When Women Migrate: Children and Caring Labor in Puebla, Mexico
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2011 When Women Migrate: Children and Caring Labor in Puebla, Mexico Denise Geraci Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1806 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] When Women Migrate: Children and Caring Labor in Puebla, Mexico by Denise Geraci A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2011 ii © 2011 DENISE GERACI All Rights Reserved iii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Ida Susser [required signature ] Date Chair of Examining Committee Gerald Creed [required signature] Date Executive Officer Ida Susser Marc Edelman Donald Robotham Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iv Abstract WHEN WOMEN MIGRATE: CHILDREN AND CARING LABOR IN PUEBLA, MEXICO by Denise Geraci Adviser: Professor Ida Susser This investigation concerns children and caregivers in Santa Ursula, a town in Puebla, Mexico, from which many women have migrated to the United States in recent years. The expansion of female migration since the 1980s and children who remain behind in women’s poorer nations of origin, where households, communities and governments assume their care, are salient features of global economic restructuring (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001). This study analyzes how children’s circumstances change when mothers migrate, and how family, community and state representatives understand and deal with these changes. Social reproduction in a community like Santa Ursula supports not only a source of cheap immigrant labor in the global economy, but also helps produce and reproduce transnational social hierarchies among individuals, households, communities and nations. Gendered, aged and intergenerational relations and obligations are central to care arrangements in Santa Ursula. Social reproduction is primarily women’s responsibility. Although men migrate in greater numbers, female migration most greatly affects care arrangements. Expectations and possibilities for childhood, a gendered and aged household division of labor, early marriage and childbearing, residence rules and in-law relations shape v how family members understand and distribute carework when mothers migrate. Most often grandmothers are designated caregivers for children. However, the eldest, unmarried girl, typically aged twelve to eighteen years, usually shoulders the burden of caring and domestic labor. Children’s reproductive responsibilities sometimes supplant educational and social activities, which is more common in poorer nations’ migrant-sending communities, than in wealthier receiving nations. Female migration also affects old-age care. Providing companionship and help, grandchildren-charges are often critical to grandparents’ well-being as kin networks shrink. Sometimes children cannot adequately or safely carry out domestic tasks. Nevertheless, children are usually well cared for, often with help from extended family. Rarely, children end up abandoned, in which case the state intervenes to “reintegrate” the family. Despite neoliberal restructuring, the Mexican state has expanded social spending since the mid- 1990s and supports Santa Ursulan families through many programs and institutions. Given Mexico’s slow economic and job growth, increased social spending inadvertently contributes to a healthier and better educated transnational workforce, including young adults who were raised by caregivers. vi Acknowledgements First I would like to thank the many women, men, and children in Santa Ursula and Cholula who made this research project possible by including me in their activities and taking time to speak with me about their family, lives, experiences and opinions. In this regard I am particularly indebted to “Inés” and her family for their generosity and hospitality. I would also like to thank numerous officials, teachers and other professionals in Cholula, especially the staff at DIF Cholula, Santa Ursula’s mayor “Don Rigoberto” and “Presidenta Celia,” who were central to the success of my research. My deep gratitude goes to my advisor, Ida Susser for her insightfulness, knowledge, wisdom and guidance throughout my years at CUNY. Her input has shaped my experience and thinking in many ways, including the development of the questions and theoretical underpinnings of this study. I am also greatly indebted to Don Robotham, who taught me much about social theory and the history of ideas and supported me, particularly during my early years at the Graduate Center. I owe much thanks to Marc Edelman for his detailed and insightful comments on the writing and content of this dissertation. I would also like to thank Frances Rothstein for agreeing to act as my external reader. Other Graduate Center faculty members, including Shirley Lindenbaum, Leith Mullings and Loiuse Lennihan have also been important mentors, teachers and contributed to the formation of this project and the research proposal on which it is based. My sincere thanks goes to Ellen Deriso for her unflagging patience and efficiency, which helped me navigate all-things administrative between Mexico and New York over many years. I am also appreciative of the many colleagues and friends at CUNY with whom I shared experiences of coursework, teaching, working and many other aspects of graduate student life. The ways in which their presence vii enriched my experience are incalculable. I am particularly grateful in this regard to Claudine Pied, Ragnhild Utheim and Gerard Weber. I am indebted to many people at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP), where I was affiliated as a guest researcher. I would especially like to thank Ricardo Macip for his advice and help in countless ways, Nancy Churchill for her guidance on fieldwork, and Leigh Binford for his input and expertise on migration in Puebla. I would also like to thank Claudia Zamora for her assistance, as well as Blanca Cordero and Gabriela Zamorano for their generosity and support during my preliminary research. Research for this project was supported by the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the Social Science Research Council/International Dissertation Field Research Fellowship Program with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In addition, the Graduate Center Anthropology Program funded preliminary research in Mexico, and the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation granted me an American Fellowship to write this dissertation Much love and thanks go to my friends and family, especially Sam González and my siblings—Mari Geraci, John Geraci and James Geraci whose kindness and easy-going support helped ease the strain of managing my dissertation and family life across borders. Finally, my deepest love and appreciation go to my husband Ramón González Ponciano for his unwavering support and love, and our daughter Nadia for the joy and energy she brings to our life. viii Table of Contents Introduction………..………………………………….………………………………...………..1 Caring Labor in the Global Economy …………………………………..……………….. 5 Research Setting……………...…………………………………………………………. 18 Migration and Children Left Behind in Santa Ursula ………………………………….. 23 Background to Research Project …………………………………………………...……27 Ethnographic Research in Santa Ursula …….…………………………………………...30 Outline of Chapters…...………………………………………………………………….33 2. Houses, Kilns and Children: A Landscape of Change ……………...…….…………….36 A Changing Landscape and Family Life…...….................................……...….…….…..37 From Agriculture to Brickmaking ………………………………………………………44 Economic Crises and Restructuring …………………………………….……………….47 From Brickmaking to Migration ………………………………………………...............53 US Jobs and Destinations ……………………………………………………………..…57 Returning Home or Sending for Children ……….……………………………...…….…60 Conclusion ...…………………………………………………………………………....64 3. Social Policy and Programs in Mexico…………………………………..………………..66 Charity, Universal Rights, Crisis and Neoliberalism…….………………………………67 Political Structure and Social Provisioning ….……………..…..….……………………74 The DIF ………………………………...………………………………………………..77 Education and Healthcare …..………………………………………………...............…84 Oportunidades …………………………………..……………………………………….89 Programs for Migrants …………………………….…………………………….………93 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………96 4. Caring Labor, Gender, Residence and Mothers-in-Law………………...……………...99 Fluidity, Care and Lifecycles……………………..…………………...…………….….100 Courtship and Marriage …………………….………………………………….………103 Household Division of Labor.…………………………………………………..…...…107 Mothers-in-Law ……………………………………………………………………..…111 Social Restrictions of Marriage ……………….…….………………….……...112 An Archetypical Mother-in-Law.………………………………………..……..113 The Suegra ’s House ……………………………...……….……………………117 Paternal Grandmothers as Caregivers ……………...…………………………..120 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………..................…125 ix 5. Invisible Work of Caregivers……………………..……………………………..…….…127