The Role of Gender, Race, and Class in Transnational Political Movements: Mexican and Colombian Women Engaging in Homeland Politics from Europe’s Capital

Drug trafficking is a mounting security problem in Latin America, specifically for the primary producers of narcotics in the region: Mexico and Colombia. The security concern from both countries has triggered the political and social mobilization of Mexican and Colombian migrants from abroad many of them from the Global City of Brussels. This paper unpacks the motivations and dynamics behind transnational political activism organized by Mexican and Colombian women living in Brussels. By integrating and revising insights from social movements theories, political transnationalism from migration studies and intersectionality studies, this paper elaborates on the role of migrant women organizing and sustaining transnational political movements to change the political conditions of their countries of origin. The ethnographic evidence presented in this paper reveals the importance to recognize the individual level in the analysis of transnational movements. Women are cognitive actors with political ideals and emotions whose political activism is highly influenced by social categorizations such as gender, race, class, and generation.