An Impossible Living in a Transborder World: Culture, Confianza, and Economy of Mexican-Origin Populations

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments I conducted my original research on rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) in 1978 and 1979, and I have continued my work on this topic from 1980 to the present. The most recent research concentrated on the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Baja California and on the U.S. states of Arizona, California (both northern and southern), New Mexico, and Washington. I wish to thank Fausto Vásquez Flores, an extraordinary researcher in Sinaloa; Paloma, in whatever state you really live in; and a great graduate student, Irene Vega, who carried out original research on the Arizona-Sonora border. Great appreciation is also owed to Camilo García Para, who is now a faculty member of the University of Veracruz , Xalapa. He carried out invaluable research for my first book on this topic, Bonds of Mutual Trust (Vélez-Ibáñez 1983). I would be remiss if I did not thank Andrea Perusquía, a graduate student at Arizona State University, whose magnificent artwork graces the book’s cover page. She is the future of original Mexican creative works. I especially would like to thank the Motorola Company for their generosity in supporting my endowed Chair, which provided me the support needed to publish this manuscript. I laud my colleague, Dr. Guillermina Nuñez, for her finely honed field research in New Mexico, which afforded me the opportunity to gain insight into true transborder living. Most of all, I would like to thank the hundreds of people who had enough confianza in this work to provide me with information and crucial insights into ROSCAs, these simple but invaluable human inventions. An Impossible Living in a Transborder World ...