Paper Short Abstract:

This paper reflects on the experience of immobility in Venezuela, introducing "immobile migration" based on narratives of those who despite remaining immobile, identify as migrants due to human mobility reshaping their social landscapes and the crises transforming their daily lives.

Paper Abstract:

More than 8 million Venezuelans have migrated in the past two decades to pursue their life projects. This migration constitutes 25% of the total population of the country and represents one of the largest human movements globally. This process of demographic transformation is faced by those in immobility, through the material effort to reorganise their routines and responsibilities in response to the absence of individuals with whom they now maintain spatial-distant relationships. They must also confront the emotional consequences of their affective environments (family, friends, community) shifting around them. On the other hand, Venezuela is not in a state of war or armed conflict. This massive human mobility exists within a complex humanitarian emergency that not only results in millions leaving their country but also creates a context in which those who remain in a state of immobility, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, must coexist and face significant vulnerability.

That said, this article proposes a theoretical-epistemological reflection on the experience of remaining in immobility, taking the Venezuelan case as an ethnographic reference. I seek to give visibility to those subjects who remain in their homeland (in)voluntarily, who are considered ‘immobile migrants’ as the diaspora moves away from them and leaves them deprived of their social networks, and constant contingencies threaten and transform their lives in times of crisis.