Ester Serra-Mingot
Biographic Data
| ID | 838277 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ester Serra-Mingot |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ester |
| FAMILY NAME | Serra-Mingot |
| SIGNATURE | SERRA-MINGOT E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Bielefeld University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5399-0672 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 48 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Ambivalent protection? Statelessness, African migrants, and migration governance in Mexico
This paper examines Mexico’s evolving migration policies towards extra-continental migrants, focusing on the categorisation of African migrants as ‘stateless’ and the subsequent consequences of this status. Drawing on anthropological and legal perspectives, it explores how Mexico’s issuance of stateless cards – intended as a humanitarian fix – produces new layers of precarity and legal ambiguity. The analysis situates this practice within broader…
The Role of Migration Policies and Minority Stressors on Intimate Partner Violence Amongst LGBTIQ+ Displaced Persons in Mexico
This article examines how migration governance and minority stress intersect to shape intimate partner violence (IPV) among LGBTIQ+ displaced persons in Mexico. While existing scholarship has documented the mental health impacts of displacement and discrimination on sexual and gender minorities (SGM), little attention has been paid to how intimate relationships become sites where legal precarity, social isolation, and structural stigma converge t…
Transforming Destinations
This article explores the lived experiences of LGBTIQ+ forcibly displaced persons in (transit through) Mexico, examining how they decide whether to stay or move on, and how civil society organizations (CSOs) shape those decisions. Based on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Mexico, this article analyzes three intertwined dimensions: the specific vulnerabilities shaping LGBTIQ+ migration; the role of CSOs in reshaping agency and future plannin…
Instrumentalizing vulnerabilities
This study investigates how African and Haitian migrants and asylum seekers in transit through Mexico utilise the concept of vulnerability, as defined by current migration management systems, to secure protection and legal status. Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted with 30 migrants in Mexico from 2021 to 2023, the research employs semi‐structured interviews and longitudinal follow‐ups to understand these dynamics. The findings reveal that m…
A Qualitative Analysis of the Integration Challenges Faced by Displaced LGBTIQ + Persons in Mexico City
Activistas, traficantes e investigadores en la industria migratoria en México
En este artículo se problematiza el papel de activistas, traficantes e investigadores en la lucrativa industria migratoria actual, entendida como el conjunto de redes migratorias transnacionales que facilitan el movimiento de personas (a menudo) en contra de las leyes de los Estados. El análisis se basa en los datos obtenidos durante 18 meses de trabajo de campo etnográfico con migrantes africanos en tránsito por México, traficantes y activistas …
El papel de la mujer en los nuevos tránsitos migratorios africanos a través de las Américas
Este artículo analiza el papel de la mujer en la facilitación de los tránsitos irregulares de migrantes africanos por las Américas, en concreto a través de México. Los estudios de flujos migratorios irregulares han tendido a representar a la mujer como un ser vulnerable y pasivo, a merced de la explotación y la violencia infringida por los hombres involucrados en el tráfico en personas. Los datos presentados en este artículo ponen de manifiesto e…
Activists, Smugglers, and Researchers in the Migration Industry in Mexico
En este artículo se problematiza el papel de activistas, traficantes e investigadores en la lucrativa industria migratoria actual, entendida como el conjunto de redes migratorias transnacionales que facilitan el movimiento de personas (a menudo) en contra de las leyes de los Estados. El análisis se basa en los datos obtenidos durante 18 meses de trabajo de campo etnográfico con migrantes africanos en tránsito por México, traficantes y activistas …
Conducting team ethnography with African migrants in Mexico
Based on the current trends in conducting ethnographies, with time and funding limitations and the need to reflect on the researcher's positionality, this article explores the implications of conducting ethnographic fieldwork in a mixed team (in terms of gender, race and nationality) with highly vulnerable populations in a context of crisis. To that end, the article analyses the experience of conducting a team ethnography with African migrants in…
Securing Retirement Through Intra-European Migration
This article explores through qualitative methods how structural inequalities and weak welfare states push women to migrate in their old age to piece together their pension across different countries. Based on in-depth interviews, observations, and ethnographic conversations conducted with Romanian women in Spain, it explores how they navigate the European Union’s (UE) law on Social Security to aggregate social insurance periods from the work per…
On the Same Wavelength? Differing Geopolitical Positionalities and Voluntary Return and Reintegration in Ghana
This paper explores the range of experiences of “voluntary” return to Ghana, based on the different positionalities of migrants set against migration and return regimes and broader socio-economic inequalities. The cases illustrate how geopolitical relations shape migrants’ mobilities, highlighting the unequal relations between different actors in the countries of origin and destination; primarily these are the migrants, their relatives, and commu…
“Moving on” with gendered aspirations
The ongoing political unrest and severe economic hardships in Sudan have led many Sudanese to arrive in Europe as asylum seekers. Throughout the years, after obtaining refugee status and becoming European citizens, many settle in the host countries of which they are citizens, while others move onwards to other EU countries as European labour migrants. As the migrants' legal statuses change during these different stages, so do their welfare and la…
Transnational social protection infrastructures
In the past years, increasingly restrictive migration policies have pushed many migrants to seek new and more risky migration routes. Many studies have investigated aspects of social protection for migrants from the Global South in industrialized countries of the Global North, with powerful welfare states. Yet, such focus has failed to understand the complexities during the migration process, where people often spend uncertain periods of time in …
Managing old-age in transnational families. Comparing ethnographies of Ecuador and Sudan
La migration et la protection sociale sont souvent un projet familial. Pour comprendre comment les migrants et leurs familles organisent leur protection sociale, il faut collecter des données à la fois dans leurs pays d’origine et de destination, afin d’observer la circulation multidirectionnelle des personnes et des ressources. La méthodologie ethnographique multi-située avec un échantillon connecté nous permet de comprendre les logiques et prat…
The gendered burden of transnational care-receiving
Care circulated within transnational families is a crucial element in the families’ social protection and reproduction transnational social protection arrangements, based on a system of reciprocity between migrants and their families ‘back home’. Recent studies have shown the complexities of transnational caregiving arrangements, yet the focus has remained on the provision of care between parents and children, largely neglecting the intricacies o…
Moving for a 'better welfare'? The case of transnational Sudanese families
The burgeoning literature on welfare migration, or on the likelihood of migrants moving to countries with more generous welfare states, yields mixed results. In this article, we aim to disentangle what kinds of considerations underlie the decisions that migrants and their families make to address their social protection needs when they move to certain places. We explain how Sudanese extended families, with members scattered across multiple countr…
Providing social protection to mobile populations
Studies on migration and social protection have shown that a lack of access to formal welfare in receiving countries leads migrants to rely on their informal social networks for support. This paper argues that such clear-cut dichotomies between formal and informal social protection systems ignore the manners in which both welfare- state institutions and migrants work together at the interstices of the formal and informal to cater to national and …
Mobile Populations in Immobile Welfare Systems
The gendered burden of transnational care-receiving
Care circulated within transnational families is a crucial element in the families’ social protection and reproduction transnational social protection arrangements, based on a system of reciprocity between migrants and their families ‘back home’. Recent studies have shown the complexities of transnational caregiving arrangements, yet the focus has remained on the provision of care between parents and children, largely neglecting the intricacies o…
Providing social protection to mobile populations
Studies on migration and social protection have shown that a lack of access to formal welfare in receiving countries leads migrants to rely on their informal social networks for support. This paper argues that such clear-cut dichotomies between formal and informal social protection systems ignore the manners in which both welfare- state institutions and migrants work together at the interstices of the formal and informal to cater to national and …
Moving for a 'better welfare'? The case of transnational Sudanese families
The burgeoning literature on welfare migration, or on the likelihood of migrants moving to countries with more generous welfare states, yields mixed results. In this article, we aim to disentangle what kinds of considerations underlie the decisions that migrants and their families make to address their social protection needs when they move to certain places. We explain how Sudanese extended families, with members scattered across multiple countr…
Mobile Populations in Immobile Welfare Systems
Transnational social protection infrastructures
In the past years, increasingly restrictive migration policies have pushed many migrants to seek new and more risky migration routes. Many studies have investigated aspects of social protection for migrants from the Global South in industrialized countries of the Global North, with powerful welfare states. Yet, such focus has failed to understand the complexities during the migration process, where people often spend uncertain periods of time in …
Activists, Smugglers, and Researchers in the Migration Industry in Mexico
En este artículo se problematiza el papel de activistas, traficantes e investigadores en la lucrativa industria migratoria actual, entendida como el conjunto de redes migratorias transnacionales que facilitan el movimiento de personas (a menudo) en contra de las leyes de los Estados. El análisis se basa en los datos obtenidos durante 18 meses de trabajo de campo etnográfico con migrantes africanos en tránsito por México, traficantes y activistas …
Mobile Populations in Immobile Welfare Systems
Providing social protection to mobile populations
Studies on migration and social protection have shown that a lack of access to formal welfare in receiving countries leads migrants to rely on their informal social networks for support. This paper argues that such clear-cut dichotomies between formal and informal social protection systems ignore the manners in which both welfare- state institutions and migrants work together at the interstices of the formal and informal to cater to national and …
The gendered burden of transnational care-receiving
Care circulated within transnational families is a crucial element in the families’ social protection and reproduction transnational social protection arrangements, based on a system of reciprocity between migrants and their families ‘back home’. Recent studies have shown the complexities of transnational caregiving arrangements, yet the focus has remained on the provision of care between parents and children, largely neglecting the intricacies o…
Moving for a 'better welfare'? The case of transnational Sudanese families
The burgeoning literature on welfare migration, or on the likelihood of migrants moving to countries with more generous welfare states, yields mixed results. In this article, we aim to disentangle what kinds of considerations underlie the decisions that migrants and their families make to address their social protection needs when they move to certain places. We explain how Sudanese extended families, with members scattered across multiple countr…
Managing old-age in transnational families. Comparing ethnographies of Ecuador and Sudan
La migration et la protection sociale sont souvent un projet familial. Pour comprendre comment les migrants et leurs familles organisent leur protection sociale, il faut collecter des données à la fois dans leurs pays d’origine et de destination, afin d’observer la circulation multidirectionnelle des personnes et des ressources. La méthodologie ethnographique multi-située avec un échantillon connecté nous permet de comprendre les logiques et prat…
“Moving on” with gendered aspirations
The ongoing political unrest and severe economic hardships in Sudan have led many Sudanese to arrive in Europe as asylum seekers. Throughout the years, after obtaining refugee status and becoming European citizens, many settle in the host countries of which they are citizens, while others move onwards to other EU countries as European labour migrants. As the migrants' legal statuses change during these different stages, so do their welfare and la…
Transnational social protection infrastructures
In the past years, increasingly restrictive migration policies have pushed many migrants to seek new and more risky migration routes. Many studies have investigated aspects of social protection for migrants from the Global South in industrialized countries of the Global North, with powerful welfare states. Yet, such focus has failed to understand the complexities during the migration process, where people often spend uncertain periods of time in …
Securing Retirement Through Intra-European Migration
This article explores through qualitative methods how structural inequalities and weak welfare states push women to migrate in their old age to piece together their pension across different countries. Based on in-depth interviews, observations, and ethnographic conversations conducted with Romanian women in Spain, it explores how they navigate the European Union’s (UE) law on Social Security to aggregate social insurance periods from the work per…
On the Same Wavelength? Differing Geopolitical Positionalities and Voluntary Return and Reintegration in Ghana
This paper explores the range of experiences of “voluntary” return to Ghana, based on the different positionalities of migrants set against migration and return regimes and broader socio-economic inequalities. The cases illustrate how geopolitical relations shape migrants’ mobilities, highlighting the unequal relations between different actors in the countries of origin and destination; primarily these are the migrants, their relatives, and commu…
Activistas, traficantes e investigadores en la industria migratoria en México
En este artículo se problematiza el papel de activistas, traficantes e investigadores en la lucrativa industria migratoria actual, entendida como el conjunto de redes migratorias transnacionales que facilitan el movimiento de personas (a menudo) en contra de las leyes de los Estados. El análisis se basa en los datos obtenidos durante 18 meses de trabajo de campo etnográfico con migrantes africanos en tránsito por México, traficantes y activistas …
El papel de la mujer en los nuevos tránsitos migratorios africanos a través de las Américas
Este artículo analiza el papel de la mujer en la facilitación de los tránsitos irregulares de migrantes africanos por las Américas, en concreto a través de México. Los estudios de flujos migratorios irregulares han tendido a representar a la mujer como un ser vulnerable y pasivo, a merced de la explotación y la violencia infringida por los hombres involucrados en el tráfico en personas. Los datos presentados en este artículo ponen de manifiesto e…
Activists, Smugglers, and Researchers in the Migration Industry in Mexico
En este artículo se problematiza el papel de activistas, traficantes e investigadores en la lucrativa industria migratoria actual, entendida como el conjunto de redes migratorias transnacionales que facilitan el movimiento de personas (a menudo) en contra de las leyes de los Estados. El análisis se basa en los datos obtenidos durante 18 meses de trabajo de campo etnográfico con migrantes africanos en tránsito por México, traficantes y activistas …
Conducting team ethnography with African migrants in Mexico
Based on the current trends in conducting ethnographies, with time and funding limitations and the need to reflect on the researcher's positionality, this article explores the implications of conducting ethnographic fieldwork in a mixed team (in terms of gender, race and nationality) with highly vulnerable populations in a context of crisis. To that end, the article analyses the experience of conducting a team ethnography with African migrants in…
Transforming Destinations
This article explores the lived experiences of LGBTIQ+ forcibly displaced persons in (transit through) Mexico, examining how they decide whether to stay or move on, and how civil society organizations (CSOs) shape those decisions. Based on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Mexico, this article analyzes three intertwined dimensions: the specific vulnerabilities shaping LGBTIQ+ migration; the role of CSOs in reshaping agency and future plannin…
Instrumentalizing vulnerabilities
This study investigates how African and Haitian migrants and asylum seekers in transit through Mexico utilise the concept of vulnerability, as defined by current migration management systems, to secure protection and legal status. Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted with 30 migrants in Mexico from 2021 to 2023, the research employs semi‐structured interviews and longitudinal follow‐ups to understand these dynamics. The findings reveal that m…
A Qualitative Analysis of the Integration Challenges Faced by Displaced LGBTIQ + Persons in Mexico City
Ambivalent protection? Statelessness, African migrants, and migration governance in Mexico
This paper examines Mexico’s evolving migration policies towards extra-continental migrants, focusing on the categorisation of African migrants as ‘stateless’ and the subsequent consequences of this status. Drawing on anthropological and legal perspectives, it explores how Mexico’s issuance of stateless cards – intended as a humanitarian fix – produces new layers of precarity and legal ambiguity. The analysis situates this practice within broader…
The Role of Migration Policies and Minority Stressors on Intimate Partner Violence Amongst LGBTIQ+ Displaced Persons in Mexico
This article examines how migration governance and minority stress intersect to shape intimate partner violence (IPV) among LGBTIQ+ displaced persons in Mexico. While existing scholarship has documented the mental health impacts of displacement and discrimination on sexual and gender minorities (SGM), little attention has been paid to how intimate relationships become sites where legal precarity, social isolation, and structural stigma converge t…
Migration and Labor Dynamics (12 works) · Migration, Refugees, and Integration (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Economics (8 works) · Ethnography (7 works) · Gender Studies (7 works) · Geography (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Politics (5 works)