MDes

Sacred Women: Navigating the Journey of Latinas to the United States

Advised by Malkit Shoshan

What design tools and strategies can be implemented by cities and NGOs to facilitate Latinas’ journey to the United States? The migration journey from Central America is particularly predatory and violent for undocumented Latinas. According to Amnesty International, six in ten women and girls experience some harassment or sexual abuse throughout their route. They migrate to escape violence but are abused during their journeys; they have fewer chances to survive while crossing the desert. Once in US territory, they are separated from their children. When released from detention centers, they are dropped at bus stations with no belongings or information on how to continue their trip or contact their relatives. At their final destinations, the resettlement process will depend on their support networks, which can help them find housing, a job, or health care and legal services.

Sacred Women analyses the three steps of the journey—the departure, the transit, and the resettlement—and proposes a shared-based system of information to empower and connect Latinas with existing allies en route. Sacred Women is a space of resistance and knowledge that embraces ancestral wisdom and cross-border solidarity toward Latinas. Ultimately, the project challenges the approach to the immigration crisis by highlighting the agency of women who make use of their squalid resources and solidarity with existent activist networks to claim their right to cross borders. These women have the resilience to nourish their communities, heal themselves, heal others, and to heal the world. That’s why they are sacred women.