Transnational Identity, Food and Community: the Role of Women in Cultural Continuity and Resistance Claudia Marcela Prado Meza Iowa State University
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2013 Transnational identity, food and community: The role of women in cultural continuity and resistance Claudia Marcela Prado Meza Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Sociology Commons, and the Sustainability Commons Recommended Citation Prado Meza, Claudia Marcela, "Transnational identity, food and community: The or le of women in cultural continuity and resistance" (2013). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 12994. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/12994 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Transnational identity, food and community: The role of women in cultural continuity and resistance by Claudia Marcela Prado Meza A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Sustainable Agriculture Program of Study Committee: Cornelia B. Flora, Major Professor Jan L. Flora Marta M. Maldonado-Pabon Katherine R. Bruna Gail R. Nonnecke Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2013 Copyright © Claudia Marcela Prado Meza, 2013. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi ABSTRACT vii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE IMPORTANCE OF FOOD IN TRANSNATIONAL IDENTITY 1 Thesis Outline 2 CHAPTER 2. TRANSNATIONAL IDENTITY, FOOD, AND THE VILLACHUATAN WOMEN 4 The Formation of a Transnational Community – A Review of the Literature 4 Understanding the Formation of a Transnational Community: Transnationalism and Food Culture 8 Transnationalism, Gender and Food 10 Community Capital Framework (CCF) as an Analytical Tool in Transnational Research 13 CHAPTER 3. VILLACHUATO AND MARSHALLTOWN: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TRANSNATIONAL COMMUNITY 16 The Meatpacking Industry and Demographic Changes in Iowa 17 The Villachuato Hacienda 19 CHAPTER 4. METHODOLOGY 27 Research Problem: Changing Food Systems, Gendered Process of Migration and Transnational Identities 27 My First Contact with the Communities 27 Villachuato 29 Marshalltown 32 Data Collection Methods 36 Home-Based Interviews 36 Interviews 36 Participant Observation 38 Photographs and Discussions with Respondents 40 The Sample 40 Stratification by Different Migration Trajectories 41 iii The Three Cohorts in the Two Communities 44 Abuelitas in Villachuato 44 Madres in Villachuato 45 Hijas in Villachuato 45 Abuelitas in Marshalltown 46 Madres in Marshalltown 46 Hijas in Marshalltown 47 CHAPTER 5. CELEBRATIONS 48 Community and Family Celebrations 49 La Fiesta 49 El Estreno 51 The Mayordomos and Money from Marshalltown to Villachuato for La Fiesta Celebration 53 Duties of the Mayordomos 54 La Fiesta and its Food 55 Alcoholic Drinks and La Fiesta 57 The Celebration of La Fiesta for Mónica 58 How Villachuatans in Marshalltown Celebrate La Fiesta 58 Final Thoughts about La Fiesta 59 La Fiesta and the Community Capitals 61 Levantamientos 63 Villachuatans Celebrating the Levantamientos in Marshalltown 64 Obtaining a Baby Jesus 65 The Chichihuas, the New Generations and the Importance of Social Capital 66 Food at the Levantamientos 67 Beverages at the Levantamientos 69 The Music 70 My Participation in Levantamientos 71 Manuel’s Role 71 The Different Cohorts and the Celebration of Levantamientos 72 Hijas Celebrating the Levantamientos 72 iv Madres Celebrating the Levantamientos 73 Abuelitas and the Levantamientos 73 Gender, Celebrations and Identity 74 CHAPTER 6. EVERYDAY FOOD PROVISIONING OF VILLACHUATAN WOMEN IN VILLACHUATO 78 Food Production 79 Animals and Trees, Todo Cabe en un Solar Sabiéndolo Acomodar 79 Ejidatarias (Female Ejido Members) 84 Gender—Those Left Behind, Work, and Responsibilities 85 Food Processing 87 Nixtamal, Molino and Fogón 87 Comidas Saludables, Healthy Foods 89 Kitchen Appliances 90 Food Access 91 Grocery Shopping Patterns 92 Small Family Stores in Villachuato 95 Butchers, Tortillerías, Green Grocers, Live Poultry Shops, and Food Stands 96 School Lunch Program 98 Choice vs. Necessity 100 Food Consumption 102 Gender and Informal Networks: Feeding Family and Friends 103 Cooking for Others, Eating Together 105 Gender, Food, and Relationship with Others—The Padecer 108 Cleanup/Waste Management 109 Final Thoughts 109 CHAPTER 7. DAILY FOOD PROVISIONING OF VILLACHUATAN WOMEN IN MARSHALLTOWN 110 Food Production 111 Animals and Trees in the Backyard 111 Ejidatarias, (Female Ejido Members) 114 Gender—Those Left Behind, Work, and Responsibilities 116 v Food Processing 119 Nixtamal, Molino and Fogón 119 Comidas Saludables, Healthy Foods 121 Kitchen Appliances 123 Food Access 125 Grocery Shopping Patterns 125 Small Family Stores in Marshalltown 130 School Lunch Program and the Hijas Cohort 132 Choice vs. Necessity 134 Food Consumption 136 Gender, Informal Networks, Work, and Responsibilities 136 Cooking for Others, Eating Together 139 Cleanup/Waste Management 142 Final Thoughts 142 CHAPTER 8. CONCLUSIONS 144 Limitations of the Study 150 Future Studies 151 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I first want to thank all the Villachuatan women that opened their homes to me and shared their stories with me. When I started this research, I wanted to change the conversation about transmigrant women. I wanted to discuss the impact that migration has on sending communities, on the relatives left behind, and on the food habits and traditions. I hope that with this dissertation I was able to do that. I can’t thank this community enough for their kindness, patience, and time. I also want to thank my family, my mother Vicky, my father Víctor, and my brothers Hugo and Carlos. I love you all very much. Thank you so much for your support, your advice, and love you have offered throughout my life. To my Ames family - you all know who you are - you were the ones who taught me to love Ames, its winters, its good food, the lack of beaches, and the amazingly large number of crows on campus. Thank you for sharing your dreams with me, and for letting me share mine with you. You all are great, and you helped me to become a better person. Thank you to Cornelia and Jan for all the guidance, help, and patience. I was able to finish this research project because you were always there to help me. Also, thank you to my committee members. You gave me very insightful advice on how to improve my research, and help me to find strength to finish it. Thanks to those who spent your time reading my dissertation and editing in order to improve it and always encouraging me to finish. Los quiere re montones kaya vii ABSTRACT This dissertation examined the ways transmigrant women exercise resistance to maintain cultural continuity through food. Transnational migrants from Villachuato to Marshalltown, Iowa, U.S., partially changed their food ways to adapt to the pressures of their work regimes. Transmigrant Villachuatan women used a number of food-related mechanisms to resist cultural pressures for an unhealthy, but easily accessible, diet. The towns of Marshalltown, Iowa and Villachuato, Michoacán, México provided a context for understanding the central role of transmigrant women in the food system and how transnational extended family dynamics intersect with food habits and the food system. Villachuatan women, as subjects, were the center of my investigation. I sought to use food ways to understand how these women construct and reconstruct their local and national identities in a transnational community and to understand how food helps them to identify themselves as Villachuatans. I conducted multi-sited participant observation field work, where I utilized in-depth interviews, informal interviews, participant observations, and photographs of women with different migration histories, ages, and current residences to identify those food habits Villachuatan women try to maintain, the importance of their legacy, and the lengths they are willing to go to retain these habits. Keywords: agriculture, cultural continuity, food, resistance, transmigrants, transnational identity. 1 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE IMPORTANCE OF FOOD IN TRANSNATIONAL IDENTITY This dissertation examines the ways transmigrant women exercise resistance to maintain cultural continuity through food. I analyze the degree to which transnational migration of Villachuatans to Marshalltown, Iowa, U.S., has changed their food ways and the mechanisms transmigrant Villachuatan women use to resist cultural pressures for an unhealthy, but easily accessible, diet. The towns of Marshalltown, Iowa and Villachuato, Michoacán, México provide a context for understanding the central role of transmigrant women in the household food system and how transnational extended family dynamics intersect with food habits and the food system. Villachuatan women as subjects are the center of my investigation. I use food to understand how these women construct and reconstruct their local and national identities when in a transnational community (Nützenadel & Trentmann, 2008, p. 9) and to understand how food helps them to identify themselves as Villachuatans. I conducted multi-site participant observation field work, utilizing in-depth interviews, informal interviews, participant observations, and