Role playing: a feminist-geopolitical analysis of the everyday workings of the Mexican state

• Published in: Gender, place and culture : a journal of feminist geography Vol. 21; no. 10; pp. 1267 - 1284
• Main Authors: Carte, Lindsey, Torres, Rebecca M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 26.11.2014; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Borders; Case studies; Central American immigrants; Central Cities; Creativity; Employment; Everyday life; Females; Feminism; Feminist geopolitics; Geography; Geopolitics; geopolítica feminista; Immigrants; inmigrantes centroamericanas; Mexico; métodos participativos; México; Noncitizens; Participatory methods; Participatory research; Rights; role play; Role playing; sociodrama; Usefulness; Women; Women and politics; 中美洲移民; 参与式方法; 墨西哥; 女性主义地缘政治; 角色扮演; Tapachula Mexico; Mexico
• ISSN: 0966-369X; 1360-0524
• DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2013.817973

Participatory methods are increasingly important to geographical research of 'the everyday,' yet their viability as a means to understand on-the-ground geopolitical processes has been less explored. This article contributes to the growing body of literature on participatory research in geography and feminist geopolitics by arguing for the use of a specific participatory tool - role play. We present an example of our employment of the technique in a case study on using the method during research with Central American immigrants living in the Mexico-Guatemala border city of Tapachula, Mexico. In doing so, we provide an in-depth examination of the implementation of role play, demonstrating its usefulness in revealing immigrant women's daily experiences with low- to mid-level state actors as they seek to avail themselves of their rights. We conclude that role play is particularly well suited to revealing these experiences due to its encouragement of creativity, embodiment through performance and facilitation of in-depth discussion of difficult subject matter.