SSIIM Paper Series Vol. 6
Not just passing through: international migrants in cities of ‘transit countries’
by Giovanna Marconi
Starting from the observation that transit migration became only recently a matter of relevant concern for the discourse on international migration, this paper explores i) the reasons behind the growing political attention towards this issue and ii) the consequences and side-effects the politicization of this phenomenon generates in the crucial points of transit routes, i.e. cities of transit countries. It questions whether transit migration is just an important feature of modern human mobility or rather a political construction aimed at influencing involved stakeholders and lead them to collaborate in a global strategy of migration management. It’s a matter of space and time: how these are framed and by which actors to obtain specific effects. The cases of Tijuana in Mexico and Istanbul in Turkey are used to explore the local processes activated by the introduction of the category ‘transit migration’. In particular it is highlighted how international geopolitical interests are affecting the way in which cities react and respond to the presence of international migrants and, as a consequence, what are migrants’ modes of incorporation in the urban social and spatial fabric.
