Overview

Through interviews with three generations of Yalalag Zapotecs (""Yalaltecos"") in Los Angeles and Yalalag, Oaxaca, this book examines the impact of international migration on this community. It traces five decades of migration to Los Angeles in order to delineate migration patterns, community formation in Los Angeles, and the emergence of transnational identities of the first and second generations of Yalalag Zapotecs in the United States, exploring why these immigrants and their descendents now think of themselves as Mexican, Mexican Indian immigrants, Oaxaquenos, and Latinos-identities they did not claim in Mexico. Based on multi-site fieldwork conducted over a five-year period, Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez analyzes how and why Yalalag Zapotec identity and culture have been reconfigured in the United States, using such cultural practices as music, dance, and religious rituals as a lens to bring this dynamic process into focus. By illustrating the sociocultural, economic, and political practices that link immigrants in Los Angeles to those left behind, the book documents how transnational migration has reflected, shaped, and transformed these practices in both their place of origin and immigration.

Full Product Details

9780813560700

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Reviews

Cruz-Manjarrez documents important aspects of indigenous immigrant identity formation in Los Angeles and YalAlag, Oaxaca, particularly of immigrant youth, adding to our understanding of urban indigenous incorporation in the United States. --Lynn Stephen author of Transborder Lives (09/05/2012)

This rich ethnography reveals how ethnic identity and community membership are negotiated across borders and generations, including an especially original analysis of public cultural expression through community dance. --Jonathan Fox University of California, Santa Cruz (12/17/2012)

Author Information

ADRIANA CRUZ-MANJARREZ is a research professor at the University of Colima, Mexico.

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