Migrations and Borders: Contributions to Understand Mobility in Cross-border Areas

This work is the result of two research projects designed to present a more precise definition of population movements in border areas. To that end, they include a review of topics such as migration, borders, transnationalism and the mobility paradigm. In this analysis, we verify the central role that the notion of migration has played in studies of international and border displacements and highlight the need to propose a more precise definition. Thus, based on the notion of social practices – of different types – coined by Abelardo Morales (2010. Desentrañando Fronteras Y Sus Movimientos Transnacionales Entre Pequeños Estados. Una Aproximación Desde La Frontera Nicaragua-Costa Rica. In Migraciones Y Frontera. Nuevos Contornos Para La Movilidad Internacional, ed. M.E. Anguiano, and A.M. López, 185–224. Barcelona: Icaria), we define these practices as cross-border insofar as they involve two or more national states, which give rise to a series of adjectival mobilities. These can be formal or informal and for different reasons, i.e. healthcare, leisure, trade or work, among others. Likewise, we verify that both cross-border social practices and adjectival mobilities are factors that generate cross-border mobilities in border areas.