Reframing Mexican Migration as a Multi-Ethnic Process

Abstract

The Mexican migrant population in the US increasingly reflects the ethnic diversity of Mexican society. To recognize Mexican migration as a multi-ethnic process raises broader conceptual puzzles about race, ethnicity, and national identity. This essay draws from recent empirical research and participant-observation to explore implications of the indigenous Mexican migrant experience for understanding collective identity formation, including the social construction of community membership, regional and pan-ethnic identities, territory, and transnational communities.

Supervivencia y transcendencia de inmigrantes latinas indígenas transnacionales (ILIS) en los Estados Unidos

“…Refiriéndose a las poblaciones indígenas mexicanas, Fox (2006) señaló que estos términos se utilizan indistintamente como "identidades colectivas que complican ampliamente las ideas sobre raza, etnicidad e identidad nacional" y que "en los Estados Unidos, raza, origen étnico y la identidad nacional no son sinónimos" (p. 40). De hecho, miembros de las comunidades indígenas no son mencionadas en los discursos sobre los inmigrantes Latino /a en los Estados Unidos a como es "el uso de un término pan-étnico tal como Latino para incluir a todos los de ascendencia latinoamericana sin distinguir las diferencias regionales; sirve sólo como otra forma de opresión continuada, marginalización y la colonización de las comunidades indígenas; uno debe tener cuidado al generalizar las características de quienes son considerados Latinos y sus implicaciones en la vida de las personas" (Machado-Casas, 2009, p. 6).…”

“…De hecho, miembros de las comunidades indígenas no son mencionadas en los discursos sobre los inmigrantes Latino /a en los Estados Unidos a como es "el uso de un término pan-étnico tal como Latino para incluir a todos los de ascendencia latinoamericana sin distinguir las diferencias regionales; sirve sólo como otra forma de opresión continuada, marginalización y la colonización de las comunidades indígenas; uno debe tener cuidado al generalizar las características de quienes son considerados Latinos y sus implicaciones en la vida de las personas" (Machado-Casas, 2009, p. 6). El no considerar las diferencias socioculturales y lingüísticas entre los inmigrantes en los Estados Unidos margina importantes distinciones regionales entre diferentes grupos de inmigrantes siguiendo así con una cultura de colonización y perpetúa los estereotipos asociados a una "identidad colectiva" (Fox, 2006).…”

“…Referring to Mexican indigenous populations, Fox (2006) pointed out that these terms are used interchangeably as "collective identities that widely complicate held ideas about race, ethnicity, and national identity" and that "in the US, race, ethnicity, and national identity are not synonyms" (p. 40). Indeed, members of indigenous communities are not mentioned in discourses on Latino/a immigrants in the United States as "the use of a pan-ethnic term such as Latino to include all of Latin American descent without looking at regional differences serves only as another form of continued oppression, marginalization, and colonization of indigenous communities; one needs to be careful when generalizing the characteristics of those who are considered Latinos and its implications on people's lives" (Machado-Casas, 2009, p. 6).…”

“…Indeed, members of indigenous communities are not mentioned in discourses on Latino/a immigrants in the United States as "the use of a pan-ethnic term such as Latino to include all of Latin American descent without looking at regional differences serves only as another form of continued oppression, marginalization, and colonization of indigenous communities; one needs to be careful when generalizing the characteristics of those who are considered Latinos and its implications on people's lives" (Machado-Casas, 2009, p. 6). Failing to consider socio-cultural and linguistic differences among immigrants in the United States marginalizes important regional distinctions among different immigrant groups by continuing a culture of colonization and perpetuating stereotypes associated with a "collective identity" (Fox, 2006). These issues become even more poignant when examining ILIs educational experiences the United States as many educators assume that most immigrant families and students are monolingual and monocultural, with similar social practices and experiences.…”

Special issue: Critical Latinx indigeneities

“…We would also like to acknowledge those who have struggled to create spaces for exchange and metorship for scholars of Latinx indigeneities in institutions of higher learning and within the professional associations, notably Inés Hernández Á vila and Inés Talamontes. While we call attention to the multifaceted nature of migration as a multiracial, multiethnic process (Fox 2006), a Critical Latinx Indigeneities lens pushes us to complicate theoretical frames such as illegality and to insist that, as powerful as this conceptual tool is, it must be understood from an intersectional approach that includes indigeneity. This more nuanced approach calls attention to how categories like illegality are compounded and multiplied by simultaneous intersecting oppressions like indigeneity (Herrera 2016).…”