La chulla vida: gender, migration, and the family in Andean Ecuador and New York City

Abstract

Chronicling the experience of young Andean families as their lives extend between the Ecuadorian highlands and New York City, this book takes an in-depth look at transnational labor migration and gender identities. Jason Pribilsky offers an engrossing and sensitive account of the ways in which young men and women in these two locales navigate their lives, exploring the impact of gender, generation, and new forms of wealth in a single Andean community. Migration has been a part of the Andes for centuries, yet the effects of transnational labor on the individuals and communities remain largely undocumented. The author draws on firsthand observations of everyday lives to explore issues of transnational marriages and material consumption in the region. Pribilsky presents a study that is both engaging and challenging, a vital contribution to the fields of Latin American studies and immigration studies.