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The Ethnic Identity of Returning Immigrants to a Pueblo in Yucatan Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 12-2009 The Ethnic Identity of Returning Immigrants to a Pueblo in Yucatan David Piacenti Western Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the Latin American Studies Commons, and the Sociology of Culture Commons Recommended Citation Piacenti, David, "The Ethnic Identity of Returning Immigrants to a Pueblo in Yucatan" (2009). Dissertations. 720. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/720 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ETHNIC IDENTITY OF RETURNING IMMIGRANTS TO A PUEBLO IN YUCATAN by David Piacenti A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology Advisor: Paul Ciccantell, Ph.D. Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan December 2009 THE ETHNIC IDENTITY OF RETURNING IMMIGRANTS TO A PUEBLO IN YUCATAN David Piacenti, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 2009 This study seeks to understand: 1) motivations for leaving and, if applicable, returning to Madrina (pseudonym) Yucatan, Mexico from Kalamazoo, Michigan and/or San Francisco, California; 2) how social conditions in San Francisco compare to Kalamazoo and how this might affect ethnic identity; 3) the impact of immigration on the immigrant's ethnic identity; 4) immigrant perception of change in ethnic identity of family and Madrina. The study employs 52 semi-structured interviews of returned and non-returned Yucatec-Mayan immigrants, as well as an ethnographic description of Kalamazoo, San Francisco, and Madrina. Findings suggest that 1) Yucatec-Mayan immigrants use a family-centered, value-rational decision making process in leaving and returning to Madrina; 2) the ethnic identity of Yucatec- Mayans is still resistant to "Mexicanizing," and "transnationalizing," as 80% of the sample still claim "Yucatec-Mayan" as their ethnic identity; 3) immigrants who return from racialized, urban environments return with "U.S. cultural remittances" which are urbanizing the town. Madrina's immigrants and citizenry attempt to incorporate the perceived positives of immigration into Yucatec-Mayan lifeways, while discouraging unfavorably viewed behaviors from the U.S.; 4) the incorporation of outside lifeways into "being Yucatec-Mayan" operates to temporarily maintain local, traditional lifeways and rituals; 5) San Francisco reflects a more intensely racialized, segregated environment, which is represented by the returned cholo, whose "urban gangbanger" mentality confronts the traditional, rural ethnic identity. San Francisco also affects the overall perception of immigration and desire for permanent U.S. residence. Of the San Francisco cohort, 42% say immigration is "positive overall." Conversely, 62% of the Kalamazoo cohort says that immigration is "positive overall." Only 29% of the San Francisco cohort desire permanent residence in the U.S. while 54% of the Kalamazoo cohort desire permanent U.S. residence. Therefore, the suburban context of Kalamazoo may increase desire for permanent U.S residence. This is profound, as permanent U.S residence would indicate a qualitatively stronger change in ethnic identity. Copyright by David Piacenti 2009 UMI Number: 3392156 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT Dissertation Publishing UMI 3392156 Copyright 2010 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. uest ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the following people, organizations, and foundations for emotional, academic, and financial support of this project. First, I would like to acknowledge the emotional and financial support of my wife Julie Piacenti, my grandparents Delpho and Mae Piacenti, Harlin and Gladys Boyd, John and Mary Fehrenbacher, as well as my parents Delpho and Mary Piacenti and Bill and Liz Newton. I would also like to acknowledge the emotional and financial support of my brother Michael Piacenti, and sisters Maria and Melissa Piacenti. I would like to acknowledge the friendship and inspiration of Carl Hacker and the mentoring of Dr. Warren Handel. I would like to acknowledge the academic direction and personal support of Dr. Paul Ciccantell, Dr. Gregory Howard, and Dr. Douglas Davidson of the Department of Sociology and Dr. Sarah Hill of the Department of Anthropology. I would like to acknowledge Dr. James Biles of the Department of Geography at Indiana University for introducing me to my now lifelong love of Yucatan, Mexico. I would like to acknowledge the many faculty in the Department of Sociology at Western Michigan for their encouragement and direction. I would like to acknowledge the Department of Sociology-Kercher Center for Social Research, the Graduate College at Western Michigan University for travel and research support, the Patricia Lee Thompson Foundation for travel and research support, and the ii Acknowledgements—Continued Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Indiana University-South Bend for academic and financial support. Lastly, I would like to thank the many men and women from Madrina with whom I spoke to for this project, for without your gift of conversation, this project would not have happened—good job and good luck to you and all of your loved ones. I would like to acknowledge the Madrina town government and police department for assisting with logistics, as well as the citizenry in general, who did more than just tolerate a stranger, but accepted and welcomed that stranger warmly. You are all truly special. Finally, I would like to acknowledge Ligia Quintal Sosa, the Gonzalez Euan family of Madrina, Yucatan, Mexico —Don Juan, Dona Angelita, Don Lisandro, Pilar, John, Jassivi, Juanito, Jorge, and Lizbeth Arely, who so lovingly opened their doors, minds, and hearts to me while I worked—we are truly family now. Kanan ta bae 'ex. David Piacenti iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii LIST OF FIGURES xi PREFACE 1 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 2 The Topic 2 Data and Methods 2 General Research Questions 3 ANew Terminology 3 Why the Work is Needed: Three Literature Biases 4 Bias One: New Sending Geographies 4 Bias Two: New Destination Geographies 5 Bias Three: Indigenous Im/migrant Literature 6 The Final Need: Social Justice 10 Five Findings 14 One: A Household Model of Im/migration 14 Two: Still Yucatec-Mayan 16 Three: Buying In, Not Selling Out 16 Four: Parallel Universes of Lifeways 19 iv Table of Contents—Continued CHAPTER Five: The Cholos of San Francisco and Their Social Effects .... 20 Outline of the Book 21 II. IMMIGRATION AND GLOBALIZATION: A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS 23 Globalization 23 The Americas: A Regional Context 29 Mexican History 33 Mexico: 1900-1964 43 Mexico: 1965-Present 49 Globalization in Sum 53 III. SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE OF YUCATAN AND MADRINA 55 Social and Economic Trends 57 The Sending Context: Madrina 60 Socio-cultural Demographics 64 Mexico Profundo: Daily Language Use 66 Mexico Profundo: The Ejidos 69 Mexico Profundo: Dwellings and Buildings 71 IV. THEORY: IDENTITY, ETHNICITY, AND RACE IN MEXICO AND THE U.S 79 Identity 79 v Table of Contents—Continued CHAPTER Ethnic Identity in Yucatan, Mexico: A Regional and Culturally Racialized Identity 83 Early Colonial Structures and Indigenous Identity 84 The Caste War and Ethnic Identity 86 The Mexican Revolution and Ethnic Identity 88 Henequen: A Regional Economy and a Regional Ethnic Identity 89 Cancun 90 Contemporary Ethno-politics 91 NAFTA and Contemporary Ethnopolitics 92 The Social, Political, and Academic Construction of Maya 93 Racialization in Mexico 99 Ethnicity and Race in the U.S 100 Pan-ethnicization in the U.S 103 Nationality and Nationalism in the U.S 104 Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, and Yucatec-Mayans in the Racial U.S 104 Racial History of the Southwest 105 Political Pan-ethnicization 107 Indigenous Ethnic Identity in the U.S 108 Ethnic and Racial Assimilation of Spanish-speakers in the U.S vi 112 Table of Contents—Continued CHAPTER Racism, Racialization, and Nativist Backlash 119 V. METHODS: EPISTEMOLOGY AND QUALITATIVE INTERVIEW .. 129 My Position and My Agenda 129 The Multiple Referents of Yucatan, Mexico: Epistemological Issues 131 Reality Disconnect: Weber's Ideal and Real Types 134 Referent Languages, Translation, and Methods 136 Qualitative Coding 137 Research Procedure 141 The Interview 143 Risks, Costs, and Protections for Subjects 146 Potential Benefits of Research 147 Confidentiality of Data 147 Data Analysis 148 Interviewee Demographics 149 The Sample 149 Age 150 Age At Decision to Im/migrate 150 Number of Trips 150 Total Years in the U.S 151 Languages 152 vii Table of Contents—Continued CHAPTER Marital Status 152 Number of Siblings in Im/migrant Household 153 Destinations 153 VI. DATA: A FAMILY-CENTERED THEORETICAL MODEL OF IMMIGRATION 154 A Family-Centered Im/migration
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