Mobile constraint: migrant experiences of mass transit in Santiago, Chile

Megan Sheehan

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2025

Subject Area

place - south america, place - urban, mode - mass transit, planning - personal safety/crime, ridership - behaviour

Keywords

Urban studies, mass transportation, migration, discrimination, belonging, ethnography

Abstract

Over the last three decades, Chile has experienced transformative migratory flows as the migrant population grew from less than 1% to almost 8% of the total population. Drawing on ethnographic research, this article charts the everyday experiences of migrants using mass transit. I explore migrant experiences of discrimination in sites of movement and how these moments produce mobile constraint. In light of racial slights, jokes, or anti-immigrant commentary voiced by Chilean passengers, migrants often condition their behavior to minimize their social visibility. I use the term mobile constraint to refer to the many ways in which migrants regulate their presentation and behavior in spaces of mass transit and to the ways these spaces are produced as sites of limited urban citizenship. The work involved in self-governance and the lived reality of these spaces prompt feelings of vulnerability and challenge migrant belonging. While transit systems are often aspirationally presented as physical, social, and cultural connectors, I argue that mobile constraint presents barriers to full access for migrant passengers, shaping their feelings of belonging in Chile as well as their broader participation in urban life.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Taylor&Francis, copyright remains with them.

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