Working with families of disappeared migrants: from objects/subjects of study to knowledge producers

Abstract

Across Mexico and Central America, families of disappeared/missing persons are demanding to play a more active role in the articulation of the academic, journalistic, psychological, and humanitarian narratives that are being built upon their experience and struggles. This article describes the methodological dimension of a research project which gradually turned into a collaborative endeavour following the explicit demand of fifteen members of the Salvadoran Committee of Families of Deceased and Disappeared Migrants (Cofamide). As a result, Cofamide’s members positioned themselves as knowledge producers, defining the research questions and co-analysing the data produced in order to rethink the political work developed by the Committee. Hence, the project problematized the epistemic violence of the traditional subject-object divide in research by using an assemblage of methodologies; such as Participatory Action Research, collaborative methods, and Black and Community Feminist approaches. The article will also discuss some key challenges and limitations faced throughout this process.