Data analysis

All interviews, apart from one, were digitally recorded. I and the research assistant in Mexico kept a fieldwork diary that was used for data triangulation. I also wrote fieldwork memos and reflexive memos during fieldwork. All audios were transcribed by professional transcribers as they were collected and I checked them for accuracy.

Data for the two papers included in this dissertation include digital audios of interviews,

verbatim transcriptions of interviews, transcriptions and audios from oral histories, interview notes, and fieldwork diaries, field notes from the participant observation, analytical memos, and reflexive memos. All analyses were conducted in the original language of the interviews. I translated the quotes chosen for the results and a bilingual research assistant from Mexican origin reviewed them for accuracy.

I utilized specific analytical techniques for each of the aims that I explained below.

Aim 1. To describe the lived experiences of Mexican migrant men currently living

undocumented in the US and returned migrant men in Mexico that lived as undocumented in the US at some point in their lives.

I utilized a phenomenological analytical methodology to unveil the experience of living

undocumented. I used the transcripts of the interviews with men, both in NC and in Mexico, their family member’s interviews, and the oral histories from the New Roots archive, as well as the relevant

fieldnotes from participant observation.

The main analytical strategy in phenomenology, across different phenomenological approaches, is the “whole – part – whole” process (Vagle, 2014; Roulston & Flick, 2014). This process entails first having a holistic understanding of the “whole” by getting familiarized with all the data, usually by

units that provide meaning to the phenomenon. Finally, by analyzing the “parts”, we produce a new analytical “whole” that attempts to summarize the different dimensions of a lived phenomenon (Vagle, 2014). I implemented this process in this study by reading all the interviews, including transcripts from non-structured conversation with day laborers and oral histories, and developing analytical summaries of interviews with each participant. I incorporated women’s perspectives in each man’s summary, when available (the first “whole” step). For the “part” step, I developed a codebook based on the analytical summaries including descriptive codes, which I used to label everyday experiences of living

undocumented (for example, living afraid, being victim of crime), and interpretative codes, which I used to label the lived experiences of undocumentedness as a phenomenon and intentionality (for example, transient life and uncertainty for present and future, being nobody). I aggregated the codes by groups (for example, crossing border experiences, social class, social networks, gender, lived experiences of undocumentedness) to facilitate the analysis of distinctive experiences within the process of migrating undocumented. I imported the transcribed interviews, oral histories, non-structured conversations, and field memos into Atlas.ti 8. I coded the material using the codebook and generated new codes as needed. For the final “whole” step of the process, I used matrices to display groups of codes to identify patterns in the data across participants. Throughout the analysis process, from conducting interviews to populating matrixes, I engaged in memo writing; some of the memos became part of the final

interpretation of the data for this manuscript. The last step of the process, the new “whole”, is reflected in the discussion of paper 1, where I re-engaged with the literature on this topic.

Aim 2. To identify the mechanisms through which undocumentedness affects Mexican men’s mental health and wellbeing, and the coping and healing mechanisms men enact, from both men’s and community members’ perspectives.

For this aim, based on the results of the analysis of aim 1, I when and how living undocumented affected the mental health and wellbeing of undocumented Mexican men. In addition, I looked at ways in which men coped with mental health and wellbeing challenges. For this analysis, I used the data from the interviews with men, family members, service providers, and participant observation notes and unstructured conversations with day laborers.

I followed a thematic analysis method for this analysis (Nowell, et al, 2017). This method is suitable for “examining the perspectives of different research participants, highlighting similarities and differences, and generating unanticipated insights” (Nowell, et al, 2017, page 2). The analytical process included several steps. As with aim 1, I first read the transcriptions and generated analytical summaries focusing on how the mental health of men was affected by living undocumented. I then developed a codebook that included both deductive and inductive codes. Deductive codes were based on my interest in exploring men’s conceptualizations mental health and how their mental health is affected by their undocumentedness. Inductive codes were originated from men’s experiences of embodiment of stress, mental illness and suffering, and men’s conceptualizations of wellbeing, which overwhelmingly revolved around “tener buena salud” (having a good health). For data management and coding, I imported all transcripts into Atlas.ti8 and I coded all transcripts and wrote memos throughout the process. I added additional codes that emerged through the analysis to the codebook, and transcripts were recoded to apply the new codes when needed. I ran outputs for selected codes, including mental health, physical health, wellbeing, access to services, illness as embodied undocumentedness and coping mechanisms, and generated matrixes where I summarized the content of each code by participant. With this last step, I identified main themes, patterns across data and level of saturation of data. I utilized matrixes and memos as the main source to write paper 2.

CHAPTER 5. LIVING UNDOCUMENTED: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF MEXICAN MEN WHO