Patchwork infrastructures: A proposal based on Indonesian and Filipino multinational migratory trajectories to Chile

Abstract

By discussing the multinational labour migration trajectories of Indonesian and Filipino women to Chile, this article proposes the term “patchwork infrastructures” to examine the improvised coordination between multiple persons and institutions that facilitate and enable such uncommon transregional migration pathways. Drawing on ethnographic research and 41 semi-structured interviews conducted between 2018-2022 with migrant women, employers, and relevant state actors in Chile, I focus on two such journeys that occurred partially due to instances of infrastructural failures in Southeast Asia and the absence of a coherent migration infrastructure connecting Southeast Asia and South America. Patchwork infrastructure highlights the creative practices and complex relations that were forged and maintained translocally and transregionally to ensure the eventual migration and emplacement of women whose journeys had been disrupted, prevented, or delayed. A focus on such processes of “patchworking” highlights the prominent level of human discretion, arbitrary decision, and action in interactions among diverse actors involved in migration. Patchwork infrastructure calls for attention to the micro- and personal level of infrastructuring migration in contexts where relevant institutions fail or are absent; these processes demonstrate the generative and expansive nature of infrastructure.