How did borders get so bad?: Meaning and function between Honduras and El Salvador

Abstract

Recent anthropology theorizes borders primarily as technologies of exclusion that perpetuate structural inequality and racialized violence. This perspective downplays the varied cultural meanings of boundaries that shape identities within and amongst countries of the global south, ultimately resting on a neo-functionalist model of borders and boundary-making. Using the shifting politics of boundaries between Honduras and El Salvador as an example, this article shows how historical boundary-making practices affect contemporary Central American migratory patterns, with a specific focus on the position of Salvadoran migrants in Honduras. Ultimately, I reassert the importance of a meaning-centered analysis of borders as an alternative to neo-functionalism.