Jalos, USA

Alfredo Mirandé

Description

In Jalos, USA, Alfredo Mirandé explores migration between the Mexican town of Jalostotitlán, Jalisco, and Turlock, California, and shows how migrants retain a primal identity with their community of origin. The study examines how family, gender, courtship, religion, and culture promote a Mexicanized version of the “American Dream” for la gente de Jalos.

After introducing traditional theories of migration and describing a distinctly circular migration pattern between Jalos and Turlock, Mirandé introduces a model of transnationalism. Residents move freely back and forth across the border, often at great risk, adopting a transnational village identity that transcends both the border and conventional national or state identities. Mirandé’s findings are based on participant observation, ethnographic field research, and captivating in-depth personal interviews conducted on both sides of the border with a wide range of respondents. To include multiple perspectives, Mirandé conducts focus group interviews with youth in Jalos and Turlock, as well as interviews with priests and social service providers. Together, these data provide both a rich account of experiences as well as assessments of courtship practices and problems faced by contemporary migrants. Jalos, USA is written in an accessible style that will appeal to students and scholars of Latino and migration studies, policy makers, and laypersons interested in immigration, the border, and transnational migration.

Sujets

• Social Science
• HISTORY
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Turlock
• México
• Jalostotitlán
• American Dream
• Emigration
• Turlock, California
• Latin America
• Mexico
• California
• Discrimination
• Immigration
• Jalisco

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 30 juin 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268086947
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

Extrait

J A L O S , U S A

J A L O S , U S A

T R A N S N A T I O N A L C O M M U N I T Y A N D I D E N T I T Y

A L F R E D O M I R A N D É

U N I V E R S I T Y O F N O T R E D A M E P R E S S N O T R E D A M E , I N D I A N A

Copyright © 2014 by the University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved

Published in the United States of America

LibraryôfcôngresscatalôginginPubliçatiônData

Mirandé, Alfredo. Jalos, USA : transnational community and identity / Alfredo Mirandé.  pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780268035327 (pbk : alk. paper) ISBN 0268035326 (pbk : alk. paper) 1. Jalostotitlán (Mexico)—Relations—Texas—Turlock. 2. Turlock (Calif.)—Relations—Mexico—Jalostotitlán. 3. Jalostotitlán (Mexico)—Emigration and immigration. 4. Turlock (Calif.)—Emigration and immigration. 5. Mexicans—California—Turlock—Social conditions. 6. Jalostotitlán (Mexico)—Social conditions. 7. Turlock (Calif.)— Social conditions. 8. Transnationalism—Case studies. 9. Group identity—Case studies. 10. Community life—Case studies. I. Title. II. Title : Jalos, U.S.A. F1391.J22M57 2014 305.8968’7209794—dc23 2014001762

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DediçadôalagentedeJalôstôtitlán(“Jalôs”)pôrsuamistad,

generôsidad,yempeñô,ntepaalrmaepeçiEs

PadreTôribiôRômôGônzález

BetôyDemetriaFrançôyFamilia MarthaBuenrôstrô chemaPérez EsperanzayEugeniôPérez MaríaElena(“Malena”)Vallejô VanessaycarlôsMartínez

Preface O N E T W O

T H R E E F O U R F I V E S I X S E V E N E I G H T

C O N T E N T S

Jalostotitlán and Turlock: Introduction

Las Fiestas: “Volver, Volver, Volver”

Courtship and Marriage: “Dando la Serenata”

“El Rey”: Changing Conceptions of Ranchero Masculinity

“¡El Que Quiere Puede!” (He Who Wants to, Can!): Early Turlock Settlers Jalos, USA Toribio Romo: “El Padre Pollero” (The Holy Coyote)

A Theory of Transnational Identity

Notes Bibliography Index

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1 19 39 65

85

105 131

163

197 205 217

P R E F A C E

This study began nearly a decade ago, after I obtained a UC Mexus– CONACYT grant to study transnational migration to the United States and its impact on gender, masculinity, and identity. A special thanks to UC Mexus (the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States) for providing the funding that made this study possible, the anonymous reviewers who read the manu script and made important suggestions for improving it, and Re becca DeBoer for her helpful editorial support and assistance. During most of the research I worked alone, but in the initial phases of the study in Jalostotitlán (Jalos), Mexico, I benefited greatly from a productive collaboration with Dr. Nelson Minello, a sociologist at El Colegio de México who was my Mexican counter part on the UC Mexus–CONACYT grant. He participated in the initial design and implementation of the study and helped in con ducting interviews and focus groups in Jalos. I would like to thank Professor Minello for his wise counsel and for his friendship and support. I was helped by a number of other persons during the course of the study, but I am ultimately responsible for any errors, misinterpretations, or omissions. Originally we contemplated studying migration from Zamora, Michoacán, to Watsonville, California, but this plan was quickly abandoned after some Mexican colleagues suggested that people from the state of Michoacán in general and the city of Zamora in particular had already been studied extensively by anthropologists, sociologists, and others, and they might be overstudied or simply “burned out” on social science research. We selected the city of Jalostotitlán (Jalos) as the final research site in Mexico because it is in a region, Los Altos de Jalisco, which also has a long history of

ix