Kin-Work among Black Transit Migrants in Tapachula, Mexico

In this research report, I explore how Black transit migrants in Tapachula, Mexico, use “kin-work”—the merger of labor and love—to sustain their lives against processes of hate and death. I specifically argue that love plays a crucial role in nurturing the kinships (whether official or unofficial) of Black transit migrants, allowing them to enable futures against “anti-Black immigration governmentality”—that is, the intersection of (im)migration policing and control and anti-Black racism. Guided by the insights of bell hooks, I consider love as an intention and set of actions that foster possibility. This article thus aligns with Robbins’s “anthropology of the good,” which Walker and Kavedžija have defined as inquiries into what gives individuals a sense of purpose or guidance and how people strive to find the most fulfilling ways to live, even in difficult and adverse circumstances. I elaborate on anti-Black immigration governmentality in Mexico and then propose a way to theorize the love in kin-work. I then draw on ethnographic findings to clarify my central argument and conclude by advocating for recruiting love to an anthropology of the good.