From Guatemala to Chicago: migration and borders. The literary and artistic voice of an undocumented woman: Talking with Ilka Ibonette Oliva-Corado

Abstract

This article is a conversation between Ilka Oliva-Corado and Amaia Cabranes Rubio about Historia de una indocumentada, travesía en el desierto de Sonora-Arizona (2014), an autobiographical account of Ilka’s migration experience from Guatemala to the northwestern United States. The author's voice as a Hispanic, undocumented and artist is a contribution to the writing of the history of borders and migration “from below”, a reflection on the role of writing and painting as means of political action and a questioning of the epistemological distinction of Western academicism between object and subject of study.