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 descendants 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 analyses 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.

Book Information
ISBN 9780813560700
Author Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Rutgers University Press
Publisher Rutgers University Press