Migrating with objects: material abandonment, continuity, and hope in the context of migratory precarity in Chile

Transnational movements involve not only migrating individuals but also the objects that travel with them across borders. The process of migration is thus composed of heterogeneous semiotic-material elements, both human and non-human, shaped by precarious conditions for both people and things. The objects transported or lost during a person's journey function as extensions of their bodies and as companions in their migratory experiences. Drawing on science, technology, and society (STS) studies and feminist action research, and using a methodological approach centered on the relationships between five migrants living in Santiago, Chile, and their objects, this study explores how these objects can serve as valid epistemic co-agents in the production of knowledge about specific social phenomena. It also highlights their role as indispensable companions and agents in the (re)construction of migrant memories and subjectivities. Through three performative acts - discarding an object and writing its obituary, composing a love letter to an object one would never part with, and creating an amulet for future experiences - we move away from the eminently anthropocentric and humanistic approach of social studies to migration and instead show how agency is distributed between humans and non-humans in the process of migration.