What are the experiences of Central American young people and how do they navigate new challenges amidst displacement?

As coloniality intensifies across the globe, young people are increasingly forced into the diaspora. The Cost of Safety provides critical insight into young people's experiences of circular migration and translocal living while searching for safety in Canada.

Mirna Carranza argues the act of resettlement amidst experiences of racism and exclusion is one of agency : a new era of migration. This study details the challenges encountered by migrants, paying particular attention to how young people negotiate their notions of home while simultaneously negotiating their life developmental stages. Separated from family and everything that gave meaning to their lives, how can individuals experience the culture, relationships, and languages of home, without physically returning? Young people are creating their own forms of social reproduction and transnational identities that contribute to ‘home’, both in Canada and in Central America.

Highlighting the ways in which young people can remain in exchange with their communities and countries of origin, this book is ideal reading for students and practitioners of Social Work, Social Services, Latinx Studies, Forced Migration Studies, Globalization and the Human Condition, Counselling Education, Immigration Studies and Child and Youth Care.

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright Page
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Borders and the translocal
  • Introduction
  • The Colonial Grid
  • Translocal lives
  • Background
  • The borders of the colonial migrant
  • Theoretical Frameworks
  • The coloniality of power
  • The coloniality of gender
  • Circular making of home
  • Orientations of movement
  • Conclusion
• 2 Arrival and age: Central American young people
  • Central American young people
  • Introduction
  • Background
  • A better life and assimilation
  • It is better to come young
  • Conclusion
    • Discussion questions:
  • Notes
• 3 Women and resistance
  • Central American women
  • Introduction
  • Background: Central America
  • Central America, gender, and violence: The portrayal from the Global North
  • Central American women at home and in the diaspora
  • The colonial grid: Coloniality of gender
  • Conclusion
• 4 Care, resistance, and the translocal in Nicaragua
  • Community care
  • Introduction
  • Background
  • Community in Nicaragua and the diaspora
  • Community in the translocal
  • Recognition and reconciliation for the future
  • Conclusion
  • Discussion questions
• 5 Diasporic futures: Honduran migration and the transnational space
  • Introduction
  • History and background
  • Conclusion
  • Discussion questions
• 6 No se entiene el Corazón Indio sino en su silencio (The Indian heart cannot be understood except in its silence): Silence and the colonial grid
  • Introduction
  • Historical silence
  • Silence at home and in the diaspora
  • Conclusion
  • Discussion questions
• References
• Recommended further reading
• Index

Mirna Carranza PhD is a Professor at the School of Social Work, McMaster University.