Stories in transit: migrant narratives of children and young adults alone in the 21st century

Abstract

Our analysis is structured around three conceptual pillars–migration, contemporary history, and microhistory–as we examine two literary texts that, from different continents, explore the lived experiences of children and young people migrating alone toward their destinations. Through a comparative study of Desierto sonoro (2019), by Valeria Luiselli, and Buscar la vida. Crónica de los niños migrantes atrapados en Melilla (2020), by Sabela González and José Bautista, we explore the economic, historical, political, and cultural forces that drive migration, while also foregrounding familial, social, and emotional aspects surrounding child migration, as depicted in the texts.

Furthermore, in line with Jelin’s (2002) framework of the social dimensions of memory, we investigate how migrants’ individual memories reflect values, cultural traits, and communal practices that reinforce their sense of belonging. These narratives–marked by their generic hybridity–not only denounce inequality, violence, and indifference faced by their protagonists, but also, in confronting the official archive with traditionally silenced voices, build a counter-narrative that reclaims agency for subjects historically relegated to the margins, echoing Foucault’s ([1969] 2002) concept of the archive.