Migration and the Americas Global Mothers, Local Care: Maternal Health and Wellbeing across Migration Contexts

In her talk, Dr. Marti Castaner presents research with women of diverse migrant backgrounds in three different contexts. In New York, she worked with Central American women to understand how surviving sex trafficking shapes wellbeing, parenting, and encounters with systems of care. In Denmark, she examines how maternal, sexual, and reproductive care systems respond to, and are received by, women with migrant backgrounds, producing both inequities and opportunities for building trust within the welfare state. Drawing on pilot work in Colombia, she shares insights into how networks of maternal care are affected by and navigate political shifts that impact the provision of care to women on the move. Connecting insights from these sites, the talk asks: How do migration and motherhood intersect to shape maternal wellbeing? What inequities are produced in these encounters with care? And how might we reimagine geographies of care for migrant women by zooming in on local systems and practices?