Sarah Lynn Lopez
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226105130
- eISBN:
- 9780226202952
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226202952.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
While so-called transnational migration has occurred between Mexico and the U.S. for over a hundred years, at the turn of the twenty-first century the spaces produced by migration are increasingly ...
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While so-called transnational migration has occurred between Mexico and the U.S. for over a hundred years, at the turn of the twenty-first century the spaces produced by migration are increasingly defining—and linking—Mexican pueblos and U.S. cities. The movement of people across borders has been paralleled by the flow of capital; money sent from migrants in the U.S. to families in their homelands—remittances—constitutes the largest remittance corridor in the world. Using remittances as a lens to both contribute to and critique contemporary migration discourse, this book unearths the spatial and material practices that define endemic migration as a way of life. Arguing that the physical and social environment produced by migration constitutes a “remittance landscape,” a formal analysis of migrant architecture (homes, public buildings, and infrastructure) is coupled with ethnography to explore how rapidly changing built environments shape migrant experiences. At the state level, countries like Mexico have recognized the importance of this economic flow, harnessing it through formal channels such as the Tres Por Uno (3x1) program. Such government supported migrant development projects comprise a remittance development model that repositions economic migrants as boosters of emigrant villages and towns. Paradoxically, this model demonstrates newfound independence and agency for migrants amid the institutionalization of the distances, ambiguities and ambivalences associated with the geographic and social fragmentation of families and communities. The book concludes with an analysis of migrants’ transborder spatial practices in Chicago, showing how urbanism north of the border is actually composed of, and produced by, processes that span international boundaries.Less
While so-called transnational migration has occurred between Mexico and the U.S. for over a hundred years, at the turn of the twenty-first century the spaces produced by migration are increasingly defining—and linking—Mexican pueblos and U.S. cities. The movement of people across borders has been paralleled by the flow of capital; money sent from migrants in the U.S. to families in their homelands—remittances—constitutes the largest remittance corridor in the world. Using remittances as a lens to both contribute to and critique contemporary migration discourse, this book unearths the spatial and material practices that define endemic migration as a way of life. Arguing that the physical and social environment produced by migration constitutes a “remittance landscape,” a formal analysis of migrant architecture (homes, public buildings, and infrastructure) is coupled with ethnography to explore how rapidly changing built environments shape migrant experiences. At the state level, countries like Mexico have recognized the importance of this economic flow, harnessing it through formal channels such as the Tres Por Uno (3x1) program. Such government supported migrant development projects comprise a remittance development model that repositions economic migrants as boosters of emigrant villages and towns. Paradoxically, this model demonstrates newfound independence and agency for migrants amid the institutionalization of the distances, ambiguities and ambivalences associated with the geographic and social fragmentation of families and communities. The book concludes with an analysis of migrants’ transborder spatial practices in Chicago, showing how urbanism north of the border is actually composed of, and produced by, processes that span international boundaries.
Sarah Lynn Lopez
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226105130
- eISBN:
- 9780226202952
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226202952.003.0008
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
From the remittance landscape to remittance urbanism, this book documents a socio-spatial continuum between the material environments of rural Mexico and urban USA that reframes how we think about ...
More
From the remittance landscape to remittance urbanism, this book documents a socio-spatial continuum between the material environments of rural Mexico and urban USA that reframes how we think about both migration and places. The findings from this study extend globalization theories that spatialize flows of global and transnational capital, identifying the restructured relationships between urban environments. Remittance capital sent “from below” makes visible distant connections between places. This conclusion identifies the trajectories of remittance construction as socio-spatial practices and their consequences for migrants, hometowns, and arrival cities. It also posits future directions for research on remittance landscapes and spaces across the globe.Less
From the remittance landscape to remittance urbanism, this book documents a socio-spatial continuum between the material environments of rural Mexico and urban USA that reframes how we think about both migration and places. The findings from this study extend globalization theories that spatialize flows of global and transnational capital, identifying the restructured relationships between urban environments. Remittance capital sent “from below” makes visible distant connections between places. This conclusion identifies the trajectories of remittance construction as socio-spatial practices and their consequences for migrants, hometowns, and arrival cities. It also posits future directions for research on remittance landscapes and spaces across the globe.
