Jane Grant Fellow publishes article on internal migration of Oaxacan indigenous women

July 12, 2016—Iván Sandoval-Cervantes, the 2015-16 CSWS Jane Grant Dissertation Fellowship recipient, completed his PhD in anthropology at the University of Oregon in 2016 and is now a visiting assistant professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, at the University of Texas at El Paso.

His article, “Navigating the City: Internal Migration of Oaxacan Indigenous Women,” derived from his doctoral dissertation that was in part funded by the CSWS fellowship, has been published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

Article link: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2016.1206814

Iván Sandoval-Cervantes doing fieldwork in Oaxaca. Standing next to him is his host in the community.

Iván Sandoval-Cervantes doing fieldwork in Oaxaca. Standing next to him is his host in the community.

Abstract: The relationship between migration and gender roles has received increased attention in recent decades but most of the literature has focused on transnational migration while the relationships between transnational and internal migration, and gender roles and internal migration have not been widely studied. In this paper, I analyse internal migration as a ‘transborder experience’. I argue that indigenous women from Zegache who engage in internal migration to Mexico City pose greater challenges to ‘traditional’ gender roles in their community because their experience as single young women navigating Mexico’s capital and their reliance on female social networks allow them to obtain social legitimation by claiming migration experience and courageousness. I contrast migration to Mexico City with transnational migration. Although transnational migration challenges, to some extent, existing gender roles, women from Zegache who migrate transnationally often do so as part of couples and within gendered social networks.