Communicative Mediations in Fragmented Migratory Trajectories

ICTs, Transnational Family Life, and Deportation in San Lucas Ocotepec

Abstract

This article analyzes how Information and Communication Technologies mediate fragmented migratory trajectories in San Lucas Ocotepec, San Felipe del Progreso, State of Mexico. Based on two focus groups and two in-depth interviews with deported and returned migrants, as well as family members from different generations, it examines the transformation of communicative mediations: from telephone booths and public calls to WhatsApp, Messenger, digital photographs, and video calls as everyday resources of transnational family life. From a perspective centered on communicative mediations and technological appropriation, the analysis shows that ICTs acquire meaning when they become part of experiences of separation, care, parenting, mourning, detention, birth, return, and deportation. The findings show that connectivity sustains partial forms of presence and accompaniment, but also reveals vulnerabilities, absences, and ruptures that cannot be resolved through digital communication.