Jalos, USA: Transnational Community and Identity

Preface

ix 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 manuscript and made important suggestions for improving it, and Rebecca 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 counterpart on the UC Mexus–CoNaCYt grant. he participated in the initial design and implementation of the study and helped in conducting 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 x Preface migration to the United states. Most able-bodied men in Jalos migrate to el Norte at some point in their lives, many at the age of fourteen or fifteen, and they have been migrating to the United states since the beginning of the last century. Residents of the nearby town of san gaspar, in the Municipal District of Jalostotitl án, for example, have experienced such a mass exodus to oakland, California, that the town is now virtually abandoned, and the government threatened to build a dam and innundate the community. (the project was halted after people from san gaspar protested the building of the dam.) we selected turlock, California, as the counterpart research site on the U.s. side of the border. Migrants from Jalos are concentrated in several communities in California, including turlock, anaheim, oakland, and los angeles, but turlock is unique because it is similar to Jalos in being an agricultural community and in having its own fiesta for the Virgen. a Mexican colleague provided the name and contact information of an anthropologist, Professor xavier glass, who was affiliated with la Casa de la Cultura in Jalos and was knowledgable about the community. at our first meeting with him in his home in Jalos, it was apparent that he was not only thoroughly acquainted with the history, political economy, culture, and customs of the area but also well-respected, connected to many people in the community , and willing and eager to talk and assist in any way possible. he turned out to belong to one of Jalos’s oldest and most influential families. a warm abrazo to Professor glass for providing an entrée into the Jalos community and for greatly facilitating the research. our initial contacts in the Jalos community were made through “social notables,” a term used by wayne Cornelius (1982) and Cecilia Menjívar (2000), such as Dr. glass and Mr. lópez-Rivera, the assistant to the presidente municipal, or mayor, of Jalostotitlán. But perhaps the most significant contact was “elvira,” a young woman who worked at a local electronics, records, and souvenir shop in the center of town. elvira sold everything in the store from CDs, tapes, batteries, and tickets to the bullfights, the charreada (Mexican rodeo), and other fiesta events, to “I love Jalos” tee-shirts, baseball caps, and other Jalos memorabilia. elvira had her hand on the pulse of the community and proved to be an invaluable source of information throughout the course of the study. she was especially helpful in arranging interviews and providing introductions to a large number Preface xi of both ausentes (here...