Urbanisation, migration et inégalités à Ciudad Juárez, Mexique

Abstract

Ciudad Juarez is located at the confluence of several phenomena particular to the globalized economy due the presence of transnational corporations in maquiladoras. It is also at the confluence of significant internal and international migration flows. Lastly, for several decades, it has been the site of many patterned murders of women, making it, according to some observers, the capital of "feminicide." Responsibility for these murders was quickly assigned to the migrant population. However, at a structural level and in the context of the globalized economy, it is clear that the situation is much more complex. In fact, migration is part of a broader dynamic which is based on historically constituted inequalities which are in turn, accentuated by migration. When these inequalities combine with the disengagement of the state and the social irresponsibility of transnational corporations, as is the case with Juarez, all the ingredients are in place to make the pace of social change into an urban nightmare.