Dix années à franchir les frontières. La région Tijuana - San Diego vue en perspective

Abstract

À partir d'entretiens menés en 1 995 et en 2005, l'auteur montre l'impact sur dix ans des politiques d'immigration de l'administration américaine sur les flux migratoires et sur le quotidien des habitants de la région Tijuana et San Diego, à cheval sur la côte californienne entre les États-Unis et le Mexique. Espace asymétrique entre le Nord et le Sud, la frontière n'est pas une simple aire de circulation, c'est aussi un espace d'interactions qui produit de la circulation au lieu de l'empêcher. Le durcissement de la frontière par le renforcement en hommes et en technologie de la surveillance et le renforcement des entraves à la libre circulation des personnes n'y font rien : les flux migratoires se poursuivent. Le prix à payer est plus élevé.

Crossing the Border: Mobility as a Resource in the Tijuana/San Diego and Tecún Umán/Tapachula Regions

“…Therefore, for the study of mobility in border regions, we do not as sume the border's impact as a reality outside individuals and the con struction of their identity references, on the contrary, on the basis of a constructivist and relational perspective (Odgers, 2001), this paper con siders that these identity references are constructed by the everyday inter actions that occur in, on, around and through the border.…”

“…However, the opposites evoked by the notion of bor der become diluted when one moves further from the "centers" and closer to the "limits". In addition to the conceptions of the border as a dividing line, those of the border as a meeting and interaction point have arisen, without replacing them (Foucher, 1991;Vila, 2001;Donnan and Wilson, 2001;Odgers, 2001;Newman, 2006). Thus, for example, on the border between Mexico and the United States, the English/Spanish opposition has been weakened by the emergence of Spanglish, and the dollar/peso distinc tion -although it has not disappeared-has been lessened by the omnipres ent currency exchange offices.…”

“…Thus, inequalities are intensified by the possession (or lack) of the migratory documents, linguistic knowledge or social networks that permit crossings. By developing mechanisms that control mobility, borders consolidate inequality, reinforce power relationships and materi alize hierarchies (Odgers, 2007).…”