Sounds and Silences in the Migrant Wait: Soundscapes and the Racialization of Hearing in the Haitian Community in Tapachula

Abstract

In its most primordial sense, listening is a form of social recognition.Drawing on this idea, this article reflects on sound, hearing, and the symbolic practices at the core of anti-immigration policies that reinforce silence toward and by immigrant communities. This article focuses on the Haitian community in Tapachula, Mexico, a city where refugees are forced to wait. It explores the categories of silence, noise, and racial beliefs about these immigrants –as well as the myriad feelings associated with them– on the part of institutional actors and humanitarian organizations.