Transnational migrant nostalgia: Venezuelan memories in the city of Lima

Vega Romá P. · Revista Interdisciplinar da Mobilidade Humana (2025) · DOI: 10.1590/1980-85852503880003309

Resumen

This article analyzes, from an ethnographic approach, the expressions and the role that nostalgia plays in the daily lives of a group of Venezuelan migrants engaged in street vending in the city of Lima. Through the analysis of memories linked to three main areas – the landscape and pace of life in their place of origin, relatives who did not migrate, and the experience of walking freely without discrimination or harassment – the article explores the main challenges faced by the Venezuelan population since their arrival in Peru. The findings show that nostalgia does not reflect an abstract or idealized vision of the past, rather, it emerges as a dimension that enables them to critically cope with the difficult socioeconomic conditions they face in the city. Transnational memory is constructed as a collective place of enunciation through which they imagine a future in which their living conditions are more just and equal.

Instituciones: Universidad Antonio Ruiz de Montoya