Across Imagined Boundaries: Understanding Mexican Migration to Georgia in a Transnational and Historical Context

The Mexican immigrant community in Georgia grew at a dramatic rate between 1970 and 2000 as individuals entered the area to participate in the states burgeoning economy. Social networks played an integral role in this process, transferring information about Georgia through family and friendship bonds that stretched between sending and receiving communities across the United States and Mexico. This thesis examines the transnational characteristics of social networks as they influenced Mexican migration trends, responded to economic opportunity and crisis across North America, and challenged government attempts to restrict and regulate the movement of people across international boundaries. Conditions in Mexico greatly affected the migration flows entering the United States and Georgia; social networks developed close, transnational connections between these communities that fostered new forms of cultural expression, economic development, and political reaction during this thirty year span.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts in History (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis (open access)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of History

Year dc:date.available

2008

Author dc:creator

• Bess, Michael Kirkland

Contributors dc:contributor

• Michelle Haberland
• Debra Sabia

• ETD
• Mexico
• Georgia
• Social networks
• Migration
• Immigration
• Foreign workers

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/588

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-1588