Paper Short Abstract:

This paper is a praxiographic investigation of the Mexico-Guatemala border and how it is re-bordered in the face of different 'risks'. It draws on fieldwork with the Suchiate River's rafters, who make a living off tolerated smuggling and 'do' the border differently per each emergency.

Paper Abstract:

This paper takes material semiotics to explore how the Suchiate River border, between Mexico and Guatemala, is done in the face of different risks. The river's rafters are tolerated smugglers, and their work consists of crossing the border by river, back and forth, every day. These actors are in the closest proximity to its ebbs and flows, which gives them a valuable position to account for its multifarious nature. Through memory and observation, this article reconstructs their engagements with the border during 2005's Hurricane Stan, continuous migrant caravans, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper shows that the rafters' usual engagements with a porous border change in the face of each risk, drawing attention to distinct forms of reborderings on the material, legal and biopolitical dimensions. Furthermore, by working with a praxiographical lens, this paper shows different versions of the border - an overflowing river, a half day's work, and a thin line - being made hang together. What results is an account of how this international boundary is ontologically multiple in the face of different 'risks'.