Migrant reterritorializations through body and its expressions

Abstract

Migration challenges the relation between identity-building process and territory. Space has
traditionally been observed as backdrop of social relations and practices, but a constructivist
perspective leads the analysis to observe the practices producing space and territory. That
space expresses itself on different territorialities. Some practices of migrant population
produce territory on the bodies, so, the body becomes territory. This reflection expands the
knowledge of migration and its spatial expression. The present text is based on ethnographical
fieldwork on migrant beauty salons and barber shops in Santiago downtown. Considering
these empirical observations, the text discusses multiple ways to produce space through the
identity-building processes.