Thinking Transnationally: The Reunification of Migrant Families

Thinking Transnational: The Reunification Of Migrant Families

It is a unique feature of life in the 21st century that we are compelled to rethink the concept of the space we inhabit, the one that we share more and more with peoples from distant places and vastly different cultures. We live in an era of rapid changeability and movement in which human beings driven by necessity and desperation are continually looking for places where they can make a better life for themselves and their families. Despite the fact that many undocumented immigrants are kidnapped, tortured, executed or arrested while trying to cross the border from Mexico to the United States, many of them continue to risk their lives to escape endemic poverty and violence. This chapter explores the dynamics of one transnational community united by the desire to retrieve and celebrate the cultural practices that have been endangered by forced migration. While globalization threatens the well being of isolated populations in Mexico, several communities are finding alternatives in local projects that serve as strategies to repair the social fabric. Women are the protagonists of many of these initiatives since they are the ones who remain “at home” when their men migrate to the north in search of work and a better life.