This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Sustained connections the institutional transnationalism of next generation Latino-Americans Durrell, Jack Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 26. Sep. 2021 Sustained connections: the institutional transnationalism of next generation Latino-Americans Jack Durrell Kings College University of London Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD in Geography August 2014 1 Abstract Next generation transnationalism is overwhelmingly perceived as an emotional or non-institutional form of cross-border connectivity. This study takes a fundamentally different approach and attempts to define an institutionalized transnational space for this demographic. Investigating a non-representative sample of Mexican and Salvadoran individuals who are active within cross-border philanthropic and political organizations operating in California and Washington DC, the analysis suggests that next generation institutionalized transnationalism exists and should be taken seriously as a subject of academic interest. This mode of transnational connectivity assumes different forms, conceptualized in this study as ‘prominent’ and ‘non-prominent’ transnationalism - the former referring to frequent and essential contributions, and the latter to contributions that were less frequent and less essential to organizational development. In understanding the causes of next generation institutional transnationalism, the study calls for a synthetic appreciation of the factors involved, a blend of structural factors - including personal attributes, socialization, social location, and institutional characteristics – and individual agency. An ‘actor-centred’ framework was also relevant, acknowledging prevailing structural conditions while remaining sensitive to the subjective contexts in which institutional transnationalism could emerge, and the capacity for individuals to define their own transnational trajectories. The analysis is open to the possibility that transnational organizations will survive beyond the first generation – a possibility largely found to be controlled by the characteristics of institutions and their potential for regeneration. Finally, the analysis contributes to the on-going debate regarding the relationship between transnationalism and assimilation. The evidence suggests that assimilation and transnationalism proceed simultaneously for the next generation. Sustained connections to the country of origin do not therefore necessarily delay, hold-back, or undermine incorporation. 2 Contents List of Tables 6 Glossary and Abbreviations 7 Acknowledgements 9 Chapter 1: Introduction 10 1.1 Background and rationale: why next generation institutional transnationalism 10 1.2 Research aims 12 1.3 Structure of the thesis 15 1.4 Terms of use 18 Chapter 2: Literature Review 20 2.1 Introduction 20 2.2 Transnational migration 20 2.3 Next generation transnational activities 36 2.4 Assimilation theory 49 2.5 Identification 64 Chapter 3: Migration and the emergence of Mexican and Salvadoran transnational networks 72 3.1 Introduction 72 3.2 Mexican migration to the United States 72 3.3 The emergence of Mexican transnational networks 76 3.4 Transnational community development in Mexico 78 3.5 Mexican transnational politics 79 3.6 Salvadoran migration to the United States 81 3.7 The emergence of Salvadoran transnational networks 83 3.8 Salvadoran transnational networks in the post-war period 85 Chapter 4: Methodology 87 4.1 Introduction 87 4.2 Research approach 91 4.3 Sampling and sampling methodology 93 4.4 Information and data collection 103 4.5 Data storage and analysis 111 4.6 Possible limitations 113 Chapter 5: Defining an ‘institutionalized’ transnational space for the next generation 116 5.1 Introduction 116 3 5.2 Contributions to transnational organizations 117 5.3 The form and frequency of next generation institutional transnationalism 120 5.4 ‘Prominent’ and ‘Non-prominent’ transnationalism 127 5.5 Summary 134 Chapter 6: Explaining next generation institutional transnationalism – attributes, socio-economics, and socialization 136 6.1 Introduction 136 6.2 The significance of socio-economic backgrounds 137 6.3 How important is Spanish proficiency? 142 6.4 Age and ‘life-course’ events 144 6.5 Transnational forms of socialization 146 6.6 Summary 154 Chapter 7: Explaining next generation institutional transnationalism – organizational characteristics, mobilization, and opportunity structures 157 7.1 Introduction 157 7.2 Opportunity structures: institutional transnational mobilization 158 7.3 Institutional characteristics: controlling next generation mobilization 162 7.4 The positives: evidence of an institutional transnational potential 173 7.5 Summary 184 Chapter 8: ‘Bringing agency in’ – constructing a synthetic account of next generation institutional transnationalism 187 8.1 Introduction 187 8.2 ‘Bringing agency in’: The motivations driving next generation transnationalism 188 8.3 Constructing a synthetic account of institutional transnationalism 198 8.4 Summary 201 Chapter 9: Informal connectivity and its relationship with institutional transnationalism 204 9.1 Introduction 204 9.2 Non-institutional transnational activities 205 9.3 Emotional connectivity 209 9.4 Summary 224 Chapter 10: Exploring the relationship between transnationalism and assimilation 226 10.1 Introduction 226 10.2 What does identification reveal about respondent assimilation/transnationalism? 227 10.3 Civic participation in the United States 239 10.4 Hypothetical charitable contributions 248 4 10.5 Future intentions: a US or Mexican/Salvadoran future? 251 10.6 Summary 254 Chapter 11: Conclusion – findings, implications, and recommendations for future research 258 11.1 Summary of findings and contributions to next generation transnational studies 258 11.2 Implications of the findings 265 11.3 Recommendations for further research 276 Bibliography 279 Appendices 299 5 List of Tables Table 4.1: Organizations consulted for the study Table 4.2: Numbers and characteristics of next generation respondents in Washington DC and California and method of data collection Table 5.1: Next generation involvement in sampled organizations Table 5.2: Leadership positions occupied by next generation individuals Table 5.3: ‘Contributor’ positions within respective transnational organizations Table 5.4: Frequency of next generation contributions within sampled organizations Table 5.5: Frequency of next generation contributions within sampled organizations (specific activities) Table 6.1: The educational attainment of ‘contributors’ and their parents Table 6.2: The occupational status of ‘contributors’ and their parents Table 6.3: The educational attainment of ‘wider’ sample respondents and their parents Table 6.4: The occupational status of ‘wider’ sample respondents and their parents Table 6.5: Spanish language proficiency among ‘contributors’ and ‘wider’ sample respondents Table 6.6: The ethnic composition of ‘contributor’ neighbourhoods and friendship groups Table 6.7: The ethnic composition of neighbourhoods and friendship groups within the ‘wider’ sample Table 9.1: Non-institutional transnational activities among respondents in the ‘wider’ sample Table 9.2: Non-institutional transnational activities among ‘contributors’ Table 9.3: Frequency of home-country travel among ‘contributors’ Table 9.4: How often respondents follow home-country current affairs Table 9.5: Self-identification among respondents in the ‘contributor’ and ‘wider’ sample Table 10.1: ‘Contributor’ civic participation within the United States Table 10.2: The US political activities of sampled transnational organizations Table 10.3: US civic participation among respondents in the ‘wider’ sample 6 Glossary and Abbreviations ADEES Asociacion para el Desarrollo en El Salvador ARENA Alianza Republicana Nacionalista CAFTA Central American Free Trade Agreement CAFRED Central American Foundation for Rural Educational Development CARECEN Central American Resource Center CEPAL Comision Economica para America Latina y el Caribe CISPES Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador COTSA Comunidades Transnacionales Salvadorenas Americanas CRISPAZ Christians for Peace in El Salvador CUS Communidas Unidas Salvadorenas DGACE General Directorate within the