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ME FUI

Survival Strategies of Venezuelan Migrant Women on Their Journey to and in Colombia

2018-2019

Master Thesis -
MSc International Development Studies Graduate School of Social Sciences - University of Amsterdam

July 2019

Caterina Weller | 12234907 caterinaweller1992@gmail.com Supervisor: Anke Van Dam Second Reader: Esther Miedema

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Survival Strategies of Venezuelan Migrant Women on

Their Journey to and in Colombia

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Dedication

When I told Marta Duque I would dedicate my thesis to her, she instantly replied: “God bless you, but don’t forget to mention my Venezuelan volunteers”. I dedicate this thesis to Marta and to all the Venezuelan migrants that support her in her mission of making the best moments out of the worse situation.

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Acknowledgements

This research would not have been possible without the uninterested help of many people that por las vueltas de la vida, knew each other.

I first need to thank Mario Lopez Garelli who after visiting the border encouraged me to travel to Cúcuta to conduct my research, even when the news said it was not a safe place to be. I also need to thank him for introducing me to Mercedes Illera Lobos, my fierce local supervisor who by telling me “Caterina tu estás loca” always pointed me the right direction. To Dani Méndez who took me to the places I could have not visited alone and explained me the unexplainable.

I want to thank María, Mirgi, Yelimar, Ale, Ediel, Gustavo and all the other migrants volunteering inside Marta Duque´s house which always put a smile on my face. I hope your journey has taken you to wherever you wished to go.

I could not have written this thesis without the committed help of my supervisor, Anke van Dam, who understood me even in those moments when I could not understand myself.

Lastly, I need to thank my hometown university, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, in Argentina, which has given me the critical skills to be here today. For being the clear proof of how public and free education can build individuals who are not just competitive but also caring, empathetic and conscious about the world around them.

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Abstract

More than four million Venezuelans had left their country by June 2019, making it the second largest displaced population in the world after the Syrian crisis. Venezuelans are migrating to survive in the face of the economic, social and political crisis their country undergoes. Among those migrants, the most impoverished ones are crossing the border with neighboring Colombia where they begin a journey on foot across the country, wishing to arrive into further Colombian or Latin-American destinations.

This research explores the survival strategies developed by Venezuelan women along their migratory journey into Colombia. While there is abundant literature on migrant’s inclusion into recipient countries, there is yet not enough emphasis on how migrants create their own realities within the conditions of their migratory journeys using different forms of agency. By means of a gender lens, this research sheds light on women’s’ vulnerabilities and the acts of agency they exercise to access economic resources and achieve their mobility safely. The primary data consists of semi-structured interviews and observations carried out along the route Venezuelans undergo along Colombia after fleeing their country. The study finds that even if Venezuelan women are faced with diverse sources of vulnerability, they manage to develop strategies to overcome threats and access the resources they need to survive economically, emotionally and physically.

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Table of contents

1.Introduction……….……...8

1.1 Relevance and objectives……….……….…9

1.2 Research Question and Sub Questions………..………...10

2. Research Location and Context………..11

2.1 The Caminantes………12

2.2 Phase One: Crossing the border……….……….13

2.2.1 Border Dynamics in the Norte de Santander – Táchira Region………..………...…14

2.2.2 Trochas: The Clandestine Trails………..….…16

2.3 Phase Two: From La Parada to Pamplona………17

2.3.1 Buying and selling in La Parada………...………..…….18

2.3.2 The First Humanitarian Spaces………..…….….……19

2.3.3 The Journey to Pamplona………..………..……20

2.4 Phase three: Arrival in Pamplona………...………..……21

3. Theoretical Framework……….…..24

3.1 Introduction………...………24

3.2 The victim/agent debate………..24

3.3 Autonomy of Migration………..27

3.4 Migration, gender and women’s vulnerabilities……….….30

3.5 Migrant women survival strategies………...…...32

3.6 Concluding Remarks………...34

4. Research Methodology………35

4.1 Units of Analysis……….35

4.2 Epistemology and Ontology……….36

4.3 Data Collection Methods………...36

4.3.1Interviews………...37

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4.5 Ethical considerations………...………..39

4.6 Methodological Reflection………...………41

4.7 Data Analysis………...…..43

4.8 Conceptual Scheme……….……….43

5. Accessing Economic Resources………..44

5.1 Structural Vulnerabilities……….………45

5.1.1 Irregularity……….45

5.1.2 Lack of Opportunities and Policies……….47

5.1.3 Xenophobia……….50

5.2 Economic Survival Strategies: El Rebusque………...51

5.2.1 Steet Vending – Informal Work………53

5.2.2 Begging………....………55

5.2.3 Survival Sex-Work………57

5.2.4 Taking Advantage of Humanitarian Programs………..58

5.2.5 Concluding Remarks………...60

6. Enduring the Journey………...62

6.1 Emotional Vulnerabilities………63 6.1.1 Family Separation………...63 6.1.2 Lack of Information………66 6.2 Moving Forward………68 6.2.1 Building Networks………69 6.2.2 Faith………74 6.2.3 Concluding Remarks……….………75

7.Discussion and Conclusions………77

7.1 What are the vulnerable conditions Venezuelan migrant women encounter during their journey? …..77

7.2 What strategies do they use to survive economically, physically and emotionally? How do these strategies help them to overcome the economic, physical and emotional vulnerable conditions? ……….79

7.3 Limitations………81

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7.5 Policy Recommendations………..………83 8. References……….84 Annex……….…………..88

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Colombia-Venezuelan border has become an emergency exit for thousands of Venezuelans fleeing the unstable situation in their country. According to Mahlke and Yamamoto (2017) Venezuela’s political, social and economic crisis has triggered the movement of thousands of Venezuelans across Latin-American borders. Research conducted by Gedan (2017) and John (2017) suggest that the main factors causing this mass displacement are the exacerbated levels of poverty, hyperinflation, food scarcity, the degradation of the medical system, high rates of violent crime and government repressions across Venezuela.

Amidst crime, poverty, food insecurity and political instability, Venezuelans are struggling to survive in their country and find migration to be its only alternative (John, 2018). Since 2015, Colombia has become the country receiving the largest number of Venezuelans who look for survival opportunities (UNHCR, 20181). In total, an estimated 4 million Venezuelans have left their country since 2015, thousands do it by crossing to Norte de Santander, in Colombia. According to the Norte de Santander Borders Secretariat the most frequent influx of migrants in the region is circular, around 30.000 people enter Cúcuta daily to look for food and medicine, another 5.000 enter the region daily from which 3.000 are in transit towards other destinations and 2.000 stay looking for work opportunities.

This research focuses on the journeys of migrant women who are in the Norte de Santander region in transit onto further Colombian or Latin-American destinations. These Venezuelans are known as the “caminantes2”, those who due to the lack of resources, are willing to walk for thousands of kilometers looking for an opportunity. These migrants correspond to the third migratory flow of people exiting Venezuela. The first wave was between the year 2000 and 2005. This was mostly due to economic uncertainty, Venezuelans who had financial resources left the country to settle in Colombia, United States or the European Union. The second wave started in 2013 after President Chavez’s death. This wave included middle income professionals and students.

The current Venezuelan exodus begun in 2017 and it is considered the third migratory wave. This phase encompasses highly vulnerable population like women traveling with children, the elder,

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disabled people, indigenous people and those in poverty conditions. These people have the least favorable circumstances and little access to mobility resources, for this reason they are walking or taking buses to neighboring countries (El Nacional, 2018)3. Alexander Betts (2013) has conceptualized this form of migration as “survival migration”, a migratory process of people who are fleeing serious rights deprivations in fragile and failed states. This occurs when the relationship between a state and its citizens breaks down and states are unable or unwilling to protect the rights of their citizens (Betts, 2013).

Among those migrants who flee to survive, there is a high number of female migrants. In this research, a female focus will be applied in order to better understand the experiences of these migrant women. These experiences are shaped by gender relationships that affect the ways in which women experience their migration. According to the UNHCR, Venezuelan women who are crossing to Colombia in poverty conditions are more likely than men to suffer from security concerns, trafficking, sexual and gender-based violence, xenophobia, lack of work opportunities, lack of information, survival sex work and lack of access to health and education (UNHCR, 2018). The voices of these women are not always heard and this research aims to offer women a space for their voices to be heard.

Migration theory suggests that women are indeed the most vulnerable subjects during the migratory process based on their gender (Kawar, 2016) however, by employing Judith Butler’s understanding of vulnerability, this research will show how, even in a context of constrained choices, Venezuelan women have the capacity to exercise agency along the migratory journey throughout survival strategies. As Butler suggests, vulnerability and agency are not mutually exclusive concepts, on contrast, vulnerability is a source of agency. This idea helps to depict how even those who are subjected to violence can affect their own lives (Butler as cited in Cole, 2016).

This thesis aims to gain knowledge on the ways in which Venezuelan women exercise agency through survival strategies during their migratory journey where they are faced with economic, emotional and bodily structural constraints that constantly threaten them. The main research

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question that it seeks to answer therefore is: Which survival strategies do Venezuelan migrant women use to confront their vulnerable situation during their migratory journey?

1.1 Relevance and Objectives

This research explores women’s vulnerabilities and survival strategies along their migratory journey into Colombia. The relevance of this research stems from the lack of previous work which explores migrants’ agency along their migratory journeys. Additionally, this research will focus on gender dynamics and understand this journeys as a day to day phenomenon along which women exercise survival strategies to achieve their mobility, find opportunities and ways to deal with multiple threats they encounter during their journey.

According to Mainwaring and Brigden (2016), migratory journeys are social processes with the same importance as factors initiating migration and issues of settlement and integration. The authors claim that policymakers and academics depict migrant journeys as passages between countries represented by straight arrows on a map, failing to capture the complexity and significance of the journey by itself and its implications for other phases of migration.

Moreover, a gender-sensitive understanding of women’s agency in vulnerability would enable humanitarian institutions working along the journey to build on pre-existing forms of agency which include a wide range of skills, challenges and constraints. Judith Butler suggest that labelling these women as “in need of protection”, without recognizing their agency and ability to cope and overcome their vulnerabilities, increases the power of aid agencies and disempowers women. This subsequently neglects the capacity of “vulnerable” persons to act politically and ultimately expands control over their bodies (Butler, Gambetti, & Sabsay, 2016).

1.2 Research Question and Sub-Questions

Which survival strategies do Venezuelan migrant women use to confront their vulnerable situation during their migratory journey?

- What are the vulnerable conditions Venezuelan migrant women encounter during their journey?

- What strategies do they use to survive economically, physically and emotionally?

- How do these strategies help them to overcome the economic, physical and emotional vulnerable conditions?

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2.0 RESEARCH CONTEXT AND LOCATION

Once in San Antonio, migrants cross into La Parada and undertake a journey south towards Bucaramanga (Source: Caterina Weller)

This section introduces the study’s research location which is the journey Venezuelans take into Colombia after crossing the border which connects the city of San Antonio del Táchira in the Táchira State, Venezuela with Villa del Rosario in Cúcuta Metropolitan Area, part of the Norte de Santander State, Colombia.

For migrants in transit - those who cross into Villa del Rosario and stay for a short period of time - La Parada, the area across the Simón Bolívar International Bridge (SBIB), is the first place they encounter upon arrival and represents the beginning of their journey in Colombia. From this location,

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However, for this research, I conducted fieldwork along the first part of this journey, this goes from La Parada to the city of Pamplona. The distance between the two places is approximately 78 kilometers and according to the Colombian Red Cross4, it takes around 17 hours to walk from one place to the other.

In order to explain the contextual characteristics of this journey more thoroughly, I divided it into three stages which were used to structure this chapter. The first stage consists on the crossing of the border from Táchira into Villa del Rosario. The second part of the journey goes from La Parada in Villa del Rosario to the city of Pamplona. Lastly, I considered the arrival into Pamplona as the third phase of the journey under analysis. In addition, I included a brief description of the Venezuelan women undertaking this journey.

2.1 The caminantes

As the introduction explained, the Venezuelan migrants leaving their country and undertaking the journey from La Parada to Bucaramanga are known as the “caminantes”. This is because, due to the lack of resources to access means of transportation, they endure the migratory journey on foot. In certain occasions, some migrants have the resources to afford a bus ride for one of the phases of their journey, while some are lucky enough to be picked by a truck or a car who offers them a ride. However, this does not prevent them from being caminantes as part of their journey is still on foot and along the same route.

Although in the beginning the route which connects Cúcuta with Pamplona was marked by the large presence of male caminantes, according to Migración Colombia5 there is nowadays a balanced number of men and female migrants entering Colombia daily to migrate onto further destinations. This data is backed by research conducted in April 2018 by the Jesuit Refugee Service, the Táchira Catholic University and the Simón Bolívar University6 which concluded that out of a sample of 14.578 persons entering Colombia in transit, 44% were women. My observations on the ground suggest that the number of women caminantes in Colombia might have increased drastically during 2019.

4 https://elpitazo.net/internacional/angeles-de-las-carreteras-colombianas-socorren-a-los-caminantes-venezolanos/ 5 http://www.migracioncolombia.gov.co/venezuela/Todo%20sobre%20Venezuela.pdf

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A Venezuelan woman arrives into a humanitarian spot in Berlín with her children (Source: Caterina Weller)

According to the report, this female population shared certain characteristics. Firstly, they were all between 20 and 39-years-old. Secondly, 54% of the sample were single, while other 22% were married. Thirdly, most of the women stated that they were leaving Venezuela in seek for a safer life, sharing feelings of desperation and stress due to the lack of food and medicine to support their families back home. It is important to mention that this report only represents those migrants who crossed into Colombia through the SBIB with a travel document. There is no data available on those who crossed into Colombia through clandestine passages.

2.3 Phase one: Crossing the border

I consider the city of San Antonio del Táchira as the starting point of the journey under analysis, however, it is important to mention that Venezuelans come to this city to cross the border from

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Antonio into Villa del Rosario. According to the Norte de Santander Borders Secretariat, 90% of the Venezuelan population entering Colombia enters through Norte de Santander due to the easiness provided by the SBIB . However, this statement disregards the fact that migrants also go to this area due to the large presence of clandestine trails known as “trochas” which are run by smugglers, paramilitary and contrabandists. These characteristics which make this border area the most transited by Venezuelans will be discussed in the next two sections.

The map shows the movement across the border which connects San Antonio to Villa del Rosario

2.3.1 Border dynamics in the Norte de Santander – Táchira region

The border dynamics between the Norte de Santander State in Colombia and the Táchira State in Venezuela makes the crossing from one country to the other in this region uncomplicated, turning into the most dynamic border in the Latin-American continent. These border dynamics are characterized by the presence of fours formal crossings from Venezuela into Norte de Santander: the SBIB, the Francisco de Paula Santander Bridge, the Unión Bridge and the Tienditas Bridge. These

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only conducted research in the Simón Bolívar International Bridge area – as it is the most transited binational bridge - and has the most transited clandestine trails in its zone.

The map shows the location of Norte de Santander state in Colombia and Táchira state in Venezuela

The close connection between Colombia and Venezuela in this area is explained by a geographical proximity, which has enabled the contact between the two countries for centuries. Even if Venezuela and Colombia share a 2.200 kilometers long border, most of this border is topographically diverse and sparsely populated due to the presence of rainforest, mountains or aridity, which makes it complex for people and goods to travel form one country to the other. However, these characteristics disappear in the zone where Norte de Santander and Táchira are located. According to Sánchez Chacón (2010), there is a landform depression in this area which has enabled the development of strong bonds between border inhabitants.

Along the years, Táchira and Norte de Santander have developed complimentary economies, mixed families, and has become one region on itself regardless of the belonging to different countries. This cultural, societal and economic proximity between the two regions explains why,

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contrary to understandings of borders as restrictive spaces, the Norte de Santander – Táchira border is regarded as a porous, passable and flexible one where there is strong human cooperation which prevails over legal or formal governmental standards and regulations (Sánchez Chacón, 2010).

2.3.2 Trochas: the clandestine routes

Due to several factors as the sporadic closures of the formal crossings, the lack of documentation or personal decisions, many Venezuelans use clandestine trails to cross the border into Villa del Rosario. The vast presence of trochas in the area is related to a history marked by the contraband between the two regions, particularly of oil produced in Venezuela and then entered and sold in Cúcuta. These trails are very active and it makes it easy for migrants to approach smugglers known as trocheros to enter Colombia.

Crossing the trochas represent a moment of extreme vulnerability for Venezuelans who many times become smugglers’ targets of robbery, threats and abuses due to their desperate situation, lack of information and knowledge about the area. In many occasions, women migrants have reported having to sell their hair to pay for the smugglers services. Moreover, they also have to contend with physical threats and offers as exchanging sex for smuggler services. These vulnerabilities do not deter Venezuelans from achieving their goal of crossing into Colombia even if they risk their safety to do so.

This determination of migrants to cross the border was clear after February 22nd and 23rd, 2019. These dates were marked by two events: On the 22nd, a concert named “Venezuela Aid Live” - organized by Virgin Airlines owner, Richard Branson – took place at this border. On the 23rd, there was a failed attempt to enter trucks filled with goods7 and supplies in its majority donated by the United States into Venezuela from Norte de Santander. The episodes led to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s decision of closing all the formal crossings into Colombia. This closure did not deter migrants from leaving their country, on the contrary, new clandestine passages where created in the SBIB area and the number of people leaving Venezuela remained stable.

7 https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-venezuela-politics-aid-fire/aid-truck-goes-up-in-flames-on-colombian-venezuelan-border-tv-footage-idUKKCN1QC0T3

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Migrants cross the trochas with their belongings (Source: Luis Robayo for AFP)

Once migrants cross the border by means of the SBIB or the clandestine trails in the zone, they arrive in La Parada. For many, La Parada becomes a place of opportunity for making money by selling things or offering services before continuing their migration. For others, La Parada only represents the beginning of a journey towards further destinations. This location will be described in the next section.

2.4 Phase two: from La Parada to Pamplona

La Parada is part of Villa del Rosario and it has become an epicenter for the informal selling of goods. Most of the persons buying and selling in the area nowadays are Venezuelans. Moreover, it has also become the place where the first humanitarian food organizations and shelters for Venezuelans emerged. From here, the caminantes begin their journey to Pamplona.

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2.4.1 Buying and selling in La Parada

A normal day at La Parada is noisy and chaotic (Source: Caterina Weller)

The location of La Parada makes it a strategic point for selling food, medicine, clothes and all types of supplies as more than 35.000 Venezuelans who live on the other side of the border cross daily to buy goods. The proximity of the area to the SBIB makes it easy for Venezuelan border inhabitant to cross, buy products in this area and go back home. This situation has been ongoing for many years, especially since the scarcity of food and basic products in Venezuela was aggravated in the year 2014 according to the Venezuelan National Bank8.

Nowadays, the area of La Parada is mainly dominated by Venezuelans who are selling products and offering services. The location is attractive for Venezuelans looking for economic opportunities because of the proximity to their country and the easiness to go back home if the situation ameliorates. Moreover, the presence of food organizations and services for migrants in the area makes it easier for many Venezuelans to access a meal on this side of the border.

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2.4.2 The first humanitarian spaces

As mentioned, several humanitarian spaces are in La Parada. During my fieldwork, I visited three organizations in the area, two of them were providing food for Venezuelan migrants and one was also providing shelter. The characteristics of the Venezuelan people using these organizations are diverse as some are border inhabitants that cross daily for a plate of food, some live and work in La Parada and benefit from the food delivery and some are in transit and taking a break after crossing the border and before continuing their journey

Those who are in transit, which are the focus of this research, benefit from these institutions as here they meet fellow migrants with whom they form groups. Moreover, in these places they obtain information about the route they will undergo and receive winter clothes in case there are donations available. This help is not limited to the area of La Parada. The massive presence of Venezuelans walking on the road to Bucaramanga has led to the emergence of a humanitarian network which supports migrants with food and shelter along their journey.

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2.4.3 The journey to Pamplona

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The map shows the humanitarian spaces available along the route from La Parada, in Cúcuta until Bucaramanga

The journey migrants take from La Parada –in the map as Cúcuta - is physically hard to endure. Although this research will only focus on the phase that goes from La Parada into Pamplona, the entire route to Bucaramanga is very challenging as it crosses a mountain known as the “Páramo de Berlín”. The Páramo is one of the highest and coldest mountains in the Colombian territory and its height varies between 2.800 and 4.200 meters above sea level. It is through this mountain that the cities of Cúcuta and Bucaramanga are connected. In Pamplona, the mountain reaches a height of 2.600 meters above sea level.

In order to cross the Páramo, migrants walk 195 kilometers. Most Venezuelans come from all-year-long hot cities and do not count with appropriate clothing to protect themselves from cold

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weather. For this reason, they cover their bodies with plastic bags or thermic blankets provided by humanitarian organizations along the way. Although some migrants are lucky enough to be picked by a truck along the route, it takes between four and sixteen days to arrive into Bucaramanga on foot9. On this journey, the city of Pamplona is an essential place where to stop before continuing up to Berlín.

2.3 Phase three: Arrival in Pamplona

The map shows the location of Marta Duque’s House in Pamplona

Pamplona is the first city migrants arrive to on their journey. The city counts with fours shelters for Venezuelan migrants who spend the night there before continuing their journeys. Some Venezuelans, especially those without a clear destination or those who travel alone, try to find job opportunities in this city in order not to keep walking further from their country.

One place of importance for the context of this research is Marta Duque’s Casa de Paso. This is because I gathered most of my data in this location. Marta Duque is a Colombian citizen whose

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house is placed on the route which migrants walk when they get to Pamplona. Inside her family house, she opened the first shelter in the city. It all started one night when Marta decided to let women and children who were sleeping in the streets enter her living room. After that day, she started devoting her life to helping Venezuelans walking by her door by providing all of them with food and women and children with shelter. Venezuelans spend generally one or two nights inside Marta’s house or inside other shelters in Pamplona before continuing their journeys.

According to research conducted by Migración Colombia10, among the 1.053.977 Venezuelans that entered Colombia regularly during 2018, 1.420 migrants has Pamplona as their destination. Moreover, the report published by Jesuit Refugee Services estimates that the clear majority of the migrants who arrive in Pamplona do it in transit, and only 0,6% of the caminantes stay in the city.

Migrants face the extreme weather conditions while walking up the Páramo (Source: Caterina Weller)

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Marta Duque Vera stands outside here house where she gives food to weary migrants (Source: Caterina Weller)

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3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

3.1 Introduction

Vulnerability and agency are two broadly debated terms in the social sciences and by feminist scholars. While some thinkers regard both concepts as antagonistic - claiming that those who are vulnerable are passive in opposition to those who have agency - the dichotomy is contested by scholars who find this division rather simplistic.

Following this controversy, this chapter will explore some key thinkers on agency and vulnerability theory and will interlink these concepts with broader debates in migration and gender studies. The aim of this chapter is to create the theoretical foundation that underpins my research.

3.2 The victim/agent debate

The debate around the notion of “vulnerability” has been present in the past two decades in the social sciences. The term came into discussion after a previous debate around agency and victimhood. In several contemporary studies, a victim is defined as a person who is passive, without agency (Ganteau, Onega, 2017). However, according to Dahl (2009), other contemporary social scientists often position themselves differently by stating “these people are not victims, but agents”. The emphasis in agency seeks to correct previous approaches which focused only on structural constraints which were considered to determine people’s opportunities, seeing them as passive victims of structural factors (Dahl, 2009).

In the face of this victim/agent dispute, some scholars argue that the dichotomy does not represent people’s reality. This is the case of Elizabeth M. Schneider (1995), who elaborates a feminist critic towards static views of women as either victims or agents, claiming this division is a “false dichotomy”. According to Schneider’s analysis of battered women, a focus on victimization ignores women’s efforts to protect themselves and use resources to survive. Moreover, focusing exclusively on agency is shaped by a “liberal vision of autonomy” (Schneider, 1995, p.389) which makes women responsible for their suffering and ignores the larger social contexts where women’s victimization

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occurs. “Concepts of women’s victimization and agency are both overly simplistic, both fail to take account of oppression, struggle, and the resistance that women experience daily in their ongoing relationships” (Schneider, 1995, p.389).

In order to overcome the dichotomy, Schneider suggest that “feminist work should reject these extremes and explore the interrelationships between, and simultaneity of, oppression and resistance (…) and seek to understand both the context of women’s oppression, which shapes women’s choices and constraints women’s agency and resistance, and also recognize women’s agency and resistance in a more nuanced way” (Schneider, 1995, p.397)

One central scholar whose work seeks to transcend the contested dichotomy between victimhood and agency is Judith Butler, who introduces a notion of “vulnerability” which moves away from previous “passivity” connotations of the term. Butler adopts the term “vulnerable” to refer to those who are subject to different forms of violence but in possession of agency to affect their lives (Butler, 2009 as cited in Cole, 2016). This approach therefore looks at the interplay between victimization and agency stating that those who are circumstantially oppressed by social norms which threaten their opportunities have agency to alter those conditions (Briones, 2009).

This new category of vulnerability enables a more nuanced study of people’s experiences as it interrelates structural circumstances and people’s agency under them. As Judith Butler explains, vulnerability is based on a social configuration of bodies:

In my view, as much as “vulnerability” can be affirmed as an existential condition, since we are all subject to accidents, illness, and attacks that can expunge our lives quite quickly, it is also a socially induced condition, which accounts for the disproportionate exposure to suffering, especially among those broadly called the precariat for whom access to shelter, food, and medical care is often quite drastically limited” (Butler et al, 2016, p.25)

The author’s definition of vulnerability depicts a social understanding of the term. Social approaches to vulnerability look at the structural conditions which put people into fragile circumstances. In this sense, socio-economic situations, marginalization, ethnic and social discriminations and discrimination based on gender, create spaces of vulnerability. These spaces are unfavorable situations that expose certain people to bigger threats and lack of control, but that do not prevent people from exercising their agency (Feito, 2007).

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This capacity of those in vulnerable situation to exercise their agency is Butler’s argument. According to Sabsay’s (2016) analysis of Butler’s understanding of vulnerability, social positioning does not prevent the vulnerable from acting:

Vulnerability is constitutive of our capacity of action. Butler highlights two aspects of vulnerability in association with relationality: on the one hand, it is linked with dependency – the idea that we are radically dependent on others, and on the material worlds in which we become to being, and which might sustain us or fail to sustain us. On the other hand, to be vulnerable implies the capacity to affect and to be affected. (…) Following Butler, however, the inescapable capacity to be affected, which amount to our responsiveness, is in fact inextricably enmeshed with our capacity to act. This is at the basis of her critique of the dichotomy between activity and passivity, or, in other terms, between agency and vulnerability. There is neither opposition nor necessary casual or sequential logic between them” (Butler, Gambetti, Sabsay, 2016, p.285).

This understanding of vulnerability and agency as interrelated concepts with a dynamic relationship will be used to analyze the survival strategies of Venezuelan woman on their migratory journey into Colombia. Based on Butler’s understanding of vulnerability, this research’s starting point will be that Venezuelan migrant women, who are vulnerable to bodily, economic and emotional threats have the capacity to act and make decisions to cope and overcome vulnerability even in a context of constrained choices and even if their acts of resistance create further forms of vulnerability (Lister, 2014). As Mainwaring (2016) suggests in her analysis of migrant’s agency: “The issue at hand is (…) how even on the edges of states and societies, faced with formidable levels of marginalization, people continue to resist, find room for negotiation, and exploit these narrow margins” (Andrijasevic 2010; Choi & Holroyd 2007, p.491 as cited in Mainwaring, 2016, p.293)

In order to understand women’s acts of agency in the context of their migratory journey, I will use the theoretical perspective proposed by Autonomy of Migration (AoM) scholars. This approach is useful as it offers a viewpoint on migration and migrants which moves away from the passivity/agency debate by stating that, even if migrants are oppressed and marginalized by the sovereign State and notions of citizenship, they still create their own realities, within the conditions they are living in and which make them vulnerable, by using their agency and develop acts of survival. These forms of everyday agency to confront vulnerability are the focus of AoM scholars.

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3.3 Autonomy of migration

The Autonomy of Migration approach to migration studies is a non-traditional understanding of migration which is based in the idea that migration has the potential to develop its own logics and realities outside notions of citizenship and State sovereignty. According to Moulier-Boutang (1998 as cited in Casas-Cortes, Cobarrubias & Pickles, 2015) the traditional approach addresses migration through the lenses of the State and it is generally underpinned by economic logics which see migration as influenced by the labor market demand and administrative regulations.

On the contrary, AoM scholars offer a “Copernican turn in migration studies in which the focus has shifted from the apparatuses of control to the multiple and diverse ways in which migration responds to, operates independently from, and in turn shapes those apparatuses and their corresponding institutions and practices” (Casa-Cortes et al., 2015, p.895). In this sense, Moulier-Boutang (1998) sustains that through the lenses of the State and administrative regimes, experts and agencies which work with migration fail to “acknowledge the force and effects of migrant flows” (Casas-Cortes et al., 2015, p.89)

Angulo-Pasel conducted research on those ways in which migrants develop their own realities and sustains that this is knowledgeable by looking at migration through migrant lenses. “AoM examines migration through migrant struggles because it is through these struggles that we can begin to understand the empirical reality of migrants on the move” (Papadopoulos, Stephenson &Tsianos 2008, 2013 as cited in Angulo-Pasel 2019, p.4). Looking at those strategies used by migrants to create their reality entails a focus on migrants’ agency in the face of various forms of marginalization.

This is because focusing on these acts of survival, which are beyond traditional notions of citizenship, inclusion and legality challenges conceptions of migrants as passive, showing how migrants on the move are agentic subjects even in constrained opportunities’ contexts. The AoM approach questions conceptualizations of sovereignty, security and citizenship by shedding light on migrant’s underestimated forms of agency which many times escape control. However, they do not ignore the importance of citizenship and the opportunities it enables.

As Papadopoulos and Tsiano (2015) manifest, the aim is to explore those possibilities of life and survival that are beyond contemporary understanding of citizenship, legality and sovereignty.

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“What we see (…) is the mundane organizational practices of mobile people. Our starting point is migrants on the ground, on the road – transmigrants. (…) The ‘mobile commons’ concept refers to an ‘ontology of moving people’ that includes the ‘shared knowledge, affective cooperation, mutual support and care between migrants’ while on the move” (Angulo-Pasel, 2019, p.5)

This non-traditional approach to migration will be employed throughout this research which intends to shed light on the mundane day to day acts of survival that Venezuelan migrants exercise along their migratory journey into Colombia. These acts are defined by Papadopoulos and Tsiano (2015) as “mobile commons”, “the everyday, unnoticeable acts which organize the mobility of migrants” (Angulo-Pasel, 2019, p.4).

Nyers (2015) has outlined five characteristics encountered in the AoM body of theory which are useful for setting the theoretical foundations of this thesis:

1- AoM sees migration as a social process which mobilizes human agency. This occurs as migration is not seen only as a reaction to human necessities (like push and pull factors) but also as a process on itself which is affected but not determined by structural factors. “For autonomists, the worry over privileging structure is that it can overshadow (…) the creativity of human agency that is enacted through migration. The minor desires and projects of migrants can result in (…) acts that can be central to understanding ruptures in social and political life. In this way, migration is a creative force (…)” (Nyers, 2015, p.11)

2- AoM theorists understand migration as preceding State’s control efforts. They sustain that border controls make migration more complicated but does not prevent it from happening. “Migration is, in a word, autonomous. Border controls, immigration controls, security checks – these techniques of sovereignty come afterwards and are a response to movement. This insight does not ignore the importance of the power of controls to (…) constrain movement. And migrants certainly are compelled to negotiate and struggle with these controls. The point, however, is that migration is not simply responding to controls. Rather, migration precedes its control” (Nyers, 2015, p.12)

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3- The AoM approach rejects the notion of borders as impenetrable walls. This understanding moves the focus from State’s territoriality and sovereignty onto migrants’ resistance acts and relationships with borders. “The relationship between migrants and borders is not a straightforward encounter of exclusion, but involves complex and ambiguous negotiations, contestations and refusals” (Nyers, 2015, p.13)

4- The AoM approach privileges the voice of migrants about their experiences. “It emphasizes the more mundane and everyday acts of subversion, survival and agency” (Johnson, 2014 as cited in Nyers, 2015, p.14). “Migrants’ politics develop their own codes, their own practices, their own logics which are almost imperceptible from the perspective of existing political action” (Papadopoulos, Tsianos, 2013:188 as cited in Nyers 2015, p.14)

5- AoM challenges traditional understandings of politics which are centered in visibility. This happens as many times invisibility becomes a political strategy for migrants. “Migrant’s strategic and off-the radar efforts are locating new paths for their journey and for living; attempts at developing contacts for jobs, housing, healthcare; the affective responses migrants have to their denigration and exploitation; their experience of their lived spaces, of work, of the streets, of those they encounter, those they develop relationships with” (Nyers, 2015. P 16)

In conclusion, AoM provides a useful tool to observe and validate migrant’s practices which represent their source of survival and agency, even if these practices are ignored by regulation regimes because they are considered irregular or unauthorized. Angulo-Pasel (2019) brings the discussion further by adding a critical-feminist analysis into the AoM and mobile commons approach. By including a gender dimension, she brings attention to how gender accompanies migrants along their journeys and sheds light on women’s gendered experiences of vulnerability and agency along the road.

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3.4 Autonomy of migration, gender and women’s vulnerabilities

Angulo-Pasel’s (2019) work on AoM is aimed at “engendering” the idea of the mobile commons. According to her, gender specific consideration must be included when looking at female migrants’ agency and survival strategies while on the move. This is because there are gendered vulnerabilities, inequalities, risks and violence that affect women disproportionately on the ground.

While the concept (mobile commons) is useful because it frames migrants as active and empowered agents in the migration process rather than as passive victims, or as negatively categorized by state policies as ‘undocumented’ or ‘unauthorized’, it falls short in analyzing how gender is embedded in migration and together intersects with class, race, and nationality, which therefore influences how the mobile commons concept may be applied. Adding a critical feminist analysis contributes to the AoM and the mobile commons concept by emphasizing the analytical value of relationality, culturally accepted perceptions and performativity (Butler 1988)” (Angulo-Pasel, 2019, p. 2)

The author seeks to point out how the migratory journey and the survival strategies developed by migrants during this journey are not gender-neutral, but rather enmeshed by gendered relations which make the experiences different for men and women. In her analysis, the author highlights how women relate differently with the mobile commons based on their gender.

For instance, in opposition to men, women have a higher risk of encountering sexual assault along their journeys, moreover, they tend to be associated with prostitution and sexual immorality and tend to worry about the absence of care for their children or elder members of the family once they leave their homes. These realities show that women “embody political subjectivities; they are mothers, daughters, and sisters, for instance but they are also perceived as sexual objects (…). Women’s bodies (…) are socially constructed through power hierarchies based on social differences, such as gender, class and race (…) these subjectivities have an impact on their mobility” (Angulo-Pasel, 2019, p.5).

Research by Kawar (2018) has concluded that when social class and migratory status are controlled for, women are more vulnerable than men to a wide range of vulnerabilities and threats during the migratory process based on their gender.

Kawar (2018) pointed out a series of gendered vulnerabilities which affect women in the economic opportunities sphere. According to the author, women have access to a limited number of occupations and their migration is generally unrelated to career advancement and skill acquisition

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and can cause deskilling. Moreover, compared to men, most migrant women do dangerous and demanding jobs in isolation with limited opportunities to build networks and have less access to social support. Women´s vulnerability to exploitation is furtherly increased as they tend to occupy most jobs in the informal sector and lack the knowledge of their rights.

These vulnerabilities are also accompanied by social ones. As Angulo-Pasel (2019) pointed out, women are seen as sexual objects or immoral beings, this leads to experiences of xenophobia and discrimination against women who are regarded as inferiors, threats to stability, and commodities with different standards of treatment (Kawar, 2018). These views make them even more vulnerable to exploitation than men (Kawar 2018).

A third source of women vulnerability in migratory contexts is linked to physical threats. For instance, sexual and gender-based violence, human trafficking, rape and sexual exploitation are the sources of vulnerability which affect migrant women the most (Tegegne, 2009). The lack of accommodation is a central factor which places women at higher risk of violence and physical insecurity (Freedman, 2016). The lack of access to health services is also a prevalent concern for migrant women.

These sources of vulnerability which affect woman specifically are enshrined in Article 9 of the Inter-American Convention “Belém do Pará” on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women of the Organization of American States (OAS) which affirms the vulnerability of women to violence by reason of, among others, their ethnic background or their status as migrants, refugees or displaced persons (OCHA, 2018). Hence, it has been established that during migration, the vulnerabilities that women might face due to other factors, such as poverty, gender, ethnicity, is likely to increase (Kawar, 2018).

The previously mentioned theories fit into three categories of vulnerability experienced by women in the migratory journey: social vulnerability, economic vulnerability and bodily vulnerability.

Economic vulnerability is linked to the risk of falling into poverty, and is related to the access of labor and basic goods for individuals and their households, including access to housing and security (Tegegne, 2009). Along the journey, economic vulnerability is also related to the lack of access to mobility resources such as transportation as well as to the inability to predict and plan access to food and other basic needs. In the case of women, this vulnerability is compounded by their responsibility

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Social vulnerability is related to emotions, social ties, networks and relations between individuals, which can cause either feelings of shame, helplessness and loneliness, as well as confidence and optimism (Tegegne, 2009). This category can be also linked to experiences of xenophobia and discrimination. Social vulnerability is further tied to education opportunities and skill advancement. This source of vulnerability is deeply linked to economic and physical vulnerabilities as migrant women who migrate in poverty conditions become blanks of aggression and xenophobia as well as of physical exploitation and abuse.

Bodily vulnerability encompasses health and physical vulnerabilities. On one side, health vulnerability entails good health and having access to appropriate health services. Health is also related to mental health and emotional concerns. During the migratory journey, this entails the lack of access both to physical support and psychological support to endure the journey on foot. Physical vulnerability is the type of vulnerability women face the most in these contexts, and is related to sexual exploitation, rape, trafficking and gender based violence. In the case of women this vulnerability is also added to the responsibility for looking after the physical well-being of their children (Tegegne, 2009).

3.5 Migrant women survival strategies

Drawing from AoM theory and the gender dimension introduced by Angulo-Pasel (2019), I will consider as acts of agency all the mundane day-to-day acts that migrant women carve in order to create their own realities of survival. Additionally, by including a gender dimension, women’ survival strategies will be regarded as shaped by power imbalances which make them more prone to suffer from the risks mentioned in the previous section.

Much of the literature on migrant’s agency focuses on processes of integration once migrants arrive in their destination. However, this research will explore migrant’s acts of agency along the migratory journey. The migratory journey represents a moment of extreme vulnerability for migrants even if it tends to be seen as a moment of passage without much complexity:

Policymakers, politicians, the media and even many academics continue to portray migrant journeys as direct passages between countries of origin and destination, represented by straight arrows on a map (…) In this depiction, journeys are less significant than factors that initiate migration and issues

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associated with settlement and integration. Here, we understand the journey to be as complex and significant as other phases of migration, and to have important implications for these other phases (…) the journey has far-reaching consequences. It affects migrants’ world views, attitudes and even their bodies. As an experience, it potentially traumatizes or empowers them. The journey leaves physical, emotional and psychological traces on its survivors, following them in countries of destination, and on their communities back ‘home’” (Mainwaring & Bridgen, 2016, p.247)

Drawing from Mainwaring and Bridgen’s understanding of journeys as complex social processes and in the context of the journey that Venezuelans undertake into Colombia, I define “survival strategies” as acts of agency devised for confronting the challenges related to emotional, economic and bodily vulnerabilities that migrant women encounter while constructing their own survival.

As this theoretical framework has previously mentioned, agency and vulnerability are complimentary and not oppositional concepts. From this viewpoint, migrant women survival strategies are forms of agency, even if those strategies are outside formal channels proposed by the State and notions of citizenship.

In order to conceptualize agency, I will draw from Mainwaring definition of the term which is not gender-specific but focuses on all migrants. The author makes a radical statement by separating the notion of agency from the idea of choice. This is because in migratory contexts - where levels of vulnerability are extreme, and where there are structural constraints and barriers to rights and mobility “seeing people as rational, faced with choices, is problematic and ignores how power works (…) by structuring our sense of self” (Mainwaring, 2016, p.292). In these contexts of vulnerability, migrants’ agency is therefore not about free will and choice but about finding room for negotiation and resistance, about “understanding decision makings, the room for maneuver, opportunity structures and migration trajectories” (Mainwaring, 2016, p.292).

According to Angulo-Pasel (2019), in the case of women migrants, their agency tends to be related to the constructions of gender, this is because they run gender-specific risks and also exercise strategies which are “connected to the fact that they are women and may therefore experience abuses associated with their sex during migration” (Angulo-Pasel, 2019, p11) as for instance rape, forced prostitution and trafficking. In this sense, the construction of “woman” plays an important role in the acts that migrant women take part of.

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Mainwaring defines agency as “temporally embedded engagement by actors of different structural environments which, through the interplay of habit, imagination and judgement, both reproduces and transforms those structures in interactive response to the problems posed by changing situations” (Emirbayer & Mische, 1998, p.970 as cited in Mainwaring, 2016, p. 293). This definition finds agency in the “micro-level negotiation between state and migrants, between migrants and between smugglers and migrants” (Mainwaring, 2016, p.295)

In order to conduct this research through interviews and observations and delimitate acts of agency, I focused on the author’s personal experiences researching migrant’s agency. According to Mainwaring, specific outcomes out of migrant’s acts of agency should not be necessary as migrant’s actions could transform or reproduce structures. As the author suggests: “When in interviews, people reported strategic engagement or negotiation with actors or their environment, I coded this as agency and explored how these were ambivalent moments of disempowerment and empowerment, as well as the outcomes of that engagement” (Mainwering, 2016, p.294).

3.6 Concluding remarks

Migrant women are often catalogued as persons in vulnerable situation, with their agency and ability to act and influence their lives not being recognized. In this research, I make an effort to address this image of migrant women as passive by exploring not only the sources of vulnerability which affect them but also the interrelation it has with agency and women’s ability to construct a reality by means of survival strategies.

As Autonomy of Migration theory suggests, these survival strategies exceed notions of inclusion and sovereignty, and, on the contrary, are found on the everyday mundane acts that women exercise along their migratory journeys to confront economic, social and physical sources of vulnerability.

I will look at those social and structural conditions which place migrant women in vulnerable situations, without ignoring the ability of those in an unfavorable situation to act and to pursue their own goals. To do so I will use Mainwaring’s (2016) understanding of agency which focuses on strategic negotiations between migrants and their environment.

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4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The methodology chapter elaborates on the data collecting methods as well as on other methodological aspects which are relevant for understanding and assessing the quality of the data gathered during a fieldwork period of ten weeks in Cúcuta and Pamplona, Colombia.

Venezuelan “caminantes” eat lunch and chat outside Marta Duque’s shelter in Pamplona (Source: Caterina Weller)

4.1 Units of analysis

This research aims to understand survival strategies of female migrants in vulnerable situation as acts of agency. The main focus is on Venezuelan migrant women who are on their journeys in the Norte de Santander region along the route from the Simón Bolívar International Bridge to Bucaramanga. This includes women who just crossed the border into Colombia, women working in the border area, those inside shelters along the route from Cúcuta to Pamplona and those staying in Pamplona as a way of economic survival. A second unit of analysis relates to the structural vulnerabilities and

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agency as the ability to act even in moments of constrained choices, it is important to analyze women survival strategies without ignoring the vulnerable situation they encounter themselves in.

4.2 Epistemology and ontology

Epistemology in social research is concerned with the ways in which it is possible to get to know the social world (Ritchie & Lewis, 2003). In this regard, this research adopts an interpretivist approach. Interpretivism scholars suggest that the researcher and the social world impact on each other, meaning that objectivity is not possible to achieve (Ritchie et al., 2003). This assumed multiplicity of realities requires using methods which can capture diversity. With this purpose, this research adopts participatory methods such as semi-structured interviews, informal conversations and participant observations which enable participants to give account of their subjective experiences.

In terms of the ontological position, this research is part of a subtle-realism approach. Subtle-realism assumes that the social world does exist outside of individual subjective understandings, however it is only throughout participant’s interpretations that the world can be comprehended (Ritchie et al., 2003). This type of approach is useful for previously unexplored research topics where there is a lack of pre-existing knowledge and when the aim is to understand experiences as “they are

subjectively lived” (Clark-Kazak, 2014). In this research, the external reality which is being recognized

includes those structural factors which create economic, social and physical vulnerabilities for migrant women, however, these vulnerabilities are knowable throughout the accounts of the women who face them and the survival strategies they exercise to deal with them.

4.3 Data collection methods

“`Statistics are people with their tears washed off´. A social science that ignores those tears is arid” (Sidel 1992, as cited in Lister2015).

This research aims to gain a deeper understanding of Venezuelan migrant women experiences along the migratory journey into Colombia by understanding the different sources of vulnerability that affect them and the survival strategies they develop to keep going and achieving

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their goals. Due to the nature of the research, I employed purely qualitative methods which are useful to gain knowledge on subjective experiences.

Initially, my intention was to gather data only from conducting semi-structured interviews and observations in the border area. However, as I was immersed in a humanitarian emergency context, accessibility became an issue due to safety concerns in the border area as well as the delicate situation in which migrant women were after entering Colombia, mostly throughout clandestine trails. For this reason, I decided to compliment my data by conducting participant observations inside a shelter next to the route in the city of Pamplona.

The primary data of this research was gathered by participant observation and by conducting a total of 25 semi-structured interviews. Out of the 25, 19 were with female migrants, 2 with members of the humanitarian network which supports migrants, 2 with governments officials and 2 with academics. The interviews with scholars were conducted in the city of Cúcuta, as well 6 of the interviews to migrants. The remaining interviews were conducted in the city of Pamplona inside two humanitarian shelters: Casa de Paso Marta Duque and La Chirimoya, observations were conducted in the first of these two.

4.3.1 Interviews

Semi-structured interviews became a main source of data gathering during the 8 weeks of fieldwork. It was very important for me as a researcher to have real accounts of what women are going through. In this sense, I accepted subjective experiences as valid forms of existence. As feminist geographer Pamela Moss explains: “A feminist conception of social science contends that that which is experienced can be known; and that which can be known, can be changed,” (Moss, 1993, p.48). Semi-structured interviews therefore enabled me to gather first-hand accounts of women’s perceptions and survival experiences along the journey as well as the vulnerabilities they encounter. By listening to their narratives, I hope this research provides a platform for their voices to be heard.

Besides the interviews I conducted with migrant women, I also interviewed two government officials- one from Cúcuta and one from Pamplona, two humanitarian workers, and two scholars with experience working with Venezuelan migrant women. These interviews were important sources of

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data for triangulation, as they enabled me to find any divergences on migrant’s narratives and to deeper understand central topics.

Interviews with migrants generally lasted for twenty minutes, while interviews with government officials, scholars and humanitarian workers lasted for approximately an hour. All the interviews were conducted in Spanish and were recorded after receiving the interviewee’s consent to do so.

4.3.2 Participant observation

I conducted participant observation inside a shelter located in Pamplona: Casa de Paso Marta Duque. I started visiting this shelter very often during my third week of fieldwork and after a couple of visits I established friendship bonds with Marta Duque – owner of the house where she hosts hundreds of migrant women and children daily – and the Venezuelan volunteers collaborating with her mission of feeding and providing shelter to weary migrants. I spent a total of 20 days visiting this shelter daily, from the morning until the evening. During my visits, I would collaborate with food preparation, organize activities for the children, provide migrants with information on the journey ahead, and have fun with the other volunteers. This became a crucial part of my research as I managed to gather first-hand data by listening, observing and having conversations with people spending the night inside the shelter before continuing their journeys up the Páramo de Berlín on their way to Bucaramanga.

As O´Reilly points out in her work, ethnographic approaches are useful for getting to understand experiences throughout immersing oneself in people’s daily realities and observing their behavior.

Ethnographic research is a special methodology that suggests we learn about people’s lives from their own perspective and from within the context of their own lived experience. This involves no only talking to them and making questions but also learning from them by observing them, and asking questions that relate to the daily life experience as we have seen and experienced it” (O’Reilly, 2012:84)

This method became central for my research as most of the times, survival strategies were not acknowledged as such by women in their narratives. In this sense, many of the key findings of this work happened by focusing on observations. Ethnographic methods raise important ethical regarding people’s consent. These will be furtherly discussed in the Ethical Considerations section.

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4.4 sampling

The women interviewed in this work were selected through non-probability sampling methods. These methods are useful for conducting exploratory qualitative research and provide an inexpensive and easy way to gather data. I have started by using convenience sampling methods due to contextual constraints marked by the ongoing migratory crisis and the danger that the research location presented. I decided to begin by searching for humanitarian institutions which provided safety for me as a researcher as well as for the interviewees. I then employed snowball sampling to access hard-to-reach population in the border area as well as in Pamplona, this was for example the case of sex-workers. The data I have gathered in form of interview transcripts, field notes and observations will be analyzed ethnographically to detect themes, contradictions, inconsistences and categories to generate conclusions on the researched situation.

4.5 Ethical considerations

Reflecting on ethical issues is crucial for guaranteeing the integrity of research in social sciences (Bryman, 2012). While conducting fieldwork in a humanitarian context, this reflection enables the enhancement of participant’s care and protection which is needed due to high levels of vulnerability (Mfutso-Bengo; Masiye; Muula, 2008). In this section I will critically address five ethical principles to assess the quality of my research: voluntary participation, informed consent, safety, confidentiality and trust.

During my fieldwork, observing body language became an important tool when achieving voluntary participation, as often women’s reaction was a worried look at their children or a troubled gesture. When I sensed this reluctance, I would proceed to let them know that there was no problem if they did not want to participate and that I would be around in case they wanted to do so later. Moreover, as I became a volunteer at a shelter, I occasionally sensed respondents felt pressure to collaborate with me. These represented an ethical challenge as I did not want my help to be understood as an inducement to participate. To avoid forced participation, I decided to clearly explain to the women I was conducting research for my Master’s thesis while being a volunteer and that they should only participate if they were willing to do so.

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When it comes to informed consent and trust, I decided to explicitly express my purposes to interviewees, moreover, I would ask women for their consent to use the data at the beginning and end of the interview. Explaining the women in the beginning that I would re-ask them after the interview if they still agreed with me using the data was useful to make them feel more relaxed and trust me.

In terms of trust, I established friendship bonds with migrants, volunteers and shelter owners which means I had many roles which overlapped and made it harder to be reflexive. Nevertheless, I believe blending in with the researched group was a key aspect of this investigation and an important tool to cause no harm to the studied population which was in a vulnerable and unstable position.

In matters of safety, after February 23rd and with the failed attempt to enter humanitarian aid into Venezuela, the border area became unpredictable. On this date, I had to leave Cúcuta as it was not a safe place for me to be. I decided to take a flight to Bogotá until the situation was better. After a week in Bogotá, I decided to settle in Pamplona as going back to Cúcuta was still not safe enough. This safety concern affected my data collection plans in the border area as I could not go back into the zone. For this reason, I could not conduct as many interviews as I intended in this area.

Concerning participant’s safety, I faced some ethical issues when interviewing sex workers. On one occasion, I entered a brothel to interview two Venezuelan girls that had agreed to participate in my research and told me to come meet them at a specific time. When the interviews were about to finish, another sex-worker aggressively told the girls they could not talk to me without the owner’s consent. By that time, the girls did not care about the comment and kept talking to me. Unfortunately, I felt my naïve attitude when entering the place could be threatening their jobs. I decided to end the interview at that point and waited for the owner to come to explain what had happened. When the owner arrived, he told me he had no problem with me conducting interviews in the place. I however decided not to do more interviews there. Days after, I saw the girls were still working there and I approached them inside a shelter where they were having lunch to make sure everything was okay. In future research activities, I should be more critical and reflexive on the impact my presence can have on participants’ lives and possibly look for a different environment for these types of interviews. As Mfutso-Bengo et al. (2008) explain, people in humanitarian crises need extra protection, however, such protection should not prevent them from participating in a research in which they have volunteered to participate.

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