Fieldwork in Mexico

Solipsism or insider epistemology is related to the idea in which for describing a culture the researcher has to be like one in the community under study in order to know them. Solipsism assumes that only members of a certain group can understand that particular group. However, ethnography’s mission very much resides in the representation of others. Its analysis relies on a certain critical distance, as well as the ‘insider’ understanding gleaned from immersion in the field. My shared ethnic and national origin, language, customs, traditions and practices situate me as somewhat ‘like’ my respondents, meaning that

‘insider’ understanding came more easily: my access to Mexican immigrants’

lives was undoubtedly easier because of the fact that I am also Mexican. Yet I was also very much an ‘outsider’, from somewhere else, to whom things should be explained and not taken for granted. This status as a newcomer, from

90 a different background and milieu, also meant that I could ‘see’ anew, without taken-for-granted assumptions.

4.9.1 Ocuilan

My fieldwork in the town of Ocuilan, with the relatives of the Sunville cohort, was conducted over three weeks. My interest was to inquire about the impacts of their family members’ migration on the daily lives of these non-migrant kin.

I was introduced to the community by Esperanza’s daughter, Patricia, who stayed with me for two days while she introduced me to most of my respondents. I stayed at Esperanza’s house, though none of her children lived in town. Her son lived and worked at a neighbouring town, and spent his weekends in Ocuilan, while Patricia lived in the state capital and went to the town only sporadically.

My research in the town went relatively smoothly, mainly because of the previous communication that some of the migrants in Sunville had had with their relatives, notifying them of my coming visit. Whilst doing fieldwork in Sunville I had explained to my respondents that a further element of my study would be conducting interviews with their non-migrating kin. Also Patricia’s status of insider helped me gain access rapidly to the community. After Patricia had left it was possible to do snowball sampling as my initial respondents introduced me to other inhabitants of Ocuilan.

At some households I was warmly welcomed. I had brought with me pictures of their relatives and of the place where they lived. Photo and video sharing as well as live means of communication were uncommon forms of contact amongst the Sunville-Ocuilan cohort (see Chapter 7). Some had not seen their relatives for long periods of time and were surprised at the physical changes they had gone through.

Some of my Sunville respondents, however, did not inform their kin about my visit. This was not a problem. Most of the people were open to talk about their

91 experiences after overcoming some barriers; for instance, my lack of ancestral relations with the inhabitants of the town. Ancestral ties were heavily valued, as explained earlier, and some of my interviewees tried to find some linkage between myself and the town, and were disappointed to learn I had none.

There was one instance in which two adults deemed they had nothing interesting to say. This was the case of Melchor and Justino’s parents, Doña Elena and Don Clementino, who had a small grocery shop in town where I sometimes bought food and drinks. I approached Doña Elena saying that I had been in Sunville and had been living in the same place where her children lived. Surprisingly, she acted indifferently. Later, I asked her for an interview, which she refused, arguing that she had nothing interesting to talk about. Soon after I explained my interests, Doña Elena explained, with mixed emotions of anger, sadness and loneliness, that she had no contact with her sons and that after they had left for the USA, she very rarely knew how they were doing.

4.9.2 Matehuala and Victoria

After doing fieldwork in a small community where social encounters were frequent and social relations between the inhabitants were well established, I started research in two urban locations (see map and demographics of fieldwork sites in Chapter 5). Changing field site from a small community to cities presented some challenges for conducting fieldwork. Relations in urban areas were generally less personal, less intimate and the developing of social networks was hindered by the busy lifestyles of urban subjects.

In Victoria, I interviewed the mother and sister of Lisa, one of my main respondents in Dallas. Accommodation could have been arranged at either respondent’s household, but I preferred to visit my respondents at their respective homes on several occasions for interviews, aiming not to make the respondents uncomfortable or feel that I was being intrusive, especially because as explained earlier, I sometimes felt I was a burden to Lisa (Dallas).

92 Undocumented migration remained a sensitive topic amongst middle-class Mexicans. During the interviews, I confirmed that admitting the ‘illegality’ of my respondents’ kin’s life experience was particularly conflictual. The mother of my main respondent in Dallas saw ‘illegal immigrants’ as completely different from her daughter. She questioned why I was interested in knowing about her daughter’s life if she is not like ‘the illegals’, and that she instead

‘lives like the Americans’ with the only difference that she had not been able to fix her papers.

The direct kin of the Dallas cohort respondents were geographically dispersed in various areas of Mexico. The respondents of this cohort had not created a process of chain migration within their families or communities. It was not possible in all cases to secure agreement from the migrating counterparts to interview their relatives in Mexico. Given that I could not interview the direct kin of most of the Dallas participants, I had to find a way to fill in this gap.

Considering my interest in interviewing subjects of middle-class, urban origin and who had attained higher education; I conducted fieldwork in the city of Matehuala, in the state of San Luis Potosi. Here I had access to a gatekeeper who could introduce me to subjects meeting the criteria I had established.

I recruited participants through various modes. The main one was through a group of retired schoolteachers who got together in a public sports centre during weekday mornings.

93 Photograph 1. (Left to right) Carmen, a friend (not a participant) and Lupita after a volleyball match.

My gatekeeper introduced me to several of these retired schoolteachers whose children had migrated to different parts of Texas. Furthermore, I also recruited participants through the yearly pilgrimage made in honour of the Señor de Matehuala. Here, I met the organisers as well as the kin of other undocumented migrants living in Texas. Finally, I also included participants who were return migrants themselves as well as two women, who worked as domestics and had not reached higher education, but who had relatives residing in the USA.

Photograph 2. Sign inviting people for the Pilgrimage to the Lord of Matehuala

94 Photograph 3. Pilgrimage of US residents natives to Matehuala.

Photograph taken outside the Matehuala Cathedral.