Migration, Health, and Inequalities: Critical Activist Research across Ecuadorean Borders (Global Migration and Social Change)

Drawing from an interdisciplinary activist research project spanning Ecuador, the United States, and Spain, this book offers a nuanced sociological understanding of the impact of outward and return migration on health and well-being. By building on critical race, ethnic and migration studies, a feminist intersectional perspective on the social determination of health as defined by Latin American Critical Epidemiology, and critical medical anthropology it uncovers the health processes that migrants and non-migrating relatives undergo as well as the psycho-sociocultural mechanisms they employ to cope with the many difficulties they encounter along the way. Moreover, the book analyzes the social inequalities, and migration and health policies in origin and destination countries in relation to migrant families’ experiences and efforts to challenge health, geopolitical, gender, sexual, ethnoracial, and economic disparities transnationally and multigenerationally. By weaving numerous accounts of migrants, non-migrating relatives, and health and migrant service providers, and contextualizing Ecuadorean with other Latin American cases with similar migratory routes, the book provides a thorough picture of interpersonal, institutional, and structural mechanisms of marginalization and resistance from the ground up. The research informs health and migration policymaking, advocacy, and assistance, and aims to foster health equity and social justice across borders. Front Cover Series Migration, Health, and Inequalities: Critical Activist Research across Ecuadorean Borders Copyright information Table of contents List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments Series Preface 1 Introduction 2 Migration-related Health Processes Reflective mourning Active and passive migrant trauma Migratory stress Migrant crises triggers Return shock Unrecognized migratory resilience 3 Coping with the Challenges of Migration Disillusion adjustment Paralyzing and motivating nostalgia Denied migrant health and normalization of malaise Pain encapsulation Well-being ideal and transgenerational goals Strategic return Settling readjustment Involuntary return rebound 4 Post-migration Family Relationships Family de/re-construction Simultaneous migration of nuclear family with children Migration of parents without their children Fathers migrating alone Mothers migrating alone Migration of older siblings alone Childless couples Communication distortion Subordination to concealment and deception Unspoken pacts Resentment and detachment Sensible comprehension 5 Transformative Border Politics Geopolitical boundaries Gender/sexual regimes Ethnoracial hierarchies Socioeconomic borders 6 Conclusion Notes References Index Back Cover Drawing from an activist research project spanning Loja, Santo Domingo, New York, New Jersey, and Barcelona, this book offers a feminist intersectional analysis of the impact of migration on health and well-being. It assesses how social inequalities and migration and health policies, in Ecuador and destination countries, shape the experiences of migrants. The author also explores how individual and collective action challenges health, geopolitical, gender, sexual, ethnoracial, and economic disparities, and empowers communities. This is a thorough analysis of interpersonal, institutional, and structural mechanisms of marginalization and resistance. It will inform policy and research for better responses to migration’s negative effects on health, and progress towards greater equality and social justice. This interdisciplinary activist research project shows the health and well-being impacts of transnational migration on Ecuadorean families. Roberta Villalón documents the intersection of social inequalities and migration and health policies, and how individual and collective action challenges marginalising structures and fosters social justice. This interdisciplinary activist research project shows the health and well-being impacts of transnational migration on Ecuadorean families. Roberta Villalon documents the intersection of social inequalities and migration and health policies, and how individual and collective action challenges marginalising structures and fosters social justice.