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This dissertation examines Tijuana’s spatial, cultural, and political transformations catalyzed by the arrival and settlement of Haitian migrants in the aftermath of the 2010 Haitian earthquake. Contextualizing this phenomenon within Tijuana’s historical trajectory as a site of transnational movement, economic restructuring, and border governance, this study analyzes how Haitian migrants have negotiated urban space, reshaped local geographies, and asserted cultural visibility amidst systemic exclusion and racialized migration policies. Methodologically, this project develops an original interdisciplinary approach by integrating thick mapping techniques, the spatial turn in the humanities, and spatial justice theories. Central to this dissertation is Mapping HaiTijuana, an original thick map project that aggregates photographs, testimonies, documentary films, public art, and digital narratives into an interactive cartographic platform. Moving beyond traditional static mapping practices, this dissertation advances thick mapping as a participatory, multilayered tool for documenting migrant agency and reconfiguring spatial narratives.
Through the critical analysis of visual archives, testimonial literature, audiovisual media, and Haitian-led community initiatives, the study reveals how migrants have contested spatial marginalization and forged new forms of urban belonging. In doing so, it demonstrates that Haitian migrants are not passive recipients of urban exclusion but active agents in the production of space, cultural memory, and transnational solidarity. This research contributes to scholarship in migration studies, urban humanities, and digital mapping methodologies by offering a justice-oriented cartographic model that centers Black migrant agency in contemporary border cities.