the border’s notion of fixity. This paper aims to contribute to methodologies used in the study of mobilities and to the broader understanding of how bordering processes are lived and defied by migrants.