Processes of identit(ies) formation and transformation among professional, skilled Mexican migrants in the US

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper contributes to the understanding of the dynamic and the relational nature of identity-formation among skilled middle-class migrants. Following the idea that identities are never singular nor static, but multifaceted, active and have a processual character, the authors specifically analyse two dimensions to the identity of qualified Mexican migrants in the US and the interplay between them. Drawing on findings from a mixed-methods research project (an online survey and semi-structured interviews) with skilled Mexican middle-class migrants in the US, the paper explores how skilled Mexican migrants preserve their ethno-national identity (their ‘Mexicanness’) in reaction to a hostile socio-political reception context in the US. This study further shows how these migrants recreate their class identity and show tendencies to distance themselves from what they perceive as lower-class Mexican migrants and the dominant popular Mexican and Latin-American cultural expressions. Throughout the paper the lived experience of migration is examined while highlighting the ways in which it impacts the migrants’ identities, their concept of self and feelings of being and belonging.