Divided by Borders: Mexican Migrants and their Children (review)

Joanna Dreby's Divided by Borders makes an important contribution to immigration scholarship because of (1. its focus on the changing contexts and relationships in transnational families' lives over time and the families' adaptations to life circumstances, (2. an emphasis on the unique role and perspectives of the caretakers of children left behind in Mexico when parents move to the United States, (3. consideration of the worldviews of children who experience separation as a result of migration, and (4. the voices of the children expressing their feelings and opinions about how long separations due to parents' migration affects them.

The first chapter explains the author's own experiences in a divided family and instantly establishes common bonds with families who have not experienced migrations but have experienced divided families through divorce or other separations. The emotional aspects of prolonged separation caused by migration are extremely difficult for all involved — the parents, the children and the caretakers — but the author makes the point that the emotional consequences of separation are concentrated among children who are the least powerful. At the same time, this book shows how children are a powerful influence on parents' decisions about migration and how both young children's and teenagers' behaviors can increase parents' feelings of insecurity about being away. Nonetheless, the interviews and case studies also show that the sacrifices involved in these long separations reinforce the bonds of commitment for parents and children. Many of the parents send money that provides their children with better educational opportunities. However, some of the most moving parts of the text are interviews with children that show they are unsure of their relationships with their parents when the parents return, and cases of children who refuse to leave their caretakers in Mexico to join their parents in the United States.

The chapter on "Middlewomen" illustrates the important role caregivers in Mexico have in mediating relationships between migrant parents and their children. These women may be grandparents or other relatives. Many of them develop very close relationships with the children they are raising while the parents are in the United States, and they struggle with trying not to usurp parental rights. The author describes the ways remittances are handled by the different care givers and conflicts that arise over time. Only a few other studies of migration have addressed the implications of migration on family members left behind, and how their responsibilities and relationships change due to the migrations and money sent home. The studies that have addressed those remaining in the home country have primarily focused on spouses and not children or caregivers when mothers migrate. As women are increasingly part of the migratory workforce, this chapter is an insightful contribution to the literature.

The research design is elaborated in an appendix explaining that "constant international movement of people has fostered new methods of social research" which the author refers to as "multisited methods" and "ethnographies that follow people."(231) The core of the book is based on interviews with a group of 12 families; this allowed the author to interview family members in their transnational family constellations and in both Mexico and the United States. The book is also based on an on-going ethnography over four years that documented families' experiences over time. Interviews with parents and children are accompanied by open-ended interviews with middlewomen, school personnel and social workers who interact with the children left behind. Additionally, the author incorporates surveys of children in Mexican primary schools, children's drawings of family constellations and details of migration histories. Another interesting appendix includes a chart of family descriptions of single mothers who migrate, fathers who migrate, couples who divorce after migration and details of the children's caregivers in Mexico, age of children at time of first interview, the migrants' backgrounds and notes about relationships in the migrants' families. These details provide much to debate about qualitative research approaches and how mixed media studies add or detract...