AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST Uncertain Futures: The Unfinished Houses of Undocumented Migrants in Oaxaca, Mexico Iv ´ an Sandoval-Cervantes ABSTRACT Migration often leads to new transnational patterns of consumption, because migrants create new ways in which they, and their families, relate to material objects. The literature on migration and materiality has documented migrants constructing and reconstructing their identities, and creating relationships based on the ac- quisition of material artifacts. However, little is known about the affective component involved in the construction of migrants’ houses, especially when they are unfinished. In this article I provide an ethnographic analysis of the relationship between unfinished houses, migration trajectories, familial obligations, and future aspirations of mi- grants and their families in Oaxaca, Mexico. Unfinished migrant houses populate the landscape of Oaxacan migrant communities as a reminder of the difficulties of migration. They also give hope to the families of migrants that dream of seeing their children return to a finished house. The house, and the process of building it, is entangled in emotions of presence and absence, success and failure, cruel optimism and hopeful aspirations. I argue that by looking at unfinished houses, and what they represent to migrants and to their families, we can expand our understanding of the relationship between undocumented migration, materiality, and the creation of multiple futures in uncertain contexts. [migration, materiality, houses, kinship, futurity] RESUMEN La migraci ´ on generalmente resulta en nuevos patrones transnacionales de consumo cuando migrantes crean formas nuevas en que ellos, y sus familias, se relacionan con objetos materiales. Los estudios sobre migraci ´ on y sobre materialidad han documentado c ´ omo migrantes construyen y reconstruyen sus identidades, y c ´ omo ´ estas cambian en relaci ´ on a ciertos artefactos. Sin embargo, poco es sabido con respecto al componente afectivo que acompa ˜ na la construcci ´ on de las casas de migrantes, especialmente si dichas casas no han sido terminadas. En este ensayo analizo etnogr ´ aficamente las relaciones entre casas no terminadas, trayectorias migratorias, obligaciones familiares, y las aspiraciones futuras de migrantes y de sus familias en Oaxaca, M ´ exico. Las casas no terminadas se aprecian en los paisajes de muchas localidades Oaxaque ˜ nas como un recordatorio de las dificultades asociadas con la migraci ´ on. Pero tambi ´ en dan esperanzas a las familias que sue ˜ nan con ver a sus hijos regresar a una casa terminada. La casa y su construcci ´ on se entrelazan con emociones de presencia y ausencia, ´ exito y fracaso, optimismo cruel y aspiraciones llenas de esperanza. Aqu´ ı argumento que al observar las casas no terminadas, y lo que representan para los migrantes y para sus familias, podemos expandir nuestro entendimiento de la relaci ´ on entre migraci ´ on indocumentada, materialidad y la creaci ´ on de futuros m ´ ultiples en contextos de incertidumbre. [migraci ´ on, materialidad, casas, parentesco, futuro] AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Vol. 119, No. 2, pp. 209–222, ISSN 0002-7294, online ISSN 1548-1433. C  2017 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1111/aman.12864