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Transborder Lives: Indigenous Oaxacans in Mexico, California, and Oregon
Lynn Stephen’s innovative ethnography follows indigenous Mexicans from two towns in the state of Oaxaca—the Mixtec community of San Agustín Atenango and the Zapotec community of Teotitlán del Valle—who periodically leave their homes in Mexico for extended periods of work in California and Oregon. Demonstrating that the line separating Mexico and the United States is only one among the many borders that these migrants repeatedly cross (including national, regional, cultural, ethnic, and class borders and divisions), Stephen advocates an ethnographic framework focused on transborder, rather than transnational, lives.
Yet she does not disregard the state: She assesses the impact migration has had on local systems of government in both Mexico and the United States as well as the abilities of states to police and affect transborder communities. Stephen weaves the personal histories and narratives of indigenous transborder migrants together with explorations of the larger structures that affect their lives.
Taking into account U.S. immigration policies and the demands of both commercial agriculture and the service sectors, she chronicles how migrants experience and remember low-wage work in agriculture, landscaping, and childcare and how gender relations in Oaxaca and the United States are reconfigured by migration. She looks at the ways that racial and ethnic hierarchies inherited from the colonial era—hierarchies that debase Mexico’s indigenous groups—are reproduced within heterogeneous Mexican populations in the United States. Stephen provides case studies of four grass-roots organizations in which Mixtec migrants are involved, and she considers specific uses of digital technology by transborder communities.
Ultimately Stephen demonstrates that transborder migrants are reshaping notions of territory and politics by developing creative models of governance, education, and economic development as well as ways of maintaining their cultures and languages across geographic distances.
Yet she does not disregard the state: She assesses the impact migration has had on local systems of government in both Mexico and the United States as well as the abilities of states to police and affect transborder communities. Stephen weaves the personal histories and narratives of indigenous transborder migrants together with explorations of the larger structures that affect their lives.
Taking into account U.S. immigration policies and the demands of both commercial agriculture and the service sectors, she chronicles how migrants experience and remember low-wage work in agriculture, landscaping, and childcare and how gender relations in Oaxaca and the United States are reconfigured by migration. She looks at the ways that racial and ethnic hierarchies inherited from the colonial era—hierarchies that debase Mexico’s indigenous groups—are reproduced within heterogeneous Mexican populations in the United States. Stephen provides case studies of four grass-roots organizations in which Mixtec migrants are involved, and she considers specific uses of digital technology by transborder communities.
Ultimately Stephen demonstrates that transborder migrants are reshaping notions of territory and politics by developing creative models of governance, education, and economic development as well as ways of maintaining their cultures and languages across geographic distances.
400 pages, Paperback
First published May 23, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 10, 2023
This is a great example of meaningful ethnography, and Stephen’s conception of transborder lives was very illuminating to my understanding of the various borders that indigenous Mexican migrant workers must cross (and recross) and negotiate daily.
April 22, 2025
Very interesting book I read for a class I am taking this semester. I enjoyed the explanations on the differences in identity.
December 30, 2021
Pros:
1. I was afraid that this book would be a lengthy selection of anecdotes, but in fact it actually weaves multiple scales together in a coherent narrative. In each chapter (or in each section of each chapter), the author will at times zoom out to the broader, decades-long processes shaping Mexico and the US, at times will zoom in to a more local context, and at times will zoom in all the way in order explore the personal histories of individuals in-depth. I appreciate the scope that this gives the entire book, and that the different scales genuinely support each other. The history gives context to the personal stories, and the interviews illustrate the broader trends of the history.
2. The book is very comprehensive - it covers topics as diverse as communal government, activism, technology and education, healthcare, working lives, gender role, family situations, human trafficking, language and heritage.
Cons:
1. The title is a little too strong - California is definitely plays second fiddle to Oregon in this book. The Oregonian experience overwhelmingly dominates the book, which only made sense to me when I saw that the author is affiliated with the University of Oregon. Still, I think California should have had a larger role - to center the Oaxacan experience on Oregon instead of the Golden State seems a little like the tail wagging the dog.
2. Some parts are dated - I skipped the section on healthcare and the entire chapter on the Internet.
1. I was afraid that this book would be a lengthy selection of anecdotes, but in fact it actually weaves multiple scales together in a coherent narrative. In each chapter (or in each section of each chapter), the author will at times zoom out to the broader, decades-long processes shaping Mexico and the US, at times will zoom in to a more local context, and at times will zoom in all the way in order explore the personal histories of individuals in-depth. I appreciate the scope that this gives the entire book, and that the different scales genuinely support each other. The history gives context to the personal stories, and the interviews illustrate the broader trends of the history.
2. The book is very comprehensive - it covers topics as diverse as communal government, activism, technology and education, healthcare, working lives, gender role, family situations, human trafficking, language and heritage.
Cons:
1. The title is a little too strong - California is definitely plays second fiddle to Oregon in this book. The Oregonian experience overwhelmingly dominates the book, which only made sense to me when I saw that the author is affiliated with the University of Oregon. Still, I think California should have had a larger role - to center the Oaxacan experience on Oregon instead of the Golden State seems a little like the tail wagging the dog.
2. Some parts are dated - I skipped the section on healthcare and the entire chapter on the Internet.
March 31, 2010
Although I wanted to like this book, I found it quite dry and difficult to finish. The material is important - especially the notion of expanding the border as an analytic - but in many ways this text reminded me of more classical ethnographies from the early-twentieth century. The writing was quite dry and impersonal, and I found it difficult to connect with the people whose lives are portrayed and examined in the text. In short, it's an important contribution...but not a terribly entertaining one.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews