Crossing Signs: Tracing Migrant Objects through U.S.-Mexico Crossing Narratives

Abstract This article examines migrant material culture in two fictional works in 21st century U.S.-Mexico borderlands literature: Yuri Herrera’s Señales que precederán al fin del mundo (2009) and Aura Xilonen’s Campeón gabacho (2015). Material objects in the novels are pins dropped on a migratory map left for future crossers, both materially (for border crossers) and conceptually (for readers). These subversive navigational tools provide material counternarratives to the pervasive “trash talk” that pits border crossers against nature amid Prevention Through Deterrence U.S. border policy. Both texts interrogate the archeological typology of things left behind and instead present objects as vibrantly alive signposts that narrate the complexities of crossing and the full, vibrant lives of border crossers. My analysis draws on contemporary dirt theory and the environmental humanities to examine how these texts represent “migrant trash” as deeply signifying, living guideposts. Ultimately, while material objects are threatened by violent erasure, crossing narratives present more enduring counter-stories.