Voces en tránsito: el papel del habla y del silencio en la experiencia migratoria de mujeres colombianas en Asturias

Abstract

This article examines the dynamics of speech and silence in the experiences of Colombian migrant women in Asturias, Spain. Engaging with Black, Chicana, and Decolonial feminist theories that conceptualize language as a site of power, resistance, and exclusion, we explore how migrant women negotiate their voice in contexts of domination. Based on the narratives of eight women, collected through in-depth interviews used as a data-gathering instrument and analyzed through the qualitative approach of life histories, we question the linguistic hierarchies that impose language as a mechanism of domination, power, and control. From an intersectional feminist perspective, we address the voice–silence dichotomy to explore its relationship to agency and the forms of structural violence that shape migratory processes. We analyze the mechanism of silencing across multiple dimensions: from racist language and demands for integration to the imposition of accent and changes in the vocabulary as strategies for adaptation as well as survival. We also consider how resisting linguistic and cultural change can function both as an act of identity affirmation and as a survival strategy in hostile environments. Finally, we argue that silence is not only a manifestation of oppression, but also a space of resistance and agency through which women renegotiate their identity and belonging.

Keywords: Migrations, gender, speech, silence, violence

Original abstract reproduced from the publication linked above. CC BY-NC 4.0.