Mexican Hometown Associations in the U.S.

Abstract

Most of the literature on Mexican hometown associations (HTAs) hasfocused on their role as development agents and often emphasized therapprochement carried out by the Mexican state in order to attractremittances. Although the Mexican state plays an important part in theproliferation of HTAs in the United States, the reasons for migrantinvolvement in HTAs are often left unexplored and typicallyexplained as a result of ‘emotional attachments’. This article,however, taking a Weberian approach, argues that it is important toconsider a wider range of motives of the individual migrants fortransnational engagement such as involvement in HTAs andhometown development. The article is based on ethnographicfieldwork carried out among migrants from the state of Oaxaca,Mexico, living in Los Angeles, California.