Humanitarianism from Below - by Alejandro Olayo-Méndez

Book Synopsis

Challenges the definition of humanitarian aid

Aside from being one of the most important migration corridors in the world, Mexico is becoming an immigrant destination itself, with more and more migrants deciding or needing to stay in the country after failing to enter the United States. In the absence of state aid, migrant shelters have emerged as an informal welfare system for migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and deportees in Mexico. Largely run by faith-based humanitarian organizations, these shelters have grown significantly in recent years.

Humanitarianism from Below examines the significance of these casas de migrantes (migrant shelters) in the migration process in Mexico. The book also reviews the role of faith-based humanitarian organizations, whose engagement with migrants is perceived more as charity work than professional humanitarian work. The volume argues that faith-based humanitarian organizations' work challenges traditional understandings of what counts as humanitarian aid. It makes the case that in order to understand the full ecology of migration, we need to understand not only how large organizations like the Red Cross work, but also how these smaller and local entities with fewer resources interact with migrants on their journeys. Most migration research tends to focus on its impact within home countries or in destination contexts, rarely focusing on the actual migration process, including the interactions that influence the course of the migration journey itself. In conducting this research, Alejandro Olayo-Méndez traveled along migrant routes several times in order to gain knowledge about how migrants move and how they interact with the migrant shelters. He offers a detailed look at the experiences and challenges of casas de migrantes in Mexico, situating these faith-based shelters as an integral part of Mexico's humanitarian ecosystem.

Review Quotes

"Based on years of active involvement and research with Casas de Migrantes, Humanitarianism From Below gives a unique insight how these shelters emerged in a context of, and as a reaction to, increasing state repression and violence towards vulnerable migrant groups. This groundbreaking book fills an essential gap in the study of migration studies and humanitarianism, and no researcher could be better positioned than Alejandro Olayo-Mendez to write it."--Hein de Haas, author of How Migration Really Works: A Factful Guide to the Most Divisive Issue in Politics

"Explores the rich network of 150 casas de migrante (roughly "migrant shelters") in Mexico, which have received far too little scholarly attention given their central importance to migrants from throughout the world. What emerges from Olayo-Méndez's multi-year journey and "mobile" methodology - as social worker, volunteer in multiple casas, and academic - is a migrant-centered view of these institutions, which are not "neutral," but are responsive to migrants' immediate and long-term needs, and thus are necessarily engaged in advocacy based on these needs, as well as their underlying values and (often) their faith commitments."--Donald M. Kerwin, Vice-President for Advocacy, Research, and Partnerships, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA.

"Makes an important contribution to the literature on humanitarianism through its analysis of Mexico's Casas de Migrante and the many roles that they play in supporting migrants' journeys. While most studies of humanitarian action focus on the work of a handful of international agencies, the fact is that local communities are on the front lines of humanitarian response. . . . Olayo-Méndez analyzes the important role of faith in the emergence and functioning of these Casas de Migrantes, which is rarely considered in the increasingly secular humanitarian sector."--Elizabeth Ferris, Georgetown University

About the Author

Alejandro Olayo-Méndez is Assistant Professor of Social Work at Boston College. His latest article Essential, Disposable, and Excluded in the Journal of Poverty discusses the experience of Latino immigrants in the United States during the pandemic.