Open AccessNostalgia por la tierra, nostalgia por el dolar: Guatemalan transnational lives and ideology of return migration
Author(s) -
Michelle J. Moran-Taylor
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
estudios fronterizos (méxico)/estudios fronterizos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2395-9134
pISSN - 0187-6961
DOI - 10.21670/ref.2001.04.a03
Subject(s) - phoenix , homeland , metropolitan area , ideology , maya , ethnic group , population , ethnology , residence , geography , desert (philosophy) , sociology , political science , gender studies , demography , anthropology , archaeology , politics , law
This paper addresses the ideology of return among contemporary Guatemalan migrants living and working in the southwestern desert city of Phoenix in Arizona. In Phoenix’s metropolitan area, Guatemalans (both Ladino and Maya ethnic groups) add to the city’s cultural mosaic, and at the same time, are vital agents for change in Guatemalan society. Little is known about the processes and patterns behind Guatemalan migration despite the fact that over 10 percent of Guatemala’s population currently resides in the United States. Most Guatemalans in Phoenix, regardless of their length of residence in the United States, express longings for return to their homeland. In part, this strong notion of return prevails because the Guatemalan community in the Phoenix metropolitan area is not cohesive.