Work

Comida ruina: Foodways in Mexico's migrant detention

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This article examines the foodways in Mexico's migrant detention centres, demonstrating how the weaponisation of food, prevalent in carceral settings, combined with the institutionalised precariousness characteristic of this context, produces distinct forms of oppression and resistance. Drawing on the narratives of 41 migrants who experienced detention in Mexico, four interrelated dynamics are analysed: (i) punitive commensality, (ii) non-compliant food empires, (iii) a minimal-fuelling approach, and (iv) gastronomical resistance. Ultimately, the analysis reveals foodways in these detention centres as mechanisms of physical, emotional, and symbolic punishment, as well as sites of migrants’ everyday agency and resistance.

Source: Incarceration

DOI: 10.1177/26326663251393007

Author: Amalia Campos-Delgado

Institution: Leiden University

Language: English

Topic: Food, Nutrition, and Cultural Practices

Subfield: Food Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,400