The face of the migrant maternity. Photography as an ethnographic tool for studying female migration

Abstract

Photography in ethnography gives us a picture of reality at once puts us in a position to access it. In this document, I would like to reflect upon these questions by using experiences gained through a doctorate investigation with Guatemalan women in Madrid, Spain about transnational maternity and care-taking from a distance. As part of this qualitative methodology, I also completed a photographic project with four of the participants from the study which evolved into an exposition. The photographs served as a vehicle for accessing new ethnographic information. As unique and direct testimony, each picture reflects a way of understanding and practicing the migrant maternity, an intense network of affection and personal commitment that these women perform every day, from a distance and despite it.