Transnational Struggles: Policy, Gender, and Family Life on the Texas-Mexico Border

Transnational Struggles: Policy, Gender, and Family Life on the Texas-Mexico Border
Juan Jose Bustamante
December 2013

ISBN-13:  978-1-59332-697-5 / Hardcover
Dimensions:  5.5 x 8.5 / xiv, 168 pages

Price   $69.00

Description

Bustamante provides a rare insight of the border as an entire transnational social field, with a similar racial and ethnic composition. He finds a borderlands region patterned by political oppression and gender inequality. This oppressive situation and the lack of access to institutional resources entice families to seek and use resources provided by Mexican relatives across the border. This salient issue places transnational engagement as a strategy based on available options, not a preferred choice. Therefore, transnationalism is an approach that many border immigrants would like to avoid. Finally, Steven Gold’s definition of transnational engagement is employed to theoretically capture family life shaped by numerous external conditions that transcend national borders.

About the Author

Juan José Bustamante holds a joint appointment as an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and the Latin American and Latino Studies program at the University of Arkansas. Born in Mexico City and raised in both Mexico and Texas, his research interests include border studies, immigration, and qualitative research methods. He is currently living in Springdale, AR with his wife.