Mixtec transnational migration
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This article provides information on the Mixtec transnational migration.
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[edit] Overview
The Mixtec are one of the last autonoums Mesoamerican indigenous groups who for over three generations have been engaged in transnational migration to the U.S. Despite geographical relocation, the Mixtec have remained an autonomous community. Their transnational social experience challenges our conception of cultural identity (nationhood) traditionally linked to geographical location (territory). According to social researcher Laura Velasco-Ortiz (2002), after several decades of Mexican migration to the United States, entire communities have developed and embraced economic, cultural and social ties in both countries concurrently. Moreover, evidence suggests that these migrant populations have modified the construction of the sense of territorial belonging historically associated as the foundation of local, regional and national identities. Velasco-Ortiz proposes the idea of reconceptualization between the relation culture-territory in the process of transnational migration among Mixtec communities.
Mixtec sacrality appears as the primary agent of reconciliation between cultural identity and territorial fragmentation. Social researchers agree that among transnational Mixtec communities the transportation of sacred symbols is a fundamental process in the maintenance of cultural autonomy. Female concepts of the divine and sacred practices play a crucial role in preserving Mixtec native tradition. Thus, understanding female concepts of sacrality can reveal important aspects about Mixtec negotiation of religious and cultural identities when outside the homelands.
[edit] The role of women
Women play a significant role in maintaining Mixtec cultural identity. This is true for Mixtec families who remain in the homelands as well as for those who migrate. Nonetheless, their influence in a transnational context seems to be even stronger. Similar to other immigrant groups, transnational Mixtec communities undergo a process in which they adapt to American society and urban life. For the Mixtec community in Linda Vista, San Diego for example, native families adjust to living in apartment complexes, learn to utilize domestic appliances such as the gas stove and the refrigerator, make use of public transportation, buy their produce at a grocery store, and send their children to American public schools. However, as much as possible, they seek to reproduce traditional communal life in part because cohesion is a protection strategy against an unknown and aggressive urban environment (Clark-Alfaro 2003).
Several families can live in one apartment. Usually, there is one family per bedroom sharing bathroom and kitchen with other relatives. It is common among Mixtec families to have two or more generations in one same household: grandparents, parents and grandchildren. Mixtecs practice a gendered division of labor in which women are in charge of the house and the children, and men are the breadwinners. Though in many transnational communities, due to the high cost of living, many Mixtec women have been forced to join the labor force either next to the men in the fields or as domestic workers in the homes of middle and upper class American families. Despite women’s progressively increased participation in salaried work, Mixtec communal tradition still dictates that reproductive chores (cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, dishwashing, childcare, healthcare and religiosity) are a woman’s vocation (Maier 2005).
Mixtec female sacrality is reflected in everyday ordinary activities such as cleaning, food preparation, bathing, childcare, parenting and communal interaction as well as in more formal rituals such as Day of the Dead, Temascalli (vapor) baths, patron saint anniversaries, births, baptisms, weddings and funerals. For the Mixtec people, community is the highest expression of divinity (Dahldren De Jordan 1966); therefore, any activity that promotes communal life implies some level of Mixtec sacrality. It is typically Mixtec women who uphold collective tradition. In the private sphere (the home), women are the primary transmitters of native language; they maintain unity by bringing family together during meals, sharing oral stories about their ancestry and the homelands, teaching Mixtec traditional values to the children and keeping Mixtec customs such as altar display, herbal medicinal healing and hospitality alive. In the public sphere, Mixtec women play a major role in organizing civic festivities. Women are in charge of preparing traditional feasts during any type of communal celebration. They organize among themselves to decide who will prepare what but also, they participate from logistical arrangements such as decorating, dance performances and religious processions.
In a sense, we could say that transnational Mixtec women are most invested in preserving their culture; men’s responsibilities, on the other hand, are usually limited to their jobs outside the home. Holding on so tightly to their cultural identities can be seen as a form of cultural resistance. Often times, Mixtec women carry the burdens of a double shift between the workplace and the home but nevertheless, they make every effort maintain their traditions and core values alive.
[edit] Conclusion
The Mixtec are a very fascinating indigenous group who have taught us that migration does not always symbolize the loss of cultural identity but on the contrary, migration can generate territorial expansion and cultural reaffirmation. The Mixtec have expanded their horizons by moving across national and international boundaries in search of economic survival. The transportation of native sacred symbols through time and place, in which women play a significant role, have allowed for the preservation of Mixtec cultural autonomy in a transnational context.
[edit] References
- Clarck-Alfaro, Victor. Los Mixtecos en la Frontera (Baja California). San Diego, CA: Montezuma Publishing, 2003.
- Dahlgren De Jordan, Barbro. La Mixteca: Su cultura e historia Prehispanicas. Mexico, DF: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 1966.
- Maier, Elizabeth. The Un-settling, Gendered Consequences of Migration for Mexican-Indigenous Women. Tijuana, BC: Colegio de la Frontera Norte, 2005.
- Velasco-Ortiz, Laura. El regreso de la comunidad: migracion indigena y agentes etnicos (los mixtecos en la frontera Mexico-Estados Unidos). Tijuana, BC: El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, 2002.
