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Relational Cartographies of Mobility: Arts‐Based Approaches to Territorial Belonging in Internal and International Migration

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Global Networks

Published online on

Abstract

["Global Networks, Volume 26, Issue 4, October 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nThis article develops a relational approach to human mobility by integrating internal and international migration into a single analytical framework. Addressing the persistent fragmentation in migration studies, it explores how territorial belonging is constructed through narrative, visual and material practices in different contexts of mobility. Using a qualitative, participatory and arts‐based design, the study analyses two empirical contexts: processes of rural depopulation in Spain and international migration in situations of administrative irregularity. The findings introduce the concept of relational cartographies of mobility, understood as situated configurations through which experiences of movement, memory and belonging are co‐produced. These cartographies show that mobility operates not only as a spatial process, but also as an affective and symbolic reconfiguration of the territory. Furthermore, the analysis highlights how belonging is configured unequally depending on differentiated regimes of mobility, recognition and access to rights. From a methodological perspective, the article demonstrates the value of participatory and visual methods for capturing the embodied and material dimensions of migration. In theoretical terms, it contributes to overcoming the analytical division between internal and international migration, proposing a relational and decolonial understanding of mobility as a situated and multi‐scalar process.\n"]