Mobility, non-citizenship, racialization: Novosibirsk (Russia)-Tapachula (Mexico)

Abstract

On the basis of the analysis of the legislation and semi-structured interviews with immigrants from Guatemala in Tapachula (Mexico) and immigrants from former republics of the Soviet Union in Novosibirsk (Russia), this article discusses how racialization and noncitizenship
are linked to mobility. In both countries, non-citizenship conditions the presence of a foreigner in national territory, while racialization influences the likelihood of encounters with the authorities and xenophobic people. Once they realized this, the respondents used strategies of invisibility which affected their mobility.