Women's Migration Networks in Mexico and Beyond

by Tamar Diana Wilson

Overview

Despite women's presence in migration streams since the mid-nineteenth century, research on Mexican women's migration has a significantly shorter history than that which focuses on Mexican men. In this contemporary anthropological study, Tamar Diana Wilson couples an analytical migratory network analysis with an intimate ethnography and oral history to explore the characteristics, development, and dynamics of migration networks for Mexican women. Centering on the story of doña Consuelo, a woman Wilson met in a Mexicali squatter settlement in 1988, as well as on the stories of her two daughters in the United States, this study examines the vital role that women's networks play, both within Mexico and transnationally, not only in assisting other women to migrate, but in providing support for male family members as well.

Following a summary of the history of Mexican migration and women's increasing participation in the migration stream to the United States, Wilson provides a brief history of women's labor in Mexico and changes in gender relations during the last few decades. She then introduces key concepts in migration theory, such as network mediation, social capital formation, and transnational migration, which are revisited throughout the book. Subsequent chapters are dedicated to the migration and adaptation experiences of doña Consuelo and her family members as expressed through conversations, interviews, and the author's observations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826347206
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Tamar Diana Wilson is a research affiliate with the department of anthropology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She is the author of Subsidizing Capitalism: Brickmakers on the U.S.-Mexico Border in addition to many journal articles.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

Chapter 1 Herstories: Women and Work 1

Chapter 2 Gender and Mexican Migration 23

Chapter 3 Concepts in the Study of Migration 37

Chapter 4 Women's Migration to Colonia Popular 53

Chapter 5 Consuelo's Story 73

Chapter 6 Doña Consuelo at Work 93

Chapter 7 Anamaría's Story 105

Chapter 8 Anamaría's and Roberto's Networks 123

Chapter 9 Irma's Story 135

Chapter 10 Irma and Raúl's Network 149

Chapter 11 The Urban Woman and Male Transnational Migration 163

Chapter 12 Conclusions 175

Notes 185

References Cited 187

Index 209